Rivals

A short but satisfying experience. I highly recommend this to fans of Obra Dinn, Orwell, and similar narrative detective games.

A short but sweet game of deduction told through a bittersweet tale of two rival musicians. The clues are put together nicely and the story unfolds as you move through it. Took about an hour to play.

There is a wave of games like this coming out. The children of Obra Dinn, Hyperspace Outlaw, Golden Idol, and the Roottrees - Great-grandchildren of Infocom and countless others. Rivals fits perfectly in the genre while also being a love letter to a window of music filled with stories just like this one. Rivals isn't all that difficult, but you can't help but find yourself enamored by the story itself and the music that inspired it. Definitely worth the low price for a few hours of learning about Luke & Josh.

Good little investigative / deduction game

This game is a short but fun look at a musical rivalry, where you need to sort through the evidence available, and deduce a timeline of events. With interviews, articles, and custom music, you follow the careers of two artists and their associates and lay out dozens of events on the timeline. Great for detective fans!

I don't think you can get a better hour or so of entertainment for 99 cents (I've played it a couple times now). I always appreciate a developer that knows their strengths and makes something that feels thoughtful without biting off more than they can chew. There are a few typos in the text (the charm of indie games!), but overall there's an impressive amount of effort put into the music, world building and voice acting. There were a couple spots where I had to brute force my guesses, but I was always in the ballpark already. Overall, a tidy mystery game that scratches a similar itch to games like Obra Dinn and Her Story (although I prefer the acting in this to Her Story).

Short and absolutely brilliant deduction game telling a simple story full of real detail.