Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Celebrating All Things Mysterious: Process of Elimination

 May Mystery Game Madness, Reviews, Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
May 292023
 

Process of Elimination came out earlier this year for the Switch and PS4, so it seemed fitting to make it part of our mystery game month.

You play as Wato Hojo, an aspiring detective who ends up joining a group of detectives from the Detective Alliance as they attempt to investigate the identity of the serial killer known as the Quartering Duke. However, they soon find themselves trapped together, with the knowledge that the Quartering Duke might be among them…

It is one of several games coming out this year that I refer to casually as “Danganronpa-likes.” As members of the group are killed, it’s up to you to investigate and determine who the culprit is in each case.

Process of Elimination is primarily a visual novel. By far the vast majority of your time will be spent reading.

However, investigations are handled in a unique format for this sort of game. During these segments, the area you’ve investigating is presented as a grid the characters can walk around on. You need to make use of their stats in order to inspect suspicious areas, analyze evidence, and draw conclusions about the crime.

When I played the demo, it left me confused about what different terms meant and what actions should be used at different times. However, a bit of trial and error made it click for me, and I ended up enjoying these parts after all (aside from one segment that also included invisible enemies, which was too frustrating to be enjoyable).

Once you’ve gathered all the evidence you need, you return to the visual novel format and have to answer a series of questions to show who the culprit is, what evidence proves it, etc. This was the other aspect the demo left me uncertain about, so I was pleased to see that those sections do expect the player to pay attention to the clues and see how they all fit together.

As for its story, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to at first. I grew attached to the characters, and several points had me invested in seeing what would happen next. It feels like there’s potential for a sequel, and I wouldn’t at all mind seeing these characters again.

Process of Elimination took me by surprise. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. Overall, I found it to be an interesting detective story with a good cast of characters, with unique investigation segments that proved to be a fun change of pace.

Only three days remain in this year’s Celebrating All Things Mysterious event and contest, so be sure to look back at all the relevant posts to see what games we’ve discussed so far this month and join in by leaving a comment on anything that grabs your attention!

Thoughts on the Process of Elimination Demo

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: ,
Mar 152023
 

Last year, we discussed the announcement of a detective game called Process of Elimination.

It looked intriguing, and now a demo is out so you can play through the start of the game (and transfer your save data to the full game once it’s out later this year).

Process of Elimination is an unusual blend of genres. It’s a visual novel about a group of detectives trying to stop a brutal serial killer called the Quartering Duke, and like many detective visual novels, it has gameplay for the investigation sections.

Except here, that gameplay is almost like a strategy game.

When an investigation begins, you’re given an overhead look at the area and have a limited number of turns in which to investigate the scene. The detectives have stats, which you’ll match up against the “mystery points” needed to find pieces of evidence. There are other actions you can do as well, such as analyzing a piece of evidence to find new areas to investigate.

It’s… strange. Since some of the stats/actions use similar terms, I found myself struggling to remember the difference between inferring and inspecting, or assigning two detectives to inspect an area versus having one assist the other. I’m sure those aspects become easier to grasp once you’re more familiar with the game, but it’s still odd to check a detective’s stats to see if they can find evidence. If you don’t assign actions to the detectives, they’ll act on their own, too. Detectives simply can’t be trusted to work together efficiently without guidance.

After completing the investigation in the demo, the characters discussed the case. While they largely figured it out themselves, there were a handful of questions for the player to answer, so those probably will become more central to solving the case later on.

The demo left me interested in the story, but puzzled by the gameplay design. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to playing the full game. Process of Elimination will be out on April 11 (April 14 in Europe and Australia). Are you looking forward to it? Have you tried the demo? What do you think of its investigation style?

Process of Elimination Looks Like an Intriguing Detective Game

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Sep 072022
 

NISA held a showcase today that included a few new game announcements.

Of them, the one that stood out to me the most was Process of Elimination.

(It wasn’t a huge shock, since they accidentally leaked their own lineup after announcing the showcase, so I knew it would be there.)

Process of Elimination is a visual novel about a group of 14 detectives searching for a serial killer on a mysterious island, only to learn the killer is one of them.

It was released last year in Japan under the title Tantei Bokumetsu. Looking back at details revealed leading up to its launch shows that it has a mix of visual novel segments and investigation segments. During investigations, you control the detectives on a map of the area and use their strengths to find clues.

As soon as the trailer started, I knew this was my sort of game.

It sounds pretty neat, and I’m especially pleased to see a visual novel from NIS actually being localized. Maybe that’s a good sign for the future.

Although it has no release date yet, Process of Elimination is planned for early 2023 for the Switch and PS4. There’s also a limited edition that comes with a soundtrack, art book, and keychain, so I’ll be looking into that. Meanwhile, we’ve got another little cluster of game events here, as tomorrow should bring us that new trailer from RGG Studio. Fingers crossed for good things!

What are your thoughts on Process of Elimination?