Detective-focused investigations are a staple of gaming, with Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright bringing unique energy to the setting. But most are set in the Western or Asian markets, focusing on a particular culture. Detective Dotson, a newly released ‘cozy mystery’ on PC by Indian designer Masala Games, attempts to bring a unique Indian flavor to the genre while keeping things as energetic as your favorite cozy mystery.
You play as the aforementioned Dotson, a wannabe Bollywood star whose father was murdered. So, Dotson leans into the role of a detective in hopes of investigating the nature of the mystery and getting to the truth of the matter.
A free copy of Detective Dotson was provided to The Fandomentals for review.
The game starts off with low-key mysteries, such as who painted Dotson’s dog pink or who stole food from a Bollywood stage. Players must piece together the answers on their evidence board and determine who is behind the problem. To do so, players will have to talk to everyone in a fairly small preset area to get their input on certain clues. Some people will talk freely, while others will require certain items to be traded for information or tasks performed for them. Mysteries soon become a maze of fetch quests, conversations, and attempted plot twists that all help fill your evidence board and allow you to determine the state of events and your most likely culprit for the crime.
The game’s visuals are delightful, bringing an exciting and happy energy to the characters as Dotson runs around and chats. If there’s one aspect that the game masters, it is Indian culture. Whether it is the dress of NPCs, the art of settings or even the ambience, Indian culture permeates this game from top to bottom. The soundtrack also captures a really unique energy that mixes Indian street drums with funky guitars and flute, helping give the game a phenomenal vibe.
Players will move around with WASD, use shift to run, and occasionally throw trash (and shoes) into trash cans for cash. The gameplay is very forgiving, although players will need to mind their currency since it can determine whether or not a player is able to successfully acquire the items needed for a mystery clue.
Where the game lags for me is in its storytelling and text. I found a lot of the NPC text stilting, often lacking a natural flow in English. This could be an issue of translation across cultures, but it was present enough to catch my eye. Each investigation wraps up as its own story, but often has a hook that latches into the bigger story that will eventually draw players into the major conclusion of the story. Some of the findings didn’t necessarily feel natural compared to other mysteries.
Players will need to gather items to gather clues, and then put those clues together via word prompts and pictures to determine what each candidate did. It’s a forgiving system and not hard to cheat your way through. The game does provide a limited number of hints for each mystery, if players ever feel as though they are lacking key details or require a review of the facts.
The gameplay flowed very nicely, with each episode adding new elements to manage. For example, a security guard wanders the Bollywood set that players must investigate in the second crime. Dotson can throw things at him or use disguises to hide in plain sight. But players still have to run around and acquire various items from stores, give the store items to witnesses and then the witnesses will either give a clue or another item that another witness wants. The items themselves are often inconsequential to the story and just seem like busy work for the player.
Some mini-games provide an easy distraction by allowing players to dance and even play cricket while earning the currency required for them to buy items and trade them with NPCs. While a player can skirt by without playing them, they help provide sufficient buoyancy so that gameplay remains consistent and players don’t run themselves into a wall mechanically. But once you’ve done them, they offer little in replay value.
Detective Dotson is a cute and artistically pleasing game that draws players into a vibrant, culturally fascinating story that captures Indian life. As an artifact trying to bring more Indian culture to gaming, it is a triumph. However, the game’s mystery and mechanics are stilted and repetitive, making it hard for me to invest in the story. The story threads required a bit more added, and the NPCs needed a bit more character. But for a player’s first mystery game, it is a good place to start.
Detective Dotson is currently available on Steam, and is coming to Xbox.
Images Courtesy of Masala Games
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