REVIEW: Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard

REVIEW: Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard

The parade has been ruined, and the people of Warlock Woods are at a loss. This sounds like a case for the Frog Detective!

Released: Steam
Type: Single-player
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Grace Bruxner,
Thomas Bowker
Publisher: worm club,
SUPERHOT PRESENTS.
Release date: 9 Dec, 2019

The Frog Detective is back in his second case, and this time it’s serious. Someone has wrecked the parade for the invisible wizard who just moved into Warlock Woods, and nobody has any idea of who did it.

Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard is a short and easy point & click adventure game, where you play as the titular Frog Detective, who need to gather clues and figure out who the culprit is. And along the way you’ll end up talking to a bunch of slightly offbeat characters, who all may or may not have had their motives to ruin the parade.

Our hero, Detective Frog

Graphics and sound

A good art style is more important than technical fidelity is something you often hear people say when talking about games, and this game is a clear example of developers taking that to heart. This is not a game that is likely to make your computer chug, with simple models and flat textures that almost make the game look cell shaded. But there’s a weird, almost surreal charm to the graphics in this game. None of the characters look quite right, with their odd proportions and slightly rigid animations, but somehow this just adds to the game. Just take a look at the screenshots, and you’ll see what I mean about the odd proportions.

There’s not a whole lot of sound going on in Frog Detective 2. There are some simple sound effects for when things happen, and some pleasant and unobtrusive background music, but other than that, Frog Detective 2 does not make a whole lot of noise. There’s no voice acting either, which makes sense, quality voice acting is expensive, but it would have added a lot to the game if all the characters had spoken. But it’s better to have no voice acting than poor voice acting.

A bit sensitive about our height, are we?

Story and setting

Almost the entire game takes place in the small village of Warlock Woods, a place that has but a handful of people living in it. Warlock woods is not a particularly big place, and you can see the entire village as you enter it. It’s a cozy little village where everyone are happy to just stand around and wait for you to walk up and talk with them.

The story is simple, someone ruined the welcoming celebrations for an invisible wizard who just moved into the village, and they’ve been called to the crime scene to figure out what’s going on and who could have done such a terrible thing. What monster would scatter someone’s freshly baked pies all over the place, and tear down someone’s welcoming sign?

The star of the show is clearly the writing. There are just over half a dozen characters scattered around town, but they all have their quirks that become very clear once you start talking to them. And reading all the odd dialogue is really the main appeal of the game. The story itself is secondary, it’s the characters that steal the show.

Now that’s just rude

Gameplay

Frog Detective 2 is at its core a simple adventure game. It’s like a regular point & click without the “rub everything against every other thing until something works” aspect. You talk to people, explore the small village, pick up items, and then give those items to people to progress further into the game. Everyone has something they need from you, and it’s always really obvious what needs to be done. This is not the kind of game you play for the challenge.

As you talk to people, they’ll say that they need something, and this is really where most of the gameplay comes in, find the item they need, and if you can’t find it, that probably means that you need to do something else first. If you’re after devious mind-benders that puts MYST to shame, you’re looking at the wrong game, a child could beat this one

Your handy notebook, full of valuable information about the people living in Warlock Woods

Closing Thoughts

Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard is a really charming little game. I enjoyed all the oddball conversations with the people living in the village, and it was nice to play a game that did not take itself very seriously. Some people will likely take umbrage with the games short length, and lack of content, it’s a game that can be beaten in less than an hour, and the village really is very small, the game is also almost entirely devoid of any challenge. But the developers are very upfront about this on the store page.

Who is this game for then? Anyone who enjoys goofy and slightly surreal conversations will likely find a lot to enjoy here. The game is child friendly, and any child old enough to read could probably play and enjoy this one, but there’s a fare few references and general weirdness that is more likely to appeal to an adult. It’s simply a fun and charming little game, just don’t go in expecting it to be something it’s not.

Written by
Fnord
Join the discussion

Archives

Calendar

December 2019
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  

About Us

Save or Quit (SoQ) is a community of fanatical gamers who love to give you their opinions.

See Our Writers

We’re always looking for new reviewers! Interested?