No Case

21 5月 2024

this is the latest game by Somi, a korean developer who used to work in a field adjacent to law enforcement. i became a fan of them after playing Legal Dungeon, a simulator where you play as a cop reading the most boring documents ever to figure out how to climb the career ladder, because its critiques on the police force are very specific and impactful.

No Case Should Be Left Unsolved is no exception: the police has interviewed suspects related to a missing child case that has gone cold. you have to look for different leads by clicking on hashtags that lead to new nodes being opened up, input important days to unlock more truths, and sort the interview transcripts correctly. you have to guess from context, think about who actually said these lines, and why certain characters would vouch for others when they knew something had gone terribly wrong.

the gameplay resembles some twine interactive fiction titles i've played, but there's a lot going on that is best kept as a surprise. many surprises organically come out from the player figuring out its system and i was very amused by the discoveries i stumbled upon.

i won't say more about the game except the ending is quite the banger and it left me speechless. it not only interrogates this specific cast of characters in doing what they have or have not done but also what the police should be doing in situations like this. even if you think the cops are the good guys, you'd have to admit this is the kind of situation that cops can't bruteforce their way in earning that happy ending everyone in this case deserves.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2676840/No_Case_Should_Remain_Unsolved/

this game is genuinely fantastic and i hope more people play it and Legal Dungeon. it's cheap and it took me shy of four hours to play through the whole thing. it might be one of the better police procedurals too because it's so sensitive to the emotions of the witnesses/suspects and the half-assed nature of police work. i consider this to be the golden standard of what police procedurals should aim for.