Dragon Detective emerges from the shadows on Steam

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Demo also available for visual novel-styled anthropomorphic animal mystery for Windows PC

The dragons of legend are better known for breathing fire first and asking questions later, but perhaps that was merely a lack of opportunity. We can find out for ourselves just how adept one can be at solving mysteries in the newly released Dragon Detective: A Friend from the Shadows, by solo developer Elliot Mahan of Sungazer Software.

The game is set in a "Victorian-flavored fantasy world of anthropomorphic animals," where a small nation called Rivulette has long been waging war for its independence from the surrounding empire. Against this backdrop, players will don the sunglasses of Sevyn Noxley, the titular 32-year-old private investigator, a "miasma-dragon" who is called upon to solve four distinct "twisting, turning cases of murder and intrigue" for his fellow citizens, the first being the missing mother of a pair of poor teenaged foxes. Naturally, players will examine crime scenes for clues first-hand, as well as "question suspects, and point out contradictions by presenting evidence you've gathered during your investigation." Rather unnaturally, however (or at least, naturally for a magical dragon), you'll also have a few extra tricks up your sleeves that mere human detectives do not. 

Dragon Detective is a first-person, slideshow-styled mystery that takes players to various hand-drawn locations throughout Rivulette, including the shipyard and the Industrial, Cobble and Dirt districts. Gameplay is a combination of light adventuring and visual novel-styled conversations, but what makes this game different from most are the "draconic senses" available to you. Instead of just looking at items of interest, you can also smell, touch, listen, and taste them as well. (Not to worry about the latter, as Noxley is a strict vegetarian.) You'll need all of them to gather enough clues and assemble them into "intuitions" via simple drag-and-drop mechanics, and from there form hypotheses about what might have happened. When even heightened senses aren't enough, you can sometimes use special items and abilities as well, from nonlethal poison ampoules to Noxley's own "magical affinity to death itself, allowing him to discover and relive the moment of death." Helping you keep tabs on all the details you turn up is your handy notebook, where you'll collect information and build character profiles automatically as you progress. 

The complete version of Dragon Detective: A Friend from the Shadows is available now on Steam for Windows PC. If you're hesitant to play with fire, you can check out the playable demo instead, representing the game's first case, "The Mauve Mother." Like the full game, the demo offers both "casual" and "detective" difficulty options for "either a cozy or a  more challenging experience."