A Case of Distrust
Solve a detective case in 1920s California, which won’t be what it seemed initially.
In my opinion, there is not enough detective-style games out there. But I’m always happy when games like A Case of Distrust are out, and are really good.
The first thing that caughts the attention is the style - jazz music, interesting silhouette art style and the general feel of 1920s USA. It’s quite mesmerizing and can get you to a proper mood - you can actually dive into the life back then: prohibition, mob, politics, era of inventions and all other things.
The interesting thing is that the feeling is even more by your taxi rides - while riding from place to place, you can talk to the cab drivers. There are some interesting and funny conversations there, all relating to current events at that times: culture, sports, politics, inventions, society and all other. Talking about events from those times, or things that were concerning back then is another great atmosphere building tool. With a bit of humour, like showing how the prohibition didn’t really work in California back then ;)
But what about the game? Of course there is a game. You’re a woman detective (this is important, taking into consideration that times, where women emancipation was a big topic, but not working well yet), and as private detectives - kind of struggle with new (or decent) cases. But today, you are hired by some shady character to investigate who send him a death threat. As you uncover the case… well, let’s say things will change :)
Gameplay is based on travelling to different locations, where you can investigate both things lying around and talk with people there (technically, there is 1 person per location). All evidence you find, and all statements made by people you talked to, are written down in your notebook. This is important, because talking to people is generally asking them about those evidence and/or statements made by others. This way, you are uncovering some truths or leads, just to use them somewhere else.
Although the game isn’t particularly hard (you cannot actually make any mistakes), and even if you are stuck, you could just “brute force” and ask everyone about everything, it gives some challenge and isn’t super straightforward. But if you’re a good detective, you will get there ;)
The characters in the game (although there are only like dozen of them) are all well described and interesting, which is great and helps with the general feeling of reality of the case - their responses are fitting their characters really good.
Uncovering the whole story is interesting - especially that you’re the one making the conclusions and figuring out where to use these new bits of information. Obviously, there is a nice twist at the end :) I can totally recommend the game - let yourself chilled with good jazz music and solve the case!
My rating: 8/10
Playtime: 3.5h
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A Case of Distrust on Steam