Duck Detective: The Secret Salami Review (robilar5500)
Alright. Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is done and dusted. I picked this up in the recent Fellow Traveller Megabundle, and it ended up being a completely charming and casual game that is actually also safe for kids to play but is engaging enough for adults. That's a rare combo. It took about two hours twenty minutes for me to complete, and I'd guess that is a safe average playtime to expect from this title.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3429667009
You play as the eponymous Duck Detective, a grizzled down on his luck detective hired to solve the case of the missing lunch at the local bus station. In order to do so, you spend most of your time getting to know the employees while also accumulating clues and facts. However, it turns out that the missing lunch is the least of this staff's issues, and you get caught up in mystery regarding the smuggling of salami (actual salami) and at least one other crime. Crime in this dog eat dog world, anyway. Speaking of dogs, there aren't any in this game, lol. But all the characters are anthropomorphic animals. Such as a giraffe receptionist, for example.
And the fact that it's all animals doing human jobs, with all the same concerns we have, makes it pretty easy to identify with. But this game is all about keeping the mood light, fun, and casual. To that end, everything is presented with a mind towards comedy and all the characters have slightly exaggerated personalities. The giraffe, for example, has kind of a Valley Girl vibe. The young cat customer service agent is overworked and overstressed. The old penguin janitor is jaded and rude. the middle-aged sheep customer service lady is more interested in kind of a matronly Soutern Belle persona. You get the idea here. They're all likable regardless of their personality types.
The dialogue is, as a result of the decision to make this a game good for all ages, mostly focused on funny stereotypes with a heavy dose of quirkiness. The Duck Detective, for example, is trying to break his addiction to toast and fresh bread. And there are funny moments where characters get sidetracked by tangential things. It's all pretty refreshing, especially if you're playing this on the heels of having played something serious. This is a good break from serious topics and intense games in general. Really fits nicely into the "cozy" territory of gaming.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3429667038
As far as gameplay goes, this is a detective game, so you will be speaking with everyone, analyzing clues and trying to puzzle out the sequences of events you're investigating. Speaking to everyone will also include interrogating them, but as with everything in this game, it's very non-confrontational overall. Even the actual confrontations are silly. It's all pretty intuitive and yet the puzzles are still clever despite being pretty chill.
The presentation is isometric, similar to what you'd expect from CRPG's, but cartoonish combined with a splash of Noir, and of course, you're in a normal workplace setting, so you get that as well. The voice acting was fun. I think that's the best way to describe it. The actors really leaned into the exaggerated and yet approachable personalities of all the characters, and you can tell they enjoyed themselves while recording it. Very nicely done.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3429666967
I think all told, this game ended up costing $2.79 as part of that bundle. That feels like a stellar deal to me. But I would say the quality of the experience does validate the $9.99 retail price. I would not have been upset if I'd paid that much. But I didn't pay that much, and you could probably wait for another sale before grabbing it. It is definitely worth a look either way.
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