You are Andrew, a detective. You’re good at your job, and a bit of a workaholic – you’ll take any case assigned to you, no matter how bizarre. You will also refuse all of your boss’s attempts to get you to go on vacation just so you can keep working and taking on more cases. Finding the truth is the most important thing to you, because if there’s one thing you’ve come to know during your time as a detective, it is this: accusing the wrong person can ruin their lives and leave you wracked with guilt, forever. But there’s more to this story, because a detective is more than just a job – and your dedication to your your work may have led to failures in other aspects of your life.
In a Detective’s Mind is, first and foremost, a detective game created by someone with a clear and constantly present love for detective stories. The developer, Justo Diaz, has created a short, puzzling experience that manages to pack in a plethora of elements that people love about the detective genre. Family secrets, secret passageways, money troubles, bizarre and seemingly impossible causes of death – it’s all here!
Every puzzle in the game is also very carefully thought through and elaborately designed. I like to think of myself as pretty good at mysteries and puzzles – but In a Detective’s Mind had me doubting that claim! The solutions were so elaborate and clever. It was extremely impressive. Each and every puzzle is much more complex than it seems, and when you finally do solve them, the feeling of satisfaction is unequaled.
However, this does lead to one of the major problems I have with the game: there is absolutely no hint system. While I understand what In a Detective’s Mind was going for here – the idea that a detective does not solve every mystery correctly, and his mistakes have consequences – it does get frustrating from a gameplay perspective. I do think that some sort of hint system should be added, because otherwise it is very possible to get completely stuck on a puzzle and have no idea how to progress. I think it would not detract from the feeling of frustration the game is going for if you had a bit more direction about how to proceed.
The game’s story is an interesting one. As you progress, you come to understand that this is not just a standard mystery game about a detective solving case after case. You are, as the title says, In a Detective’s Mind, and later cases quickly take the game in an unexpected psychological direction as Andrew is forced to confront the sins of his own past. It’s a short, effectively creepy experience, with some replayability due to its multiple endings (I found two, so far, and have heard that there is apparently a third,) and there are definitely a few spooky surprises in store. The moment when I realized the larger picture – the theme that tied all the cases together, and the identity of the mysterious person berating Andrew at the beginning and end of each case – was extremely satisfying, and I’m pretty sure I audibly gasped at least once.
Aesthetics-wise, the game is fairly simplistic, with a monochromatic purple color scheme that adds to the unsettling atmosphere of the whole thing. The pixel art style is reminiscent of many classic games, although there were a few moments where I struggled to figure out where the interactable objects were and what piece of furniture was what because things are drawn so basically. There was a point in the first case where I struggled to find an important clue – a poster on the wall – because it just didn’t stand out against the rest of the decor. The music is creepy as well, although there is not much variety in tracks so it can get a little bit repetitive at times. I especially liked the use of sinister banging and slamming sound effects in the second case, which hints at the presence of something sinister in the house’s walls long before you discover it.
Unfortunately, the dialogue does suffer from a few translation errors. The developers are not native English speakers, and I applaud their decision and effort to translate the full game into English despite that, but it could have used a bit of extra editing in a few places. There are a few moments when otherwise dramatic conversations are made less so because of the awkward grammar and misspelled words – in at least one case, a moment that was supposed to be serious and chilling became unintentionally funny because of incorrect wording.
Fortunately, the translation errors did not prevent me from playing the game or solving any of the puzzles, but there were still moments when it was very noticeable and took me out of the game that I was otherwise immersed in. Dialogue scenes were particularly rough, which was sad because the conversations between Andrew and the “mysterious figure” are otherwise extremely well-written, and arguably form the heart of the game.
Overall, In a Detective’s Mind is a short, creepy experience that blends mystery and psychological horror into an effective combination. Fans of either genre will probably like it, and it makes for a satisfying, if not lengthy, gameplay experience. You can easily play this game in one sitting, in just a couple hours, and it tells a satisfying and complete story. The game is, however, held back at points by its rough translation and the lack of a hint system, especially given the elaborate and complex nature of many of the key puzzles. It is still a fun experience, and more mystery games are always a good thing. So why not take a short trip Into a Detective’s Mind – you won’t regret it!
Kate played In a Detective’s Mind on PC using a provided review code.
