Demo offers sneak peek into Case Solved: The London Files

• Announcements by Sam Amiotte-Beaulieu
• Published:

Full collection of cozy deduction mysteries coming to Windows PC on Steam next quarter

A dark, foggy London alleyway isn’t exactly what would elicit warm, fuzzy feelings for most, but with its adorable 2D character cutouts and “cozy noir atmosphere,” the upcoming Case Solved: The London Files by indie Brazilian developer Minimol Games will aim to do just that.

You play an unnamed but hard-boiled, trench coat and fedora-wearing Scotland Yard detective assigned to various cases that unlock as you progress. Rather than sprawling multi-layered mysteries, you will gather clues in a strictly linear sequence of environments by talking with suspects and scouring the scenes for objects linked with your current objective. In putting your inner gumshoe to the test, you’ll soon discover that “every crime is a puzzle of logic,” and it is up to you to fit together the different clues to deduce their solutions. 

Part logical deduction game and part hidden object puzzler that promises a “modern take on 1960s-style mystery,” The London Files splits its cases into single-room levels. Accompanied by a “jazz-inspired soundtrack,” each isometric hand-drawn scenario is populated by charming 2D paper-like stills of you and the relevant individuals associated with the conundrum at hand, similar to another cozy deduction series, Duck Detective. Each scene displays the number of clues, hints, and evidence to be found there before moving on. Instead of long-winded interrogations, the suspects (who speak only occasionally in a garbled, unintelligible language) will each provide the name of a single item.

Once found, clicking the object in question will unlock a clue that fills a line of your in-game “deduction grid.” Rather than listing out various inventory items or bits of testimony, clues are revealed as single-line phrases like “The drummer was found with the guitar.” Once all evidence has been uncovered, like the “Einstein’s Riddle” that inspired it, you must figure out how all these ideas work together to form a cohesive conclusion, matching the suspects to your observations based on the limited information available. After correctly determining the truth for that scene, you will be able to move on to the next level at a new location with more clues to find. All told, the full game is expected to take between 3-5 hours to complete, with additional “game modes” possibly doubling that time or more.

Aspiring detectives can check out the demo for Case Solved: The London Files currently on Steam for Windows PC. For more than just a taste, the full set of case files are set to be opened sometime in the second quarter of this year. 

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