As a small indie thriller, Detective Rainy Night shows a good deal of promise. Indeed, revealing the intention to come back with more Detective-universe set games in the future after beating this one was met with interest on my part. I do hope we get a bit more mystery though and perhaps something a bit more fleshed out.
We play as police officer Iker Carmona who has stopped at a motel for a rest after a long drive. After meeting owner Marcos, we’re soon off to bed only to wake up in the morning to find all power out, a heavy fog settled in, and phones and cars refusing to work. Iker puts his best police foot forward to try and calm the other guests, figure out what’s going on, and see if they can get out of this mess.
It only takes one night to see that’ll be easier said than done. Marcos hides in his office after seeing something terrifying, and the rest of the guests are too busy fighting with each other – be it marriage disputes or jealousy of fame and fortune – to really care. It’s not until Marcos turns up in pieces that they really pay attention.
The bulk of Detective Rainy Night is spent talking to the characters, trying to figure out what is going on and what can be done. There is no voice acting here, but written dialogue is decent enough to keep us invested, even if it’s all quite simple. The game is split up into five days, with a couple of times of day within each. In the morning we might chat to the people and stock up supplies, at night we may check in on everyone before going to bed.
Detective Rainy Night moves at a brisk pace, easily completed within a couple of hours. There are very few fail states, most of the time we’re just following the next step in the story. We are warned at the start of the game to keep notes on key details as we’ll need them to solve the mystery. I had a notebook to hand, and spent a lot of the first chapter making detailed notes about the crew, surroundings, and more.
I wouldn’t bother though, as despite the game saying we’ll need to remember sometimes small details, what we actually need at the end of the game is very simple stuff. Iker makes notes in his in-game diary too, and we have this to hand in the final scene where we piece redacted together. It’s a neat idea but, in this implementation at least, is a bit too simplified to the point that I think it’ll be harder to fail (if that’s even possible).
Conclusion
Despite not fully delivering on its promise of a mystery to crack, I still enjoyed my time with Detective Rainy Night. A sequel with a bit more mystery and production value could be great, but for now this is recommended if you’re in the mood for a short thriller to spend an evening with.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
