Night Call (2019)

I don't post or review as much as I'd like because I'm still busy with my degree somehow. Majorly enjoying all of yours, though, so please keep them coming and I'll keep hearting them!

I did end up playing this through on the PC Gamepass. l loved it, but it's such a game of two halves.

The ambiance with its excellent soundtrack, monochrome, rain-assaulted Parisian visuals and dreamlike animations is so on point. The conversations with passengers are consistently interesting and in spite of some Telltale-esque smoke and mirrors, the amount of their stories you uncover depends massively on how you respond. It's the best game of its kind I've played. Still excited for Neo Cab.

Then there's the detective mechanics in the serial killer hunt of which there are various scenarios to allow greater replayability. It's a great premise - executed horribly. I'm admittedly fussy with detective mechanics. It seems to me that there are so many ways you could systemise it in interesting ways. Unfortunately, what it amounts to here is time management between fares and evidence hunting. Run out of money through overly compromising your time and it's game over.

You're often simply informed that you've been told information that you later see on an evidence board. It's to simplify development for the different scenarios, I understand, but it's very much the game keeping you at arm's length to the point you don't care.

Its biggest detective sin is that in your final prediction of the killer, the game outright informs you (in a coded way) whether you are correct or not and asks if you'd like to try again. Get it wrong a second time and you can reload to the same moment for a guaranteed right answer. I had little to no evidence on the killer for one playthough. Didn't stop me from being congratulated on the excellent info I'd amassed.

Here's how you could make it interesting. You're a taxi driver. You've memorised a goddamn city. Your hippocampus is the size of a melon. You're a congeries of the modern fireside storyteller and priest for confession with no hands available. Systemise that by having the player listen closely and have to physically type out what they can recall of a conversation afterwards - perhaps with the clock still ticking away? Have that placed on the evidence board later. No more abstracted away 'you've been told evidence.' Also, fail to link the killer and it's game over with the save game deleted.

I still definitely recommend Night Call for its true excellence otherwise. The detective aspect clearly wasn't the focus here. Get the game pass for peanuts and give it a try!

Any really great detective games people love and would recommend? I still think Her Story is the gold standard.