The Detective genre is one shrouded in mystery and intrigue. It’s a rare breed of entertainment that’s tasked with giving the protagonist and the audience a challenge. Given the clues obtained through suspect analysis and self-deduction, one must put these two entities together to form a verdict. Now imagine this done within an indie game where you are a retired detective called to investigate a case. Let’s go deeper and say that you are a duck. Not too far-fetched from each other if you think about it.Duck Detective: The Secret Salamifits this exact bill.
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Happy Broccoli Gameshas branched out from their first title, Kraken Academy, in terms of style and genre, with the intro(duck)tion of a story-book themed crime mystery. With the studio having their first and upcoming game visualized in an 8-bit pixelated environment,Duck Detectivegives a sense of variety to the developer’s roster excitingly. The small indie team makes an intriguing jump with this title and sticks the landing.
InDuck Detective: The Secret Salami, you play the down-on-his-luck Duck Detective himself, Eugene McQuacklin, as he is called to the scene of a crime at BearBus Station. Our fowl-play investigator primarily took the case with the hopes of getting himself off of his troubled waters, but this case isn’t a walk-around-the-pond for the infamous detective. Use your powers of de-duck-tion to inspect evidence around the BearBus grounds and fill in the blanks with clues given by objects and questioning to quack the case wide open.
Pe(a)king Duck
For a 2-3 hour game, it’s story is well-crafted with a mixture of comedy, suspense and mystery. On par with being a spoof of the detective genre, the characters feel unique and individualized in a way that isn’t too stereotypical. Those tropes don’t overstay their welcome and feel organic. Many of those are laid out front at the beginning of the game to give players a taste as to what these BearBus employees are. The same can be said for the Duck Detective, but there’s a complexity to the character that’s established early on. In terms of interaction, most of it is done only by the protagonist, so there isn’t much communication between other characters on screen. With this, they do establish relationships between employees through the evidence picked up by the Duck Detective.
None of the characters feel out of place, each of them having their respective role and bringing their own sets of quirks. Something that’s interesting is how every character, at some point, can be suspected to be The Salami Bandit. With the detective genre itself, sometimes it’s easy to know who did it, but this wasn’t so obvious. The twists in the game are good and don’t feel too predictable. That being said, the pacing feels rushed at the end, which does make some of the twists feel less integrated.
When it comes to the technical aspects, the game brings an impec(k)able touch to the story. Happy Broccoli Games knew their game from beak to feet. The music matches the narrative spot on, diving deep into the noir mystery aspect, but still valuing the quirkiness of the game itself. The voice acting adds more depth to the characters, each voice matching uniquely to the individuals. A standout is the Duck Detective himself, voiced by Sean Chiplock, who donned the traditional old-school detective voice. These qualities bring the story to life and help aid with giving the characters a well-rounded identity.
The usage of de-duck-tion was taken from the pages ofThe Case of the Golden Idolwith its identification process. From the moment you begin the game, you’re learning about the world around you rather than being randomly placed in it. This feels authentic gameplay-wise given all of your conclusions are based upon your findings from picking up keywords from suspects and physical evidence. While it can be tedious at times, they aren’t too complicated to solve. Your notebook has everything you need, so you don’t have to waddle around everywhere to go back to the evidence.
With the animation, it’s short, sweet and to the point. Coincidentally, the game does feel likePaper Mariowith its cut-out characters, linear movements and blend of 2D and 3D elements. The game does a good job with a few character movements like varied breathing. It feels like an experiment in a way with the incorporation of those aspects. All of them did, however, make sense to the narrative. Also, you can make quacking sounds, which is a plus.
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A Cozy Mystery
Duck Detectivebreathes life into the noir detective scene with its aesthetics. Its simplistic design is stylized in a way that feels like a 3D picture book brought to life. The lighting is a standout in its design, and it mixes well with the dark tinge in the color scheme. Being that the game takes place at night, all of these elements were important within the setting, and it was effective.
Given the length, this is one for those who are a lover of indie games and crime mysteries. A great example to describe the game is a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s short and sweet with a unique stylized touch.Duck Detectivefeels prime for expansion and a great building block to go from. It would be exciting to see where the Duck Detective will flock his way into another duck tale.
Closing Comments:
Duck Detective: The Secret Salamiis a great addition to the Happy Broccoli Games roster as well as to the detective mystery game genre. While it does play it safe in its approach, the game brings out the lovable aspects of the genre with its authentic characters and unique investigation. The voice acting and music are engaging and tonally-accurate, while the game doesn’t fall victim to stereotypes and carves itself a place in the sand within the cozy mystery beach.Duck Detective: The Secret Salamiis a must-play for those who crave a story-rich experience without the dirty work of digging too deep into the issue at hand (or feet?).
Duck Detective: The Secret Salami
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Happy Broccoli Games' latest adventure, Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, follows Eugene McQuacklin aka Duck Detective, as he uncovers the mystery behind The Salami Bandit. The game will be launching on Nintendo Switch and PC.
