Detective Ridelle

Really fun puzzle game, all of it felt just the right amount of difficult for me. The plot is fairly standard, but the character interactions are very charming, also lesbians. Definitely a hidden gem, would highly recommend if it looks at all interesting to you.

Confession: it took me two tries to get into this game. Having finally completed it, I can now state I enjoyed it, recommend it, and look forward to a sequel. The first time, I got off to a bad start by missing an obvious clue and had to brute-force a combination, which is my fault, not PuzzLab's. I also wasn't sure how I felt about the character art style (2D in a 3D environment), and I paused about halfway through. Then my computer broke, resetting my progress, and I never picked the game back up. Now, I've played again. The art style grew on me early: it's simple yet expressive, and the artists did a fantastic job using minor changes to represent strong character emotions. The game leans into its status as a puzzle-heavy mystery (escape-room style), and once I understood that and embraced it, I found myself having a much better time with it. The characters are varied and their interactions are well-written, especially the dynamic between Ridelle and Lucy; the hints of romance between them may be telegraphed, but that's not a bad thing. The game has its weaknesses, and part of that I found in the mystery itself. The culprit reveal was gettable, but not the clearest, and during the Danganronpa-style denouement, there are too few opportunities for player input: some deductions were given by the dialogue rather than the player having the opportunity to show what they'd learned. I did, however, think the revelation of exactly what led to the murder very unique and cleverly written. All in all, this is a game I'll probably come back to. There aren't many walkthroughs online, which is a shame as it indicates the game hasn't gotten a lot of attention. I hope that it does; it deserves more, and I hope that the hinted sequel comes to pass.

Fun game, a good mix of easy and more difficult puzzles. A bit of a shame that a lot of the 'detective' work is done by the characters and not the player, but I still enjoyed it!