Developer: Grace Bruxner, Thomas Bowker
Publisher: Worm Club, Superhot Presents
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified
Rrp: £4.29 each (Steam) or £11.58 as a bundle (Steam)
Released: 22nd November 2018 (Frog Detective 1), 9th December 2019 (Frog Detective 2) 27th October 2022 (Frog Detective 3)
Available on: Humble and Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 3+ hours for all three
I really enjoyed all three of these games but I can’t honestly say I could write three separate reviews that would be worth writing (or reading). You see, between the three games nothing really changes all that much on a mechanical or graphical level. Sure, the odd little gimmick gets added such as a notepad or scooter but the core gameplay remains the same.
You play as the titular Frog Detective and you are the agency’s second best detective. As such you get called out to solve cases when the agency’s best detective, Lobster Cop, is too busy.
These games are possibly the first example I’ve come across of a First Person game with point and Click Adventure mechanics. What I mean by this is that when you enter a mystery you have to find someone who wants something that you can get. So you speak to X character who wants Y object before they help you, meanwhile character A has Y object but won’t give it to you til you do a task for them. Each of these games occur within a small self contained environment with only a few characters to speak to, typically no more than eight.
These games are very bright, colourful and very wholesome. In fact, if I had to come up with four descriptors for these games they would be bright, colourful, wholesome and daft.
As I stated at the top of the review, I have very much enjoyed these games for what they are. As long as you don’t enter these games expecting any level of seriousness whatsoever you should find yourself really enjoying them too.
