Demo offers a look ahead at next month's On Your Tail

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Cozy open-world "detective life sim" coming to PC on December 16th, Nintendo Switch in February

The best vacation for any adventure gamer is surely one filled with sunny beaches, great weather, new friends... and a bunch of mysteries to solve. The good news is, as winter begins descending on us northern hemispherians in December, there's all that and more awaiting in On Your Tail, the upcoming cozy investigative game starring anthropomorphic animals from indie Italian developer Memorable Games.

Players assume the role of Diana, an amateur writer who arrives in the sunny seaside town of Borgo Marina hoping to "escape from the daily grind and recharge" after yet another publisher rejection. It may look like an ideal place to just kick back and relax in sun and sand, but Diana soon discovers that "a mysterious thief is causing trouble." As an aspiring amateur detective, she sets out to get to know the "quirky locals" and "uncover hidden clues, solve intriguing puzzles, and navigate the strange happenings that lurk beneath the town’s charming exterior." To do that, she'll need to rely on her trusty chronolens, a "magical device to investigate crime scenes and view things how they were before the crime took place." Of course, this IS a nice vacation spot too, so in between all the sleuthing, you may just want to "relax with a swim in the ocean, try your hand at marbles, or sell gelato to the residents of Borgo Marina," among other activities you're free to choose. 

Described as a "cozy detective life-sim" and presented in vibrant, third-person 3D, On Your Tail allows players to freely explore its "Mediterranean paradise." It's up to you whether to be all business and follow the trail of mysteries to their logical conclusions, or take time out along the way for fun and games – literally. There are plenty of colourful characters to engage in unvoiced, visual novel-styled dialogue, some of whom may have useful information to the current case or offer side quests to pursue, while others may just be looking to "strike up a conversation, play some games, or even looking for something a little bit more than friendship." Eventually, though, when you're done cooking dishes, fishing, playing in the arcade, or earning extra cash with part time jobs, either by yourself or with newfound companions, you'll have some detective work to do. After you've gathered all the necessary clues in the form of playable cards, you will enter "deduction mode" and lay them down in the correct order as you "watch the crime play out in real time with a diorama of the crime scene that reacts to the clue cards you play."

There isn't long to wait before the full version of On Your Tail, which is due to launch on Windows PC on December 16th (and on Nintendo Switch in February 2025), but if you'd like to dive into your first case – a theft at Mamma Lucia's restaurant – you can check out the playable demo available now to download on Steam.