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0 Cat Detective Albert Wilde, is the latest release from Greek-based devs beyondthosehills. Their last game was the puzzler Reky. Being a fan of the film noir genre, I had to pick Albert Wilde up and see what it was all about.
If you have ever fancied playing the role of an anthropomorphic cat detective in 1930s New York, well now is your chance.
“Decency and integrity are fancy words, but they never kept anybody well fed. And I’ve got quite an appetite”
Now on PC, let’s see what this “comedy noir, sci-fi mystery game that blends elements of a walking simulator and interactive novel” is like.
Gameplay
At its core, Cat Detective Albert Wilde is a simple point-and-click adventure game that intertwines narrative investigation with a tiny bit of puzzle-solving. Playing the role of Albert, a dapper and witty cat detective, the mechanics are simple, making it accessible for both seasoned gamers and newcomers alike.
Through your urgency to pay back a bookie, you take on a mystery in an attempt to solve it and earn the reward money. The mystery soon begins to gain momentum, however, as things are not how they first seem.
Movement
Controlling Albert is mainly from a first-person view and you can freely wander around each of the places or rooms that you are in. Interactive markers appear as bright yellow dots and easily attract your attention as the rest of the screen is in a grainy black and white. The items you collect are shown to the left of the screen, however, other than seeing you are holding them, they serve no other purpose.
You will find yourself and Albert navigating through beautifully designed urban and dark environments, providing a real sense of mystery and suspense. Interacting with a colourful cast of anthropomorphic characters with various animal heads, you gather clues to piece together the mysteries at hand.
Your inner thoughts
While Albert voices his inner monologue in a 1930s-style mono-toned NY detective throughout most of the game. Talking to the various characters that you come across is a case of reading each line that is thrown on the screen. Each interrogation for information is a long-winded affair with at times many paths of inquiry to ask the individual. Each opening up a series of dialogue.
When you have read each line you have to press a button to read the next line. I did find myself constantly pressing the button every couple of seconds while reading the text and being accompanied by an animal noise. While the information and humour were well intended it did seem to go on longer than it should at times.
Design
The puzzle design and challenge seemed to be lacking from the time I put into Cat Detective Albert Wilde. While a sewer puzzle had me find a missing handle that was directly to the side of me. There was not much to have to think about. Through talking to characters, a log of what you need to do is written into your journal. It is simply a case of going to the map and going to the next place to complete the objective and discover the next one.
On occasion, to mix things up, there are some minigames. One, for example, has a side-on-view whereby you control Cat Detective Albert Wilde as he walks left and right. Here I found that I was required to punch and defend myself from enemies while looting their bodies for clues. Helpfully, the keys that you need to press are presented on the screen, but only as the enemy appears. So read fast!
Graphics & Audio
Cat Detective Albert Wilde certainly has intriguing visuals that I cannot find fault in. The daring 4:3 ratio combined with the shadowy compositions and moody lighting makes it feel as if you are experiencing a film noir plot unfold on your screen.
Although the use of human-shaped bodies with animal heads sounds a bit creepy. I found that it worked amazingly well, especially in black and white. There was something about the tension and bleakness that was being created which I found to be highly immersive. The clever use of the flashlight in the sewers and high contrast made the textures of the walls, floor, and ceiling stand out very well.
Purrfect
The audio, as mentioned earlier, features the inner monologue of main character Cat Detective Albert Wilde. His low dulcet voice provides the dark pessimistic tones that would ordinarily be associated with the film noir genre. Yes, there is a fair bit of humour in the game and the references to cat buttholes and nipples raise some laughs at times.
Sadly, there is no voice acting between the interactions of the characters. Instead, whichever species of animal you are talking to provides a relevant animal sound. With reams of dialogue to read through, I can see why perhaps voice acting was not used here. I did find that going down to the raw animal sounds humorous in that this could be how the conversation was perceived by an outsider.
The soundtrack playing in the background on Cat Detective Albert Wilde is of a jazz, lounge style. While this is what I would expect for this type of genre, the drums seemed quite prominent at times. Usually, slow tempos including a jazz saxophone would be prevalent here. I found the music seemed to detract a little from the atmosphere.
Longevity
Cat Detective Albert Wilde has around 7 hours of story for you to sleuth your way through. There are no collectibles however there are Steam challenges as you hit various milestones.
Final Thoughts
I found that Cat Detective Albert Wilde is more of a playable film noir novel than a brain puzzler of a game. While the environment, story, characters and Albert’s inner monologue create a dark but humorous film noir experience. The music and lack of challenge I felt let it down.
It was fun at first however I did find my attention slipping at times. As all I needed to do was simply click on the next place to go to on the map and talk to the next character. While the visuals are amazing, the game felt quite railroaded and simple. Perhaps I was expecting something more and am not used to flipping through a novel.
Cat Detective Albert Wilde gets the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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