What sort of detective are you? Step into the shoes of Crownston City’s newest detective and find the answer as you solve three crimes.
Detective Hunt – Crownston City PD
Developer: pixepob
Price: $4.99
Platform: PC
Detective Damien Hunt has just become a detective in Crownston City, a safe and peaceful city—or so he thinks. Partnered with another rookie detective, Damien gets his first case and begins to learn about the corruption beneath the city’s veneer.
Much of the story is delivered in a visual novel format, although there are comic book-style scenes at the beginning and end of each chapter.
The art is mostly black and white, aside from occasional touches of color for style. For the most part, this contributes to its noir atmosphere and serves the game well. However, the limited color range does lead to a frustrating issue where character profiles and item descriptions are displayed as white text on a light gray background—not a good combination.
For gameplay, you’ll inspect crime scenes to find evidence and talk to other characters. Dialogue choices frequently come up in conversation. Sometimes, these choices affect the character’s view of you, while other times they determine the course the story takes. Your map allows you to select different locations to travel to.
The gameplay is simple and easy to grasp, although it occasionally becomes a pixel hunt if the game won’t let you progress without finding a certain piece of evidence.
Once you’ve gathered enough clues, you’ll need to figure out the case. Unlike many mystery games, Detective Hunt doesn’t hand you the answers. Instead, you have to think through the case logically and decide which suspect you want to apprehend or which theory you believe. Each chapter has multiple endings, depending on what you do.
There are three chapters in the game, each of which focuses on a separate case. While there isn’t quite an overarching plot, the three cases do connect and influence each other. At the end of the game, you’ll receive a different ending based on your actions.
A basic playthrough will take a couple of hours to complete, depending on which choices you make. Since there are multiple options, as well as achievements available only in specific endings, you can get a few more hours out of it if you want to see every outcome.
Unfortunately for such a story-driven game, the writing could be polished. While it’s difficult to point to specific grammatical issues, the dialogue often feels basic and unnatural. It also occasionally takes a casual tone at odds with the serious themes. The characters are neither dislikable nor particularly compelling, and the mysteries are interesting enough without being compelling.
With that said, there are some enjoyable twists and a few great moments. It’s the sort of game with good potential that could be greatly improved through stronger writing.
The Final Word
Detective Hunt – Crownston City PD is a little rough around the edges, but its multiple paths and intertwined stories show potential.
– MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
