Card Detective Review (PC)

This line of questioning is not hitting its mark. I’m trying to find out what caused an industrial accident and why a dead man was discovered in its aftermath. Workers have been offering some details, but a ton more information is needed. My interlocutor clearly has some answers, but he is very reluctant to share them. He seems shady and might have underworld connections.

Our conversation is a card game. His resistance is reflected in the ability on two of his defensive cards, which gain extra hit points every time I launch a question that threatens to take my intrepid reporter, Hazel, closer to the truth. Others absorb the first card attack thrown at them. I’ve already failed to get any truth out of this questioning once and for my second attempt, I’m switching gears, and using a more careful approach.

Over three rounds, using the best combos I have access to, I manage to extra one true statement. It was an all-out direct attack effort, which could have easily failed if it wasn’t for some good card draws. I also managed to match one symbol for analysis for the other statement, after one failed attempt, I hope I will get the rest before patience runs out, as long as I manage to get one energy-boosting support card.

Card Detective is developed and published by MuccyGames. I played using Steam on the PC. The game mixes a visual novel with an unusual story with a card-driven investigation mechanic.

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Players become Hazel Gong, a reporter who was hoping for an easy assignment at a building site where a company was running a training event. Instead, she witnesses a building collapse and sees a corpse being recovered from the rubble. No one seems to know or want to say exactly what happened.

So it’s up to our heroine to use her journalistic skills, boosted by a mystery man she meets in a bar, to find out what happened and who’s responsible. All of Card Detective’s narrative is presented in comic book form, tracking characters both before the collapse and after, giving players hints about their motives and the bigger forces that are at play.

It’s a good story, although many of the twists are easy to see coming, and the comic book format works. Hazel has a Record tab, allowing her to re-experience everything she has uncovered. The bar has two other booths where secondary characters drink, opening up side-quests for players to explore.

As the name suggests, Card Detective is all about using cards to question witnesses and extract information. The core format is that of a card battler. Players get a starting hand and then draw another three cards every time they push the End Turn button. Their interlocutors have defensive blocks that have to be destroyed by using a card’s attack power (pay attention to keywords that can affect gameplay).

The game features familiar elements, like support cards and special abilities, allowing players to build elaborate combos to deal with high defense values. As the card questioning progresses, witnesses lose patience and once it reaches zero it’s time to start over and try another strategy. But as Hazel finds out more, it gets harder to break down defensive interviewees through brute force.

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This is where analysis, Card Detective’s main innovation, comes in. When someone’s defensive cards are gaining strength every time players use one of their own, it’s time to abandon the direct approach. Instead, gamers can use symbols on their own cards and hints from their opponents to guess if statements are true or false. Using cards in this way requires energy, which is limited, so players need to be careful with their guesses.

Success, both when using cards to directly question someone and when performing analysis, depends on the player’s deck (it can be customized at any point) and luck. Before Hazel starts throwing questions around, get a clear look at all the cards her opponent has and start making a plan. Then use the first hand to get one strike on all an opponent’s defensive cards. Then deliver as much damage as possible, relying on extra draws and other combos if possible.

Depending on how much patience the character has left, it might then be time to switch to analysis. This tricky decision creates tension and there are plenty of questioning sequences where I needed to fail once to get a clear idea of how to tailor my approach for success. The game has difficulty spikes that feel a little unfair, but it’s easy to quit an interrogation when it’s clear things are going badly and try again.

Card Detective’s look is heavily influenced by classic comic books, although it does things with its digital panels that would be hard to replicate by an actual paper comic. Every character is sharply drawn, with plenty of details that offer hints about their personality and even the best way to approach them during their questioning. The game also clearly labels its cards, and the interface gives players the info they need to plan their interrogation process.

There’s no voice acting, and the sound effects are pretty limited. The music is pleasant but lacks some personality and tends to become repetitive. Consider replacing it with the soundtrack of your favorite tense detective TV show.

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