New Losago, 1929 - a town full of creeps, clowns, mobsters and, if you know where to look, the occasional honest citizen. Guide private investigator Lanson Rose through a series of puzzling cases: solve the city's liquor supply problem in "Speakeasy Street", track down a missing food scientist in "The Big Pickle", and investigate strange goings-on under a dilapidated mansion in "A Study in Squid".
Winner of the 2016 Interactive Fiction Competition.
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I can't give this enough stars. I'm honestly amazed by the fact that it was free to play - it was such a high-quality game! The sound effects, original music, unique interface, stylized portraits and phenomenal scriptwork blew me away. I'm not kidding when I say this game is now sitting right up there with the Her Interactive Nancy Drew games as top-tier armchair detective gaming.
Thank you for what had to have been months of work. Your passion for your craft was evident and very appreciated.
Oh look, a game that manages to capture the elegant simplicity of old text adventures while adding a revolutionary user interface. Did I mention the presentation is top-notch, too? More games need to take a hint from _Detectiveland_.
Amazing story. I love games that make me expect the least. I love the comedic factor and easy gameplay mechanics. I also appreciate the hints a lot (I read all of them and loved the humor). All in all this game is amazing and you should all try it out for yourselves.
Winning IFComp 2016, is probably sufficient reason for anyone to play this game! As might be expected, it is very well conceived, designed and implemented. What particularly appealed to me was
(a) its high standard of writing and smart humour;
(b) its afternoon length, split into three detective cases (IFComp games should be playable in 2 hours);
(c) its look and feel, including the music and sound effects (composed by the author), and the use of an old typewriter font; and
(d) the challenge of the puzzles, which should be decipherable by most players, with a little effort! For anyone stuck, there is also a comprehensive hierarchical hint system which effectively provides a full walkthrough for the game.
It was also very impressive that the author had written his own game engine.
Initially, I did struggle with the interface, which presents a half-screen control panel in which every operation is performed by touching or clicking on a button…no typing is involved. The only operations available are the ones presented as the game proceeds, which makes it necessary to monitor the control panel carefully…new operations may pop up or disappear at any time. I got the hang of it in the end but felt I was spending rather too much time staring at the control panel rather than following the story.
Overall, however, this is probably the easiest 5 stars I have had to award since returning to text adventures last year. Excellent!
Mystery
Comedy
Puzzle
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