Feline Forensics and the Meowseum Mystery Review: An Enticing, But Overly Simplified, Murder Mystery – MonsterVine

Having spent my teenage years glued to a Nintendo DS, it may not come as an entire shock that I’m an enormous fan of journey video games and visible novels. Don’t get me mistaken, I get pleasure from all kinds of video games, however the place others have been clamoring for the newest AAA shooter or open-world journey, I used to be ready to get my subsequent crime-crushing and puzzle-fixing repair with the subsequent Ace Lawyer or Professor Layton sport. Sadly, in the many years since, the journey style has been on a decline, a minimum of for those who take a look at the output from established publishers.

Fortunately, indie builders from throughout have been choosing up the slack. To be honest, you may need to dig round a couple of boards or subreddits at first, nevertheless it doesn’t take lengthy to seek out smaller, chunk-sized video games that pay homage to the style giants that got here earlier than. Enter Feline Forensics and the Meowseum Mystery, a delicate-boiled detective puzzler that isn’t afraid to put on its influences proper on its fur-lined sleeve.

If its identify didn’t clue you in, Feline Forensics basks in its personal irreverence, and frequently doles out animal puns and cultural references briefly order. Certain, the stakes are considerably excessive. In spite of everything, you tackle the function of against the law-fixing tabby detective who’s tasked with fixing a homicide and heist at a neighborhood museum (or quite, meowseum). But, there’s sufficient respiratory room right here that you just’ll by no means really feel all that pressured. Not like different video games on this house that deal with crime with a bit extra gravitas, attending to the backside of issues is a reasonably low-stakes affair; you received’t have to fret about an interrogation going awry, working out of time, or pointing the finger at the mistaken suspect. Relatively, Feline Forensics permits you to deal with issues at your individual tempo, emphasizing information gathering and peeling again its central thriller one layer at a time.

In apply, this largely boils all the way down to good previous-original, boots-on-the-ground police work, i.e., speaking to witnesses and looking for clues. To be honest, our veteran feline detective has a little bit of an uphill battle, seeing as how there are almost a dozen potential suspects to slender down and get rid of. As you chat with different characters and comb the atmosphere, you’ll slowly fill out your binder with witness testimony, hold observe of any potential contradictions (that you should use to squeeze the fact out of any dishonest suspects), and amass bodily proof you could study up shut for any potential clues. When you’ve made sufficient progress, the sport prompts you to fill in the blanks (actually) of your investigator’s journal; a kind of obligatory skillcheck that may greatest be described as a Mad Libs-type fill-in-the-blanks (besides, you recognize, with out all the silliness).

As a puzzle fan and thriller junkie, there’s rather a lot to love right here. With each interview you conduct and piece of proof you study, you are feeling a tangible sense of development as you get one step nearer to tying lots of unfastened ends collectively. It additionally helps that the builders like to cram in small jokes at any time when they will, and the easy jazz soundtrack and (principally) black and white visuals ooze attraction from each nook.

Nonetheless, there may be such a factor as being too laid again. All of the word-taking and proof gathering is pretty automated, and the sport will outright inform you when you might have a brand new lead, or potential contradiction to chase down. That being stated, there’s little or no in the manner of failure or making errors, and by extension, participant company. As a substitute of letting you join the dots your self, Feline Forensics insists on doing lots of the heavy lifting for you. Relatively than piecing every thing collectively by yourself, your focus is on doing the legwork — working again and forth between characters, conducting interrogations, and sorting by way of proof.

Talking of, whereas it’s removed from a dealbreaker, the sport’s menus and dialogue techniques do go away one thing to be desired, and might actually profit from streamlining. Whereas its contemporaries may need unfold proof, clues, and leads throughout two or three totally different menus, Feline Forensics is a bit heavy-handed with its person interface. As a substitute of condensing all the data you’ve gathered right into a single pocket book, there are separate screens in your leads, proof, witness testimony, and your investigator’s journal. Worse but, when speaking with witnesses and suspects, dialogue choices and dialog matters are sometimes nested, generally a number of occasions. This makes navigating by way of every one a little bit of a ache, particularly since the sport tends to kick you again to the first submenu after every line of questioning is exhausted.

Remaining Phrase: As the debut title from developer No person Crown, there’s rather a lot to love with Feline Forensics and the Meowseum Mystery. Certain, its bloated menus and decidedly uncomplicated strategy to crime fixing may not scratch the itch of the most diehard style followers, however its laid-again environment and cozy aesthetic assist to easy out the tough patches, even when they don’t fully get rid of them.