No matter how many we solve, there are always more cases to crack. The Detective's Apprentice is a newly revealed mystery-solving game that asks you to gather evidence and ask the right questions. As Cleo Ace you'll play the novice sleuth, learning from your Sherlock of an aunt and sniffing out the culprits of various crimes.
The game has been in development for some time, partially funded by the help of the Draknek New Voices Grant which just recently came back for another round of applications and selections. It seems they're far enough along with the development now to show off the scope of things and start gathering some wishlists. Here's the new trailer:
Your aunt Maya Lynch has apparently already had a fabulously successful career solving crimes, and you've now decided to step into the role of apprentice and learn everything she can teach you. Murders and heists are mentioned, so we can surmise you'll be playing through a series of crimes and cases as you build up your detective prowess.
A variety of different location types and information displays are on display here: there are cute hand-drawn scenes full of characters, such as a museum and a police station, but there are also lots of searchable maps, databases, story books and fill-in-the-blank style manifestos.
That last brought to mind for me the popular Golden Idol series, which has had a notable influence on a number of up-and-coming mystery/detective style games that take inspiration from their systems of digging around illustrated scenes for information that you can then use in a text-based question-and-answer format.
You can wishlist The Detective's Apprentice on Steam now to get notified about any future release date news.
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