Kaosper

I can from the get-go just admit that I'm biased writing this review, since I want to encourage all developers within this genre to continue producing detective games, especially such an experienced studio as Frogwares. With that said, I can recommend this to any sleuth out there looking for a fix. The general gameplay is well crafted and provides an appropriate challenge and suspense in most of the mysteries. There are several new mechanics that gives anyone the prerequisites to feel like a genuine gumshoe. However, they have thrown in a horrendous combat aspect of the game which is just as repetitive as it is comically... bad. Thankfully it appears seldom in the main story, but for all non-trophy/achievement purposed, stay clear of the bandit lairs! As for the "open world" part of it all, I'd refrain from calling it open world, and I think a lot of the backlash against the game comes from creating the expectancy of some sort of GTA/RDD world with endless side hustles. What this game provides is a looser transition between missions, where the "open world" just serves as a way to choose in what order you want to tackle the story. The game as a whole is actually beautiful, but the scenery has very obviously come at the expense of hiring an animations team. I'm fully aware that this is far from a triple-A title, but at times its resemblance to N64 Donkey Kong is almost frightening. The cutscenes are (thank god) given a bit more love animation-wise, but the fish-mouth speaking animations are a tad immersion-breaking in my opinion. But the pure amount of content is awesome for a game of this genre, and almost all of the side missions are worth playing (some of them are almost the length of a main mission). The main story itself is excellent and will keep you guessing until the very end. All in all it's a very entertaining game, which in many ways sets a new standard for the genre, but unfortunately in some other ways fall flat. PS. Not incorporated in my review score is the horrific day 1 DLC, which both in principle and in execution shouldn't exist DS.

The game is a well developed new iteration of the great Detective Hercule Poirot that just falls a bit short as an actual game. Although entertaining, there is no real challenge and no risk involved whatsoever. I'd say the general aesthetics of the game is subjective, as the graphics are perhaps a bit outdated for a game released so recently, but has a certain cozy charm to it. I myself am a huge fan of the detective genre, but this game took roughly 6 hours to complete (and I searched through every nook & cranny). I bought this on sale for roughly 35€, but at this length I'd say it's not worth that price at all. I was however smitten by the great voice acting (English language) and maybe because of that I'll still give it a generally favorable score. I'd probably wait for it to drop to around 15€ though to fully give it my stamp of approval.