Gumshoe Detective Agency: The First Case

I'm marking this game as recommended because I did overall enjoy it, but have a few important caveats. First off, this game is quite short. You are unlikely to spend more than 1-2 hours on it. I personally feel it's important to support indie devs for these kind of games, because these days that's where most of these games from. So, I am okay with paying a little extra for a game when I know it's supporting an indie developer. But, the price is admittedly a bit high for the short gameplay. You might want to put this on your wishlist and wait for a good sale. The gameplay mechanisms are a bit clunky and can be a bit frustrating if you find you want to revisit sites. Every time you want to go to a site you have to do the same search for it -- there is no history or shortcuts to previous sites. Similarly, there are certain puzzles you have to do more than once if you are revisiting content that was locked behind a puzzle. The search terms are also very specific. The game is about kidnapped heiress Victoria Mason, and both her father and the company are important to the story, but if you simply search "mason" in the web browser you get no results. I did also run into an issue where a certain critical link on a website was not visible because I had enlarged the default font size. I had to look at a walkthrough to see what I was missing. So, if you are completely stuck and it doesn't seem you have anywhere to go, check your font size and make sure you only have it enlarged by a few clicks. Having said that, though, it's a fun little mystery and I enjoyed reading through the various web pages and information. I was a teenager in the 90s and the developer absolutely nailed the way the web pages looked back in the mid 90s. (There is also a small chance that when I initially started the game that I actually spent the first 15 minutes playing Minesweeper.) Though the game had its rough spots, I will definitely play the second one and hope that the developer has taken note of negative reviews as constructive criticism.

I really enjoyed this game! It's very light and cozy, and I loved the investigation process. The mystery is fairly straightforward, but there are a few twists in the story that caught me by surprise. I was also pleasantly surprised by the puzzles and thought they were integrated into the story well. I was able to solve them fairly quickly, but they were still fun because they required some thinking and putting together different pieces of information. The mechanics are a little clunky (especially the web browser), but I honestly don't find that it detracted from the experience in any significant way. For instance, a browser search history would have been convenient, but not having one certainly didn't make the game unplayable. Similarly for the notepad, once I discovered that right clicking moved the cursor (which, admittedly, should not have to be the case), the only real gripe I had about it was that typing automatically shifted the notepad's position on the screen. Which was annoying, but not a major issue for me. My favorite thing about this game is that you can feel the love that went into it, and that gave it a quirkiness that made the game all the more engaging. If you're in the mood for a quick, cozy mystery, and you're willing to forgive a few rough edges, give this game a shot! I am very much looking forward to the next installment.

I have to say, this game is very good and I enjoyed being a detective and only solving the mystery on the computer! There is a lot of reading but I thought it wasn't too bad There were things I struggled so hard on but overall, it's nothing like what I've played before, although there were puzzles that reminded me of the Nancy Drew games but they were not too terrible but the clues could have been improved a little bit. I do recommend this game only if you don't mind thinking a lot and typing a lot!

Short and fun mystery/deduction game! Needed a little help figuring out what to look for next but that was mainly due to me making incorrect assumptions. There is no Note app in the game anymore so bust out the pen and paper! Which i find more helpful for like the shape and color puzzle anyway bc then you can grid it out. I enjoyed this and look forward to seeing what else they make.

Needs slight polishing but was satisfying to finish as a short mystery. As someone who loved the Roottrees are Dead and Nancy Drew games I found this fun and think some of the upcoming quality of life fixes mentioned in an upcoming update will likely fix some of the small inconveniences. I think having a more consistently present back button on the top of page and an improved notebook would be helpful. I think the series has potential to expand on this with even more puzzles and interactive pieces to the puzzle. I hope to see more!

Witty, nostalgic, captivating, jazzy. Such a cozy and fun play. Well done and can't wait for more from this team.

As a person who loves games like The Roottrees Are Dead, I was excited to play this. However it wasn't worth the money. I completed it in around 90 minutes. It would've probably taken even less time if you didn't have to keep filling in the same information on pages as nothing saves. There was also nowhere to keep notes despite them being in the game instructions.

I'm not usually a huge cozy game/detective person, but this game came across my queue and I decided to give it a shot - I also love supporting small indie developers and liked the vibe of the game trailer. I ended up being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it!! The case was engaging and full of mystery, and the game itself was charming, cozy, and clearly well thought-out from front to finish. A tip for when you start this game - start writing your notes EARLY, and categorize them by people or locations - there are many many hints and occasional red herrings throughout but in general the information you need to solve the case is distinct. Writing all the evidence down will help you piece it all together in the end! The cork/murder style board was such a cool touch, and I loved how I could drag all the people around with the other notes that appeared. The developer really kept me guessing until the very end - every time I found something I thought was incriminating, the evidence kept going!! The evidence counter was also SUPER helpful - I was able to tell when I was getting closer and closer to the resolution or if I was still far out. I would have LOVED if I could see a list of all the web-pages I had previously visited/already located, but that's mostly because I am so forgetful and I sometimes skim readmore than I fully absorb information (another reason I did not make a very good detective and had to use the guide to get through the game, LOL). Besides that, absolutely digged this game and am really looking forward to the next case!! All in all highly recommend if you're a fan of detective/cozy-style games, it's a very chill yet engaging play that I would say was well worth the $$ and time :)