Connected Clue now linked to Steam

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Isometric investigative mystery available now on Windows, Mac and Steam Deck; still to come on Switch

Most deduction mysteries let you sit back while the computer does most of the work for you. Not so in Connected Clue, the newly released isometric adventure that challenges players to do all their own investigative legwork as well. 

It's a typical day on the "fog-drenched streets of 19th-century Salomon Town" until a group of robbers brazenly break into the local bank vault in broad daylight, shooting the guard before making their escape. It's now up to you, a rookie detective named Diana, to get to the bottom of the heist by examining crime scenes in search of clues, gathering evidence, interrogating suspects and exposing their lies, solving puzzles, and even risking danger at times to successfully deliver justice. This is no mere visual novel or Golden Idol clone, but rather a "hands-on mystery adventure that ditches dialogue boxes in favor of real detective work." Succeed and you'll soon find yourself with other, even more complex cases befalling your hometown city. 

Unusually for a game of this sort, Connected Clue is an isometric, point-and-click adventure with a charming pixel art style that follows Diana around key locations in town. During the investigative portions, you'll equip your magnifying glass and other detective tools to wander the environments in search of evidence, the number of which is displayed as a progress indicator. Some things you can pick up and examine in 3D for more revealing detail, such as fingerprints on a glass to lift with your trusty charcoal powder. You'll also need to examine witnesses and potential suspects for relevant details, and interview them to construct the facts of the case, though it's up to you to determine which are telling the truth, presenting evidence when necessary to expose contradictions. 

There will be codes to crack and ciphers to solve as well, and on occasion you'll be called upon to use disguises and stealth in order to tail suspicious characters or sneak past watchful eyes. If worst comes to worst, you may even need to resort to physical violence to "subdue criminals who resist arrest." While it might require you to be soft on your feet or quick on the trigger at times, this is no action game overall. Instead, any relevant details you collect are stored in your journal, conveniently separated into evidence, testimony, and scraps. There you can work out potential motives, methods and other questions as well, and when you've gathered all the facts you need, you can "pin testimonies and physical clues" to your Detective's Wall and organize them to "reconstruct the crime's timeline." Only when you've figured it all out can you (or should you) gather all the suspects together and "point out the true culprit."

With a total of 29 "quests" over the course of 11 chapters, there's a lot of crime to uncover in Salomon Town, and you can get started right away as Connected Clue is available now on Steam for Windows, Mac and Steam Deck. A Switch version will follow later, though no specific launch date has yet been announced.