Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is a point-and-click detective game about making deductions in a world of cartoon animals. You must collect clues and use them to complete fill-in-the-blanks puzzles in order to piece together the story one step at a time. A lighthearted story and manageable difficulty make this game a good introduction to the deduction puzzle genre.

You play Eugene McQuacken, a down-on-his-luck duck PI tasked with solving a case of lunch theft at a local office. Part of the game is a point-and-click adventure where you explore the office, find clues, and talk to the NPCs. There’s also a feature where you can examine people and objects with a magnifying glass to spot important details. Names and keywords from the descriptions and dialogues get added to word banks in your notes.

The other part of the game involves using the words you’ve collected to fill in the empty spaces of Mad Libs-style puzzles called “deducktions.” Some of these involve identifying people’s names and roles, while others describe what’s going on in the story. Completing deducktions causes the story to advance.

Compared to other deduction games like Return of the Obra Dinn, the puzzles in Duck Detective are relatively small and straightforward, and it’s possible to complete the game in a couple of hours. There are also helpful features like a hint system and a map that shows the locations of things you haven’t examined yet.

The artwork is cute, featuring 2D cartoon characters in 3D low-poly environments, while the plot and dialogue poke fun at detective story tropes. This is a deduction game that players of all ages and skill levels will be able to enjoy.

This description was written by Gwen C. Katz.