Hank Shaw: Animal Investigator preparing to prowl

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Comedic cartoon noir-styled mystery unveiled on Steam for Windows PC

Step aside, Ace Ventura! There's a new animal investigator in town, and his name is Hank Shaw. Or there will be soon enough, when his upcoming self-titled adventure from Exit 73 Games is launched on PC.

For Hank, dealing with animals isn't just a job but a gift, as he can "squeak and squawk with the best of 'em." Naturally, whenever a pet goes missing, Hank is the man everyone calls upon to find them. But stray cats in trees and runaway dogs are one thing; Hank is REALLY going to have his hands full when he learns of "a breakout at the zoo." In order to restore order and find the culprit(s) responsible, players will need to "do more than chat with low down dirty rats and stool pigeons." If you're to get to the bottom of this unusual case, you'll need to be prepared to "call in every favor you got and get your hands dirty as you sniff out clues."

If the abundance of animal puns wasn't enough of a hint, the first screenshots and trailer for Hank Shaw confirm a delightfully whimsical comedy experience. It's framed as a noir-style detective mystery that sees the diminutive protagonist travelling to various locations within "the city’s seedy underbelly" in search of clues. Along the way you'll encounter "numerous mini-games and brainteasers ... to be solved," along with an eclectic cast of characters to interrogate. Since "everyone in this town’s working an angle with their own motives," you'll need to keep your wits about you in order to distinguish truth from lies, friend from foe. But if all that sounds very Maltese Falcon, the blue-tinted, hilariously animated hand-drawn aesthetic has much more of a Pink Panther/Inspector Clouseau cartoon vibe instead, promising plenty of laughs throughout its "short" play time.

There is no target release date just yet, but Hank Shaw: Animal Investigator can be now be tracked on Steam, where it will launch for Windows PC.