The Shapeshifting Detective

The Shapeshifting Detective is an adventure game developed by D'Avekki Studios and published by Wales Interactive. The player investigates a murder mystery and interviews suspects, who answer via full-motion video. It was first released in 2018. A prequel, Dark Nights with Poe and Munro, was released in 2020.

The Shapeshifting Detective
Developer(s)D'Avekki Studios
Publisher(s)Wales Interactive
EngineUnity[1]
Platform(s)
ReleaseNovember 6, 2018
iOS
February 20, 2019
Genre(s)Adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Players control an unseen character from a first-person perspective who takes on the alias of Sam. Sam is a shapeshifter who can impersonate anyone after meeting them. Tasked with solving the murder of a local cellist, Sam interviews various suspects, including a trio of fortune tellers who predicted the murder. In each playthrough, the murderer is randomly selected from the pool of characters. When suspects become uncooperative, players can impersonate a friend or authority figure. Sam's dialogue is unvoiced, but impersonated characters are voice acted. When interviewing suspects, dialogue choices are chosen from a list. Risky dialogue choices are marked, and players can remove them from the list if they do not wish to risk following a dialogue tree. Otherwise, choices are permanent and can not be backtracked.[2]

Development

Wales Interactive released The Shapeshifting Detective for Windows, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One on November 6, 2018.[3] It was released on iOS in February 2019.[4]

Reception

The Shapeshifting Detective received mixed reviews on Metacritic.[5] Adventure Gamers wrote, "The Shapeshifting Detective is a unique game that provides a solid mystery with a creative twist on the usual means of information gathering."[2] Gamereactor UK praised the acting, dialogue trees, and radio intermissions but felt the story was sometimes difficult to advance without trial and error.[6] GameRevolution wrote, "The Shapeshifting Detective's pulpy charm and offbeat story show that it doesn’t take a detective to figure out how enjoyable this game is."[7] Push Square said the game was made with love, but its gimmicky gameplay is too basic.[8] Criticizing the game's interactivity and pacing, Nintendo World Report said that The Shapeshifting Detective did not live up to its potential.[9]

References
  1. "No audio in game :: The Shapeshifting Detective General Discussions". Steam Community. 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  2. Doroski, Drummond (2018-11-08). "Review for The Shapeshifting Detective". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  3. Holmes, Mike (2018-11-06). "Watch us figure out The Shapeshifting Detective". Gamereactor. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  4. Madnani, Mikhail (2019-01-31). "Wales Interactive Is Bringing Noir Murder Mystery FMV Game The Shapeshifting Detective to iOS Next Month and Pre-Orders Are Now Live on the App Store". TouchArcade. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  6. Lemne, Bengt (2018-11-08). "The Shapeshifting Detective". Gamereactor. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  7. Santa Maria, Alex (2018-11-06). "The Shapeshifting Detective Review – Shoot for The Moon". GameRevolution. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  8. Eker, Nathaniel (2018-11-06). "The Shapeshifting Detective Review (PS4)". Push Square. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  9. DeWitte, Joel A. (2018-11-29). "The Shapeshifting Detective (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
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