I can't be the only person glad 1) that it exists and 2) that it was done well and got the expected laughs and then some. I worry I potentially spoiled the experience with what I've written. It's one of those entries where you have a relatively simple joke that won't baffle people, but it has enough side passages that it's legitimately fulfilling, and it's not just a joke. It's all well-constructed, and I think I played a post-comp version so I didn't encounter the bugs earlier reviewers reported. Whether or not you get the joke before officially solving the case, there are good laughs to be had. They are a sporting type, so even if you mess up, nothing horrible happens to your character.ĭD is the sort of game that could've been overwritten easily and beaten the joke to death. The end result, when the dragon interrogates you about your findings, is satisfying whether the dragon's convinced or not. There's no grinding for experience or anything, either, and DD even tracks the clues you've found so far, so you don't have to. None of this is too esoteric or demanding, and the exploration feels just about right. You look through for clues and rumors, and there are five pieces of evidence that you need in order to nail down the perpetrators' identities. But they want things to be safe for others that dwell in the dungeon. Dragons aren't greedy, at least not in the game-world. You, as a gnoll with somewhat broken English, offer your detective skills to a dragon who is worried treasure is missing. But it is a smooth, fun experience, with amusing characters, and I'm glad of all the bases it covered. It espouses no great philosophical views or breakthroughs, and while well laid-out, it's not super technically proficient.
Some IFComp entries give you a "why didn't anyone do this sort of thing before" feel, and Dungeon Detective definitely falls into this category. However, as I said in my review of Haywire, that's really another way of saying that I enjoyed Dungeon Detective and would have liked more game to play! My only critique is that the game was a little on the short side. The combination of the two as displayed in Dungeon Detective felt fresh to me. Also, I like the idea of mashing up the fantasy and mystery genres. I don't think I've ever played a gnoll before. I remember them only as enemies in D&D games. I also liked how ( Spoiler - click to show) the dragon still gave me three out of five stars on the ending where I failed to solve the mystery. Even if you successfully identify the adventurers, the story can play out differently depending on certain choices you made with respect to the other characters. Depending on certain options with them, the way you find various clues and the level of detail you gain from those clues appear to vary quite a bit. In addition, the major choices in the game mostly revolve around your interactions with these characters. I particularly enjoyed the interaction between the PC and the dragon it reminded me some of ( Spoiler - click to show) Grunk and the gnome in Lost Pig. There aren't very many characters, but they all have distinct personalities. The writing is evocative it captured the feeling for me of walking through a dungeon, making decisions about where to go next and what to do. Your choices do, however, seem to affect which clues you find and how much information you can glean from them. For the most part, you're examining the same parts of the dungeon no matter what choices you make. The gameplay involves uncovering clues that help identify the adventurers. So the game ends up being a choice-based mystery.
You, Sniff Chewpaw, gnoll detective, have been hired by a dragon to determine the identity of the adventurers who looted your dungeon. Which works for me.)Īnd I did enjoy Dungeon Detective. The signal it initially sent me was something like "comedy version of the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon starring a hyena." (I know it's a gnoll, but in the cover art the main character looks like a sentient hyena. I was predisposed to like Dungeon Detective because of its cover art.
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