Staffer Case reborn with English translation and short spin-off sequel

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Pair of localized Korean supernatural dedution games available now for download on Steam

Usually sequels and spin-offs arrive AFTER their original predecessors, but not so with Team Tetrapod's Staffer series – at least, not the English version of it, as the localized Staffer Case original recently arrived a few days after its successor, Staffer Reborn.

Both games are set in the 1960s, in an alternate world where supernatural abilities are commonplace. In London, where Staffer Case takes place, 10% of the population has some sort of psychic gift, called "staffers," some of whom use their abilities to commit crimes. Notrick, the newest detective in the Mana Affairs Division, is not a staffer so he's going to have to solve a series of murders the good old-fashioned way. Well, with a little help from the senior detectives in the field, who "will use their extrasensory gifts to investigate crime scenes and organize their findings into detailed documents." It's your job to sift through the evidence compiled and "find inconsistencies in these reports to get to the truth lying at the heart of each case."

Staffer Reborn takes place in the same time period but transports players across the ocean to 1960s America. There a war hero has been blessed – or cursed? – with the ability to resurrect immediately each time he dies on the battlefield. At long last, having grown old, he believes he's finally reached the blissful end, only to discover that once again "his revival ability steals this natural death from him, thrusting him into a cycle where his old age kills him every fifteen minutes." Players control the investigator sent to help the lieutenant understand the "strict set of rules" that govern his ability, and in doing so ultimately "help him achieve eternal rest."

Both games feature a hand-drawn art style, but where the Staffer Case is a full-fledged game spent poring over case files in search of contradictions, the bite-sized, black-and-white Staffer Reborn allows player interaction with the environment like in a more conventional adventure. By talking to the people close to the (non-)dying man and examining items in the room directly, you can uncover new information yourself that will be recorded in the files. Once you've learned everything you can from the environment, only then can you begin to "start logically deducing what you can from it."

Both Staffer Case and Staffer Reborn are now available in English to download on Steam for Windows and Mac. While the latter is too short for any kind of demo, the former offers the first two cases to try free. 

• Advertisement
• Help support AGH by advertising with us