I’d been following news about the indie game Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved for quite a while ahead of its launch, because it looks like my sort of game.

It came out near the end of November for PC and Switch, and when it recently went on sale, I decided to check it out.

You play as a young man on a college trip with your classmate and professor. On the train ride home, your classmate encounters a mysterious woman who soon vanishes without a trace – and everyone else on board claims she was never there. Disturbed by the incident, she comes to you, and the two of you team up to find the truth.

Now, I’m pretty sure Detective Instinct first came to my attention because of Ace Attorney, but it’s much closer in style to the Famicom Detective Club games. You have a menu from which you pick your actions, like talking to characters, inspecting things in the background, etc.

The first thing that stood out to me when I started playing was how high-quality it is. The character sprites especially, with their little animations as they talk, make it feel very polished.

It’s fairly straightforward, and I’d say it’s better to view it as less of an adventure game and more of a visual novel that occasionally quizzes you. There are a few moments when you need to decide what to do or solve a puzzle, but the majority of the game is spend simply talking to people to advance the story.

I found the story to be enjoyable, with enough little twists in the mystery to keep me wondering until near the end. There are also some nice funny moments, including a few optional ones, that had me smiling.

Overall, playing Detective Instinct left me with one thing: the hope that the developer will make a sequel, maybe with more involved detective gameplay this time around.

Either way, if you enjoy mysteries and the Famicom Detective Club style of gameplay, Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved is worth checking out!