Detective Dotson from Masala Video games, one of many featured titles of LudoNarraCon 2025, is at present flying underneath the radar – nevertheless it actually shouldn’t be. Enjoying by the opening chapters forward of the annual narrative recreation pageant, I’ve turn into enchanted by this recreation, its depiction of recent India, and its branching thriller mechanics.
I really like a recreation that twists a longtime system. Lately, I performed by The Horror at Highrook and was enthralled by its card-based puzzle options, which replicate tabletop gameplay. In related trend, Detective Dotson wields mechanics like your Obra Dinns and Golden Idols, making investigation and experimentation a core a part of your journey because the titular detective, with twists.
Throughout the first case, Detective Doston hooks you. It opens on this: Who painted Papadam the Canine a candy shade of pink? It’s as much as you to analyze close by residences and the city sq. (all lovingly rendered in a vibrant, vibrant pixel artwork model), and to interrogate the parents that flit out and in of their residences.
As you communicate to individuals, you’ll collect phrase, merchandise, and character clues within the type of sticky notes, which should then be positioned accurately on a corkboard, in connect-the-dots trend. One thriller leads into the following, with Dotson’s private thriller board comprising a bunch of secrets and techniques, from the light-hearted and weird to the extra critical and intriguing.
The logic stream of puzzles is properly balanced, and never too straightforward, both. Initially on speaking to my suspects and studying extra about their ideas, I had the wrong suspect flagged. However in figuring out the stream of sticky be aware clues, and the place they might be positioned on the board, I realised I used to be lacking one thing. So I set about reconsidering my choices, finally discovering the actual perpetrator by connecting these aforementioned dots.
The method of constructing your approach by the sport’s puzzles is gratifying, significantly if you hit upon a revelation. Whenever you see the broader image, and perceive precisely how the present thriller connects to the overarching plot, it’s much more compelling.
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I’ve not completed my journey by Detective Dotson simply but, as LudoNarraCon 2025 has distracted me with a smorgasbord of equally cool, novel narrative video games to play by, however even in a primary style, this recreation has impressed me. I’m actually eager to forge on, even when it’s simply to spend time in its vibrant pixel world.
This actually is an exquisite recreation, packing with pretty particulars. Whereas its character fashions are simplistic and blocky, its 2D-3D landscapes are lovingly textured. There’s vibrant flowers packed into each nook, and the sundown skies overhead solid a heat glow over proceedings. Even when the casework turns into extra critical than ‘who stole the biryani’, it’s great to journey by the sport’s world.
LudoNarraCon presents an opportunity to strive narrative video games that concentrate on new, modern, or distinctive subject material. Within the case of Detective Dotson, it’s an opportunity to discover a unusual detective story set in a contemporary India, advised from an Indian perspective, and uncover a lot concerning the nation and its tradition alongside the way in which.
If Detective Dotson isn’t in your radar, now’s the time to get throughout it. It’s now out there on Steam, and you’ll be taught extra about it throughout LudoNarraCon 2025.
