Games with good "Detective Mechanics"

[HoboForEternity]

山河旅探 Murders on the Yangtze River

Due to Overwhelmingly Positive user reviews, I tried this and stuck with it for 7 hours, but I find it's just too much of a drag to want to complete. One of those ones where you're looking for something to play and click on it because you want closure, but not because it is fun. I opened it today and was like "What am I doing? I'm not looking forward to more of this."

It does have "soft" detective mechanics in the style of Ace Attorney, where you click on all the clues one by one and listen to hours of dialogue and then have to determine what actually happened, which is good as far as it goes. The problem is there's no real pace to it, just a slow accumulation of data. The occasional loud noise and shocked expression on a character's face don't change that. Then between cases there is downtime which is even less engaging.

There are multiple endings which I guess means you can get things wrong and "fail forward", which is also very cool as far as it goes; every investigation game should have this. Perhaps sadly, I found the first couple cases not very challenging and experienced no hard choices so my playthrough was not impacted.

The "main" mystery which is supposed to tie all the rest together, the murder of the protagonist's brother, is another locked room mystery just like the first one. I'm sure the solution is very clever but I doubt it's worth another 7 hours of slogging to see it.

how are the story and characters at least? as fun as ace attorney?

 

[Zombra]

how are the story and characters at least? as fun as ace attorney?

Full disclosure, I never played AA which apparently has a wacky, fun anime vibe - resoundingly not the vibe here. I did play and absolutely adore Aviary Attorney which has a more understated but very charming and humorous mood that really carries the show.

I do appreciate the more serious, historical feel of Yangtze. It's not a comedy. The setting is relaxing, almost meditative. The protagonist is relatable; the rest of the cast is believably drawn and each is distinctive, which is very important in a mystery story. The exception to the believable characters is the sidekick, an anachronistic steampunk inventor! which I found very irritating in a game that prides itself so much on showcasing Chinese history. Leaving aside what the character represents, he is not unlikeable.

The story is good (or good enough), starting off strong with the first case (minor very early spoiler) framing you for murder within the first 10 minutes. Nice and motivating. Eventually you are introduced to the main case about the protagonist's brother, which seems intricate and inventive but didn't leave me with a burning emotional need to pursue it.

I don't know. As I write this I still kind of want to go back and see how it ends. The game just plods along so dully.

 

[Jenkem]

anyone played this:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1024160/Lord_Winklebottom_Investigates/

not sure if it has detective mechanics or is just a point and click

 

[Zombra]

anyone played this:
not sure if it has detective mechanics or is just a point and click

It's a cute point and click for kids.

 

[Jenkem]