An intriguing, unique, and replayable murder mystery game | Full Review: The Shapeshifting Detective

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The Shapeshifting Detective is an intriguing murder mystery FMV game  developed by D'Avekki Studios and released for PC, Playstation, Xbox One and Switch, and was ported right after to iOS.

🟩Pros

+Random killer every playthrough

+Shapeshifting ability is a literal game changer for interacting with the characters

+ Each character has their own intertwined backstory, motivations, alibis, and suspicious mannerisms

+Interesting story from start to end

🟥Cons’

-Lacking the usual ‘detective’ game elements

-The Shapeshifting element is not used to its fullest potential

-Short at around 3-4 hours

The Shapeshifting Detective is set in a small, remote town called August, where a murder has taken place in the local hotel called the “Guesthouse”. Players take on the role of a detective who is tasked with solving the murder by using their shape-shifting ability — only known by the higher-ups and not by any of the characters in the town — to gather information and interact with the game's cast of characters. This allows for interesting interactions between characters and easy access to information that would otherwise be unobtainable with a regular Detective.

Since The Shapeshifting Detective is an FMV game, the entire gameplay experience consists of live-action scenes that encompass all the game's sequences, including the various choices, interviews, interactions, and outcomes that the player can take. According to the developer, it features over 1600 full HD video sequences.

These video sequences in the game are fairly acted and are well written. It seems extremely campy at first, with the characters being a hit or a miss with their initial acting prowess and weird facial expressions looking at the camera (you), but in general, you get used to it and the overall experience of the game is a blast as far as the storytelling is concerned.

One of the features that makes The Shapeshifting Detective a standout is the randomly chosen murderer at the start of the game. Making it a highly replayable game and keeps it mysterious, even after multiple tries. Each character has their own intertwined backstories, motivations, alibis, and suspicious mannerisms, which makes the crime solving all the more interesting and the murderer’s identity hard to uncover.

The writing is also well-paced, with the story gradually unfolding as the player progresses through the game divided into chapters. The dialogue is witty and sometimes humorous, but the actual tone and presentation of the game feels like a horror one, which helps to keep the player engaged and invested in the story. It never really had dull moments and I was continually interested throughout the whole experience. Having said that, the game’s premise can sometimes require some heavy suspension of disbelief, especially with how supernatural abilities are handled in the story, and how your shapeshifting powers are so out of place with regards to the seemingly normal setting of the game.

Throughout the game, the player — while hidden in their room — can shapeshift between the different characters they meet, each with their own unique personalities and secrets. It's up to the player to gather as much information as possible from each character in order to piece together the events leading up to the murder and find the culprit.

This shapeshifting ability is a literal game changer in interacting with the characters. For example, a character might need permission from his superior to divulge specific information. Well you can shapeshift into his superior to give that needed approval; or you can pose as another character’s love interest or close friend, to get much more intimate and private information than usual.

Despite the player taking on the role of a “Detective”, the crime solving element is probably the weakest part of the game. The player doesn’t really do any typical crime solving tasks, except for interviewing the characters and posing as another to get more information. That means there’s no crime scene or fingerprint analysis, physical evidence gathering, stalking characters, searching rooms, or even an avenue to take notes in the game to piece together gathered information. Fortunately, your superior chief of police can recap a summary of everything you’ve gathered so far.

The Shapeshifting Detective also emphasized not getting caught while shapeshifting as a plot point at the start of the game, but it never really gets you into situations where you can get caught, and just wastes that potential gameplay element entirely. Also, while the game gives you the possibility of talking to any character while posing as another character, you can never really do that fully and the game just does a cheap job at managing its possible interactions by hand waving the characters out of existence depending on which character you shapeshift into, while still making that option unnecessarily available to select anyway. Shapeshift into the chief of police and visit a character? Suddenly this character is out and you’re shown an empty room.

Despite these minor shortcomings, The Shapeshifting Detective is a fun FMV-game to experience, perhaps even one of the most unique examples to try in recent years. Its premise of having a detective which can shapeshift into different characters is a standout feature, providing a rewarding and unexpected source of shapeshifting satisfaction. Overall, the game is short and is easily beatable in around three to four hours of play, however the game’s replayability with the random murderer at the start can help extend this value.

Conclusion:

The Shapeshifting Detective is a highly enjoyable and engaging murder mystery game. The game's mysterious story, intriguing roster of characters, and the use of shape-shifting as a core gameplay mechanic is both unique and interesting. The game's short length may be a drawback for some players, but the game's high replayability and multiple endings help to mitigate this issue. If you're a fan of murder mysteries and unique gameplay mechanics, then The Shapeshifting Detective is definitely worth checking out.