Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved Review

Procrastinating on my term paper? Pffft nooo…okay maybe.

While I do like a wide variety of genres, there are a couple that I love the most and visual novels are one of them. I am more selective nowadays, but I do zero in on games that take inspiration from my all favorite games and Detective Instinct was one of them. It immediately reminded me of Ace Attorney, which I love, and I knew I was going to like the full game after I played the demo. Haha, yep, another game I played the demo of and now here I am playing the full game. I did also find myself running into some other tidbits about the game as the release date got closer and man, did that get me even more excited. Like how this game was indeed inspired by Ace Attorney (knew it!), but also by Hotel Dusk and Famicom Detective Club. I haven’t played the latter two (…yet), but you can really tell that the developers also love the genre, which is also important. I don’t know what I’d do if this would have turned out to be another visual novel that acted like the genre/sub-genre it’s in is a joke.

Anyway, it’s time to get right into the review and find out if Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved lived up to the expectations that the demo set out.

Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved puts us into the shoes of an unnamed young male protagonist that you can name yourself. He doesn’t have a canon name and, since I usually name main characters after myself, I’ll just call him the Protagonist throughout my review. Anyway, we come in right at the tail end of a trip that he’s taking and I mean literally as he’s starting the journey back. We quickly learn that the Protagonist is an American English Literature college student who was able to take a directed study trip alongside his professor, Professor Martin, and his friend, Emma. They traveled to the fictional country known as Vendreka to learn about Vendrekan literature and how the country’s history could have influenced it. We don’t know exactly what happened during the trip, but we do know that Professor Martin grew up in Vendreka, the Protagonist and Emma has a term paper coming up about this very subject, and you do actually learn some history yourself as it does end up being important to the story. The game starts as everyone is resting at the hotel before they set off on the cross country train that is making up their first leg in their journey back home.

It seems like their trip to and their time in Vendreka was pretty uneventful, however it turns out that the end of their trip is going to be quite the opposite. It all started the night before they were set to leave Vendreka as a man gets murdered in an unoccupied room at the very hotel they’re staying in. The Protagonist even gets a very startling wake up call in the form of a police officer banging on his door thinking he did it before the officer realizes he has the wrong room. And, of course, you get a little up close to the scene and some intel thanks to Emma’s curiosity and Detective Daltrey listening to his gut to let you guys satisfy that curiosity. As the next day rolls by, luckily nothing else happens as they board the train…until the train starts its journey that is. The Protagonist is chilling in his cabin, thinking about his term paper, when Emma suddenly comes to talk to him. Emma tells the Protagonist that something strange is going on here and she came to talk to him to make sure she’s not going crazy. She recounts how she met a woman while she was getting some fresh air and talked to her for a while, both on the outdoor platform and in the lounge car. They talk until Emma leaves to take a nap, but not before they both agree to meet up again for lunch. However, when lunch came along, Emma couldn’t find the woman. And that’s not all. When Emma went to ask about the woman to some of the people that saw them together, they all said that she was alone.

Emma is sure this missing woman is real and while the Protagonist is a bit doubtful, he does agree to help Emma try and find the missing woman. You and Emma are only going to be on the train for three days, but maybe, just maybe, that’s just enough time to get to the bottom of this mystery and find out the truth.

I don’t think I can express how much I loved the story here and how it was written. I’m going to have to be pretty vague here as to not spoil anything, and I honestly recommend not spoiling yourself before or during your playthrough, but I found the story really intriguing, engaging, and masterfully crafted. Every decision that the writer made were great ones that really played into their strengths and the scope they were going for. It would be weird for random English Lit students to be solving a murder so you’re instead trying to find a woman that your friend swears is real. That’s pretty low stakes befitting the deuteragonists, though don’t think that murder is just going to be forgotten. It was a great idea to have this game be set on a train, not only to keep everything nicely contained, but to keep the cast small and tight. This not only helped keep the game grounded and realistic, but also allowed you to get to know the characters here. Talking about the characters, I loved them. You do get a really good sense of their personality and they all have that Ace Attorney quirky charm to them, but of course in a different, more subtle, flavor. They all ended up making strong impressions, even the characters that you don’t talk to all that much, and I did find myself surprised how I was able to read them (not literally, but figuratively in between the lines if that makes sense). It’s really hard to pick a favorite character, but if I had to choose I’d say it’s a tie between Emma and Detective Daltrey.

I specifically wanted to talk about the Protagonist here as well. The vibe that I got from Detective Instinct was that it aimed to have the Protagonist strike a balance between being a self-insert character and an already developed character; which, I’m happy to say, worked out here. While I do wish he had a canon name that I can call him by, the way he’s written managed to make this balance seem so effortless. He’s just developed enough where he has his own personality, his worries are really relatable, his subtle growth is believable, and he has history with Emma and Professor Martin. And at the same time, his character is blank enough to where you can easily insert yourself as him and get into the same page as him (which definitely helps with how the gameplay here is handled). I also really appreciate how the Protagonist actually talks and it’s pretty easy to guess what he must have said when you select a topic to discuss with another character.

Emma was also the perfect character to accompany the Protagonist. She is almost the opposite of him and they bounce off of each other so well. I love how headstrong, confident, and encouraging she is. She is definitely someone that people would easily gravitate towards and she is really easy to like. I like the subtle growth that she goes through too and how the whole experience ended up affecting her.

I love how this game handled the mystery itself and how everything ended up connecting. You can honestly figure out the mystery yourself once you get enough of the clues, which is really cool. I’m not saying this as a bad thing, but as a good thing. Especially since even if you do guess it, there is more to it than you’d expect and I was pretty surprised with what was revealed even though I suspected it. I really like how there are so many details that just seem strange and you just file it away. But then, as you gather more information and more strange details, you start to connect everything with string. I honestly did spend a couple of minutes making up theories and connecting the dots a couple of times during my playthrough. I made my deductions off of circumstantial evidence and vibes haha. Which, honestly, also shows how great the writing is as the vibes I’m talking about mainly came from how the characters acted and I got suspicious as I was reading in between the lines and the looks they were giving the Protagonist and Emma. So, yeah, all in all the mystery is really well done here and I love how you can even solve it yourself.

Oh, and of course, I love the writing style here. I’m sure you know that’s pretty much a given though haha. The writing here is so good and manages to say more with less. I laughed so much during my playthrough, but don’t worry, the game also handles its tone and the subject matter that it ends up touching upon remarkably well. The build up to the final chapter, and well in general everything, was really well done.

And, okay, special shout out to the ending. I was wondering how this game was going to end as I was approaching it, but man I couldn’t envision this game ending differently. It’s just so perfect, both in how it ends the story and how it encapsulates the Protagonist and Emma in a single scene. Also, I’m not exaggerating with this, but I called the ending absolute cinema out loud not only to myself but to someone else that I was raving about the game to when I was still in the middle of playing it. Yeah, it’s that good. I hope I’m not overhyping the ending, or the game in general, but I’m serious when I’m saying that I loved the game so much and how perfect I think it is.

Oh my gosh, and how the game’s title and the logo ends up connecting to the story? Loved it.

Now onto the gameplay! This is probably pretty weird considering, well, visual novels are just you clicking through dialogue, but this does have more interaction than that. In Detective Instinct, you’ll be able to interact with the world through the command menu that is present on the screen most of the time. The command menu holds various actions you’ll be able to do to progress and while most of them are staple actions that will always be available, they will also only come up on the command menu when the situation calls for it. Which helps narrow down what you need to do, takes an action that would be redundant away, and makes some actions rare.

The actions here are what you’ll expect here. First up, “Go To” will allow you to move between locations when applicable. There are points in the story you can pick and choose where to go first and there’s even a chapter where you’ll be able to go to your cabin to recap specific things you did if needed. You have the “Check” option which lets you inspect the location you’re at. It may only let you inspect something specific, like maybe looking at the character in front of you, but it will oftentimes have the option for you to click at spots you believe are key spots. There’s “Think” and “Discuss” which both have the same use of giving you a hint in what to do or is sometimes used to progress, but “Think” is when the Protagonist is thinking to himself while “Discuss” is when Emma is with you and you two will discuss what to do next. “Speak To” will pop up in situations where there are multiple characters in a location that you can speak to, which you can’t talk to them unless they’re right in front of you, AKA when their sprite is on the screen. And finally, “Talk” which is where you’ll be able to talk to the character in front of you through a list of topics. Sometimes you’ll get all the information you need by choosing the topic once, but sometimes you’ll have to choose it multiple times to get everything out of them.

Sometimes, the situation will call for a rare action, like giving an item to someone, as well. There aren’t many moments where you have dialogue options, but when they do happen they are mainly asking your opinion on something. This will allow you to pick out of a couple choices and I found it to be a nice addition here that slightly changes the text. It lets you add in a bit of your own personality into the Protagonist, while also still being believable that he would say/think it. The game does also mix things up, requiring you to go back to an action that will now progress the game or now will give you something. Like, if you find none of the conversation topics are giving you something new, you just need to “Think”/”Discuss” to gain a new topic (which is highlighted for you so you’ll know it was just added) or gain a new response to an old topic. This does sound like Detective Instinct may be a bit obtuse, but it’s actually not. I found the game to be very clear on what you needed to do, easy to figure out what you needed to do to progress, and I do think the “Discuss”/”Think” action does a good job at pushing you in the right direction. I never found myself stuck at any point.

After you get on the train and start the missing woman mystery, the Protagonist will also start carrying around a Notepad. This is where you’ll be able to see the notes that the Protagonist writes down as you progress through the game and you’ll get a little notification every time it gets updated. I loved the inclusion of the Notepad and how it was handled. It basically has character information and important topics so you can look back if you want to be reminded about something. Though, what I really like is how these entries not only do get updated as you progress the game and learn new information, but the updates gets added to the entry. So instead of it, say, replacing information you thought was the truth with the actual truth, it’ll be added to the bottom instead. Which lets you see the progress that you made along the way. The entry is also highlighted, as well as the new text with it automatically being scrolled down, so you can know what’s new to read it too, which was also really nice. I definitely do recommend checking out the Notepad either way as there is just enough charm and personality to make reading the Notepad entries interesting to read even right after they are updated.

At the end of most chapters, you’ll be given a review of all that happened and you found out; as well as a quiz to make sure you were paying attention. This serves as a nice recap and I didn’t find the quiz that hard. Most of the questions are multiple choice, some are fill in the blank, and you won’t have any problem as long as you’re paying attention. It is quite rewarding getting them right and you aren’t penalized for getting them wrong. Well, aside from the last two where getting them right are tied to achievements.

But I like talking to you!

I really enjoyed the gameplay here, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering I love visual novels. The command menu works really well here, especially since there’s never really any confusion on what to do. The game does a really good job at tutorializing you and getting you used to how actions work in this game. I can see people not liking how actions and progression is handled here sometimes, but I didn’t really mind since, like I said before, it is easy to figure out what you need to do and I don’t see anyone getting stuck. This also doesn’t have a key to highlight all the interactable spots, but I did also find it pretty obvious what you can and can’t inspect.

I didn’t mention this back when I talked to the story since I felt this had more to do with the gameplay, but man I honestly loved the writing here so much I ended up picking every action and inspecting everything just to read more. There are a lot of actions you don’t have to take to progress, but I really loved the writing here and couldn’t just not click to see all the dialogue here. There was only one time I didn’t hit the “Discuss” action and that was because I wanted to figure out a…very spoilery thing by myself. I also really enjoyed reading the notes that the Protagonist takes in his Notepad and the review that happens at the end of the chapter. It may just be a recap, but it has enough of the character’s personality in them that it makes it enjoyable to read rather than it being a boring recap. I love how the character’s personality still shines through the cracks.

As for negatives, I don’t think I have any. Detective Instinct is a really solid visual novel and the only things I can think of would be more up to personal preference. Like, for example, I personally would have liked it if the game gave you the option to save at the end of a chapter/right before the next chapter since I prefer completing the chapter I’m on before ending my gaming session when I play visual novels.

I absolutely loved the visuals and sound design for Detective Instinct. The visuals here are superb. I loved the pixel artwork for the various characters and the rare illustrated scenes. All the characters are designed so well, are unique from one another, and does a good job at giving you an impression on how they are. They are also all animated so well. I actually slowed down my text speed so I could admire all the character animations. Even the basic talking animation. They all had their own unique animations and expressions that they’ll pull, making them stand out and giving them more characterization. I especially loved how they’ll also change their expression mid-sentence, which one particular sentence from the Bartender gave me a laugh due to this very thing. It also helps with the subtlety that the script calls for, letting you read between the lines a bit more and letting you pick up on things that you might not have if not for the expression that they sported. I think my favorite face was Daltrey’s, more specifically his thinking face. Though, what really told me that they nailed the character artwork and animations was the laughing animation. The laughing animation is so infectious I swear. Whenever a character laughed, I couldn’t help but laugh.

The backgrounds were also well done here. They were all pretty, detailed, and I did look forward to going to a new location or screen. Especially since characters have a far away sprite for when they’re physically at the location. I did also watch some behind the scenes stuff for this game as well and this game also uses some techniques that older games used, which is really cool. It definitely helped bring in that DS vibe that they were going for, which you can feel even without knowing this fun fact, and it honestly made me wish I picked this up on the Switch instead.

I do think they could have been blended in a bit more here to match the pixel art style the characters are drawn in, but that’s it. It didn’t bother me much, but then again I kinda got used to this mismatch as a lot of webcomics I read do something similar but with objects.

As for sound, they did a great job here. The sound effects for everything sound great and the sound for the text didn’t get annoying. I think the only sound effect I was a bit confused by was the effect that’s an equivalent to the slam sound effect in Ace Attorney. Mostly since it doesn’t make sense in context as I kept thinking the Protagonist was ripping paper when it’s not supposed to signify that. As for the soundtrack, oh man, the soundtrack is absolutely perfect here. You can tell the inspirations they took, but it has its own unique spin on it so it feels wholly unique. All the tracks here are perfect and I found that it matches the situation or the character really well. I felt most of them do have a mystery vibe to them, which can be front and center or subtle, with the few tracks that don’t are in line with the emotions the characters are feeling at the time. Whenever a new track came on, I honestly couldn’t help but groove to it for a couple minutes before continuing on. My favorite track is definitely the Bartender’s theme, but it’s a tight race for the rest of them. And just like I mentioned before with the game’s tone being handled well writing wise, this game does not stray away from having silent moments when needed.

Verdict

I knew I would really like Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved when I played the demo last year, but man I loved the full game even more than I expected. I honestly would have probably played this all in one go if I didn’t have to eat and sleep haha. I definitely recommend Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved for those interested in a mystery adventure visual novel. This game does everything right, from the intriguing mystery to its wonderful art style that brought the characters to life.

I really hope we see more games from the developers. Detective Instinct was a really amazing game and I would love to play more games from them. Whether that means a sequel, oh man I would love it if Detective Instinct became a series, or a whole new game.