The game was quite atmospheric and perplexing. On the other hand, I can’t even approach figuring out who did what after 21 questions. The main reason is, I would say, the general lack of information. Who, when, what. Also, when the detective starts his work, the criminal medics may already have some conclusions for him.

Overall, the situation you are in felt more like the Gatcha crime videos children watch online today. You are suggested to ask five correct questions and point at the murderer. It is fun, especially if you invite your child to help with playtesting. But overall, the situation feels way too complex to solve it just with some random questions.

While wandering around the mansion, we found several clues (keys, recipes, bills), but they didn’t guide us to any meaningful conclusion. They only hint at motifs. But as a detective, you need to validate the alibis and recreate the crime scene. And there was a problem here, as the character kept giving contradicting info, and the questions ran out.

Your game’s visuals are very good, and playing was a pleasure. I would only ask for some UI improvements. For example, maybe show a caret when you input text.

I agree that characters should behave more politely and stop when you talk to them. It is inconvenient.

Also, we can’t find the journalist anywhere.

But the main problem I had with the game was its ending. After all the investigation and searching, I expected to finally learn who the culprit was, but instead, the ‘chief detective’ told us we needed to wait for the 1st of May to know the result. This feels off. I didn’t even get if he meant the real-world time or game time. I guess it is the real-world time because May is coming on us. But that reallly feels strange. Or maybe it means that I was wrong in my guess? Still strange.

Maybe it would have worked better if you reduced the amount of info/number of suspects the player has to work with in his first task so that the players can understand the mechanics behind the AI talks and also get a feeling of progression and reward before diving into a more complex murder mystery.

My best wishes for developing your game!

I really like the concept of this game. I'm just not sure how well it's working right now.

On a surface level, the AI text seems a bit off at times and characters' stories not entirely consistent. Sometimes, the characters resort to basic langage with words missing like "Me Cook!" or "Wife in kitchen 4 hours ago". I'm guessing it's because of the size of the answer is limited ? Sometimes, the text would literally cut off mid sentence.

Right now, the game feels off because as a player when I get a weird answer, I'm not sure if it's because the AI is not working exactly right or because I caught the character I'm talking to in a lie.

More fundamentally, there is a problem with the information the player gets at the start. I have run through the game many times and I have literally no idea : where the body was found, who found it etc. So the basic stuff I would need to start an investigation... If you try right now and just ask the question "Where was the body found and by whom ?" to every characters, you'll basically get a different answer each time :

    - In the garden maze by the gardener (where you can actually see it as a player, so probably the right answer)

    - Near the old oak tree on the ouskirts of town by some guards

    - The abandonned mansion on the outskirts of town by the caretaker

    - In the ballroom, in the estate of Lord Winston during the midnight masquerade ball

    - In the forest by the ranger

    - In the abandoned warehouse by Detective Smith

EDIT : If you just ask "Who was killed ?" you also get different answers...

If I point out these inconsistencies I get an answer like "There is a twist in this tale" and a convoluted way of reconciling the facts like "Actually the body WAS found there but then moved...". 

So, to be blunt, it feels like every character is making shit up and there is no investigation to be had since there are no facts to start with.

All that being said, I really like the idea and the atmosphere of the game. The presentation (visuals, sound, music) is really good. I would still suggest some minor improvements on that front :

- Adding an in game name tag above the characters' heads, at least once you have first talked to them and they've told you who they are. Since they move around the whole house I would sometime be confused and not know who I was talking to.

- Similarly, I would make the label for each room of the house permanent instead of appearing only for an instant when you first enter

- This is more of a design choice but maybe highlight the interactable objects in some way (like a glow or outline) ? I know some of them are hidden (like the secret key I found in the bedroom) but it could be nice for the more obvious ones like the piano or simply the doors.

- Can the characters please stay in place instead of wandering about when I'm talking to them ? It's very rude xD

In summary, I really like the concept and wish it worked better. If you can make the story more consistent and present to the player basic hard facts about the murder and the body (like who / when / where) that are also known by the all the characters, that would make a pretty compelling experience :)