Look, it's a game where u are a silly frog and solve some crimes. It's nothing profound. just sit back and enjoy some quirky dialogue and some rudimentary puzzle solving.
I guess there lies some sort of deconstruction and subversion within the game's general presentation - it's a parody on the detective/noir genre seen in movies. Instead of controlling a brooding, jaded detective, we get an apologetic, witty frog. There isn't any revelation or apotheosis in the plot - the mystery is as shallow as the water around the coast of the island.
Using the term "detective" in the title and general presentation of the game is "kind of" misleading. There isn't any mystery-solving fantasy to be fulfilled. Rather, it's used as a backdrop to present a comedic, dialogue-driven adventure. It's akin to an episode of a saturday morning cartoon, where today's plot just happens to use the detective genre as it's "narrative piñata" to poke at and make fun of.
No, the focus lies strictly on the writing. In my opinion, the writing is done quite nicely and I thoroughly enjoyed it through it's short playtime. It is kind of deadpan, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea.
Gameplay-wise, its just fetch-quests. They are just there to progress the plot and allow for more dialogue. It's trivial, but not bad.
Does the writing offset the lack of any real puzzle solving? Ehhhh, I think so? It works because the game is so short. The game has some ideas, it executes them and boom - the credits roll. If the game went on for 5 or 10 more minutes, I probably would've started to get bored.
The artstyle is unique with strong shape-design and unlit shading. It's goofy and cute at the same time. There is some neat little shader work done for the game (magnifying glass and outline shader). However, I've encountered questionable performance dips when I approached any NPC. It was noticeable, but not fatal. Overall: neat and cute.
To conclude, Frog Detective lays a good foundation for a fun, light-hearted adventure with a short play-time. I'm interested to see how the sequel improves and iterates on it. If you got an hour to spare, play it!
I guess there lies some sort of deconstruction and subversion within the game's general presentation - it's a parody on the detective/noir genre seen in movies. Instead of controlling a brooding, jaded detective, we get an apologetic, witty frog. There isn't any revelation or apotheosis in the plot - the mystery is as shallow as the water around the coast of the island.
Using the term "detective" in the title and general presentation of the game is "kind of" misleading. There isn't any mystery-solving fantasy to be fulfilled. Rather, it's used as a backdrop to present a comedic, dialogue-driven adventure. It's akin to an episode of a saturday morning cartoon, where today's plot just happens to use the detective genre as it's "narrative piñata" to poke at and make fun of.
No, the focus lies strictly on the writing. In my opinion, the writing is done quite nicely and I thoroughly enjoyed it through it's short playtime. It is kind of deadpan, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea.
Gameplay-wise, its just fetch-quests. They are just there to progress the plot and allow for more dialogue. It's trivial, but not bad.
Does the writing offset the lack of any real puzzle solving? Ehhhh, I think so? It works because the game is so short. The game has some ideas, it executes them and boom - the credits roll. If the game went on for 5 or 10 more minutes, I probably would've started to get bored.
The artstyle is unique with strong shape-design and unlit shading. It's goofy and cute at the same time. There is some neat little shader work done for the game (magnifying glass and outline shader). However, I've encountered questionable performance dips when I approached any NPC. It was noticeable, but not fatal. Overall: neat and cute.
To conclude, Frog Detective lays a good foundation for a fun, light-hearted adventure with a short play-time. I'm interested to see how the sequel improves and iterates on it. If you got an hour to spare, play it!