Flatfoots and Fools: A Podcast about Detective Games

Fowl Play by Shmael Golden Idol-Inspired Bird Murder Mystery

Played another short detective game from Itch called Fowl Play, but this one has a lot of technical issues, and I was not able to finish it. Once I got it running, the part that bugged me the most was having almost all the information in a single notebook. shmael.itch.io/fowl-play

The Lost Borealis Expedition by darqwerful Investigate a haunting aboard a ship.

Been on a smaller games binge lately. darqwerful.itch.io/the-lost-bor...
This one's a nice contained set of puzzles on a ship. It features both deduction puzzles, and some more classic Point & Click ones. I really liked the former, but the latter were not for me. Still a fun trip to take!

[CLASSIFIED] of 2015 by Ricky Cruz A game about playing detective as a school yearbook editor.

rickycruz.itch.io/classified-o...

Played this as well over the weekend. The simple task of matching yearbook photos to names ends up being far more complex than expected, and is delightfully challenging. A great session for anyone looking for more Golden Idol style games.

We had a super long conversation playing through the game, which prompted the write-up

Another Night at the Archive by KorbohneD Search through an old archive for clues to bizarre and strange events.

After playing Leaf Taker last week, I played another enjoyable investigation game this weekend. It reminds me of A Hand With Many Fingers, with some different detailed mechanics. I recommend this for anyone who likes the idea of diving through an archive!

korbohned.itch.io/another-nigh...

Just finished this gem. Brutally strict on formatting, but very cool. I was stuck for a very long time because I didn't search for one of the starting terms, but after that it flowed well. By the end I was able to see most of the solve path, and enjoyed completing it!

I liked Type help, so this is now on my list to play

Just played this demo tonight. It's got promise for an intriguing story. It's made me realize I should play the other games from this creator that over been putting off

My Friends the Monster Trainers by Celia, jamwitch Gotta deduce 'em all!

Just played a delightful Game jam project from @celia-14.bsky.social A reductive description is The Roottrees meets Pokemon, but for those more immersed in deduction games it feels similar to playing some of Owlskip's games like Family celia14.itch.io/my-friends-t...

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Part 1

The first part of our long but satisfying conversation about 2001's Phoenix Wright. Ace Attorney. Andrew and John are joined by Lynx to discuss the start of a long running series that still inspires fan projects today.

open.spotify.com/episode/2Ip8...

This week I just played through all of Mind Diver. I really enjoyed this game. The narrative is quite wonderful with authentic and relatable characters. The system of solving through objects is excellent too, removing potential for UI to get in the way, or finicky text to be an issue.

Our eternal test subject was my bosses dog, a Samoyed. His amazing floof always broke the system, so every new iteration would try to finally get a good model of him. It never worked

So many of the object here look like things we used to test the scanners, and get hilarious blowouts that needed a lot of manual artist work to clean up.

I just started properly into the game, and it's giving me flashbacks. from 2016-20, I worked at a company making 3d body scanners to take a 3d "photo" of people, and automatically convert the 180 photos through photogrammetry into an OBJ file. The initial end product was a printable statue,

I was hoping this would be better, but I am not surprised.

Hello all,

We just released episode 3, on Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The First Cases. This is a hybrid of an adventure game and a significant clue-deduction-conclusion system.

Episode is available on Spotify, Youtube, and Apple podcasts!

RSS link here: anchor.fm/s/108c64748/...

Installing this now. I was intrigued by the demo, and will start playing this today. Ever since the Ludonarracon panel, I have wanted to see how this turns out, and now we can!

Just finished @badvikinggames.bsky.social's Strange antiquities. I forgot what the number was, but I did the Pillar. I really enjoyed my first playthrough, even though I got myopically fixated on the clock for a puzzle that didn't utilize it. Recommended for anyone who thinks they might enjoy it!

Two hours into @badvikinggames.bsky.social Strange Antiquities, and my favorite part so far is all the secrets in the shop. There's lots of things to tickle your brain, and I always feel like I am close to unlocking something but don't have all the keys yet.

Both of these are absolutely worth picking up, and getting them as a bundle is pretty sweet

Finished this yesterday. My favorite Expansion yet in terms of theme and story. The puzzles were challenging but satisfying. A great send off to a great game!

I almost forgot about upcoming games!
The Case of the Worst Day Ever
Crimson Seer
Death At Fleming Manor
Detective Hindsight
The Detective's Apprentice
Embers of Spiritflame
Murder at the Birchtree Theater
The Ratline
Surradia: An Art Retrospective
Wrongly accused.

Detective Grimoire (2014) does not fit in, but is an inspiration for later games. Duck Detective (2024/25) doesn't fit inside either, but it totally inspired by Golden Idol. Same with The Darkest Files (2025)

One option that might be cool is if you make a large box that contains the sub genre of Static Narrative Deduction, then you can put games that don't fit the sub genre outside the box, with lines if they inspired or were inspired by games that are in the sub genre

Ohh, also:
A Hand With Many Fingers-2020

And I have had these recommended to me, but I have not had a chance to see if they fit
7 Days to end with you-2022
The lost borealis expedition-2023

I also get three different joys. A serendipitous search is one kind of joy, which is similar but different than the joy I get from a successful targeted search like from Type Help. Both of those are different than the joy I get from successfully confirming a deduction. It's wildly subjective though

Now others:
Hypnospace Outlaw-2019
Unheard - Voices Of Crime-2019
Scene Investigators-2023
Lucifer Within Us-2023
[CLASSIFIED] of 2015-2023
We Suspect Foul Play-2024
Confidential Killings-2024
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie-2025
Utter a Name-2025

Some of these will not fit, but I leave that choice to you

I will add a bunch of potential titles with year of release here, though not organized within year:
First, Owlskip:
Rivals-2020
The Remains of Richard Fleming-2020
Family-2020
Copy!Right?-2021
Forgers (Tech Demo)-2021
Echo Beach-2021
Riley & Rochelle-2022
Life & Crimes (Game Jam)-2024

And unlike games that make a nice leads->information->analysis->leads loop, like Darkest Files or the Roottrees, Her story didn't require me to make significant deductions to get more information.

I find that Her Story and Golden Idol are two very different experiences. I would not even call Her Story a deduction game. To me, it's a search game, and deductions are only a tiny component of what you do.