Review: Detective Grimoire: Secret Of the Swamp

Detective Grimoire has been called to investigate a murder. The owner of a small tourist attraction, found deep within the heart of the marshes, seemingly killed by the very mythical creature his attraction is based around… Explore the surrounding area, inspect the scene of the crime, grill the suspects, solve puzzles, search for clues and uncover the secret of the swamp!

Pros:

• Cartoon style graphics with brilliant HD cartoon style animations.
• The price! Only a few pounds and you can have hours of fun.
• Best experienced through headphones due to the atmospheric music, Listening for clues is key but also so much fun.
• Able to skip and pause text on screen.
• Real top quality voice overs. Each character sounds unique and unique.
• Point and click Detective game where you must collect clues, question witnesses and find out who the murderer is.
• Turn hints on and off at will. Whilst on, Hints will be revealed via a sparkly circle in the area of interest.
• Switch between walk and look mode, Whilst in walk mode you get the travel options and in look mode allows you to click around for clues.
• You can click anywhere on screen to find clues, hidden shortcuts or interact with people. failing that it will tell you what you are looking at or a describe a item clicked on.
• Helpful vocal hints periodically delivered or vocal feedback on your deductions.
• Multiple choice question/answers when interacting with witnesses.
• Humour is a huge part of the game and is very well implemented.
• Soundtrack adds a lot of atmosphere to the many areas of the swamps as you explore, Each character has a background noise to help aid identification.
• HUD is smooth and minimal, A quick button press brings up the map or press the other icon and you get access to your journal.
• Your journal or notebook if you would prefer, Gets updated as you uncover new clues or think up new questions. You can also review any info you already have including the case file. You can also come up with theories which is made easier by a simple drag and drop, multiple choice question reel to make sentences.
• Interactive puzzles with parts of the world having you actually interacting with it like brushing leaves out the way to find items.
• Interacting with witnesses has set questions and ones you feel you would like to ask. You can choose a category of questions. Get enough clues or ask the right questions to unlock bonus challenges. Completing these challenges give you more details and clues to work from. Always try and get the challenges done.
• A stat screen gives you a breakdown on your performance. A percentage out of 100 is given for things like clues collected, questioning and a separate challenge counter to see how well you are doing. Depending on your scores, gives you a rank. You will start as a lowly detective and then build up, each title zanier than the last.
• Auto saves throughout.
• Fast loading between the areas and interacting with the surroundings/witnesses.
• Great story telling- This is what the game is all about. The story is engrossing, interesting and full of interactive fun. Top notch story telling helps carry the game all the way.

Cons:

• A lot of hand holding through out the game.
• Whilst the animations are brilliant, There is just a set amount so expect to see the same animations over and over.
• On certain parts where you need to match suspects up with clues, You have no real indication on how well you are doing. A simple nearly right message doesnt help. It turns into a random guess exercise.
• There is more story than game. By this I mean you will be listening to suspects stories more than you will be interacting with the game world.
• No options exist not even volume or video options. Or if there is they are well hidden.
• The game overall is quite short.
• Puzzles are way too easy and never increase in difficulty.

 

In Summary, The game is so much fun to play. Its one of those games where you would whack it up on the big tele, Sit the family around and all play together. Its totally family safe and uses only the mouse so controls will not be a problem. The bright cartoon esque graphics with brilliant top drawer story telling makes this a family murder mystery game. The game is still fun even solo dont get it twisted. Its just one of the few games that can be enjoyed with company. Fans of the developers will notice a cameo of a character in one of their other games. Overall I am really glad I played the game and hope for many more. The game is also available on Mac, linux, iOS and Android and is currently in Steam Greenlight. You can vote for it here. To grab the other versions  please visit the developers website found here.