Ophelia Payne

“Time loop. Noir inspired.” Those 4 words in an email were all it took for me to reply to Starfall PR with an immediate, ‘Yes, please.’ Developed by Mother Gaia Studio and published by Critical Leap and Infini Fun, The Posthumous Investigation is an adventure game that requires you (as a P.I.) to repeat a day over and over again while you collect all the clues required to solve the mystery behind the murder of wealthy aristocrat, Brás Cubas.

Using what you learn each day to decide what you need to do the next day, all while trying to complete as much as you can before midnight and you start the loop again. While you only have 24 hours to solve the crime, you have infinite chances. Question everyone, look at everything, spend time exploring different dialogue options and try to discover the movies of the 14 characters who all seem to have reason to want your client dead. Oh, I failed to mention that your client is the deceased, Cubas, who mailed you a letter before he was found dead.

At it’s most basic, The Posthumous Investigation is a narrative point and click adventure. The mechanics aren’t complicated, and there are no quick-time events or timers for aspects of the game (other than the clock counting down to midnight daily). There is no combat and no enemies, and it is generally a peaceful and calm game. It does require you to think and put pieces together, but a little trial and error is par for the course and brings you success.

One thing I had to remind myself was that sometimes I had to make the ‘wrong’ choice of dialogue when I had the option to, in order to get additional information or move the story along. Then the next day I could go back and make the ‘right’ decision if required to move to the next steps.

As each day ends when the clock strikes midnight, you find yourself in a room face-to-face with Cubas. You are in Limbo. Here you will go through any new information gathered and see if there are any hints he can, or will, provide you, leading into your next day. Be patient, you will be here a lot. Some days you won’t learn a lot, but when you put those smaller crumbs of information with things you learned on other days, you start making better plans for how to be more successful and efficient when you start out again upon waking in your office.

Inspired by Machado de Assis’s rich literary works, it was much more complex than I expected. The narrative is engaging, the noir aesthetic of 1930’s Brazil is exceptionally captured, and the soundtrack is full of personality. While I have played games with a time loop mechanic in the past, it is so well done in The Posthumous Investigation that it kept me engaged and not bored or annoyed, as is often the case with this sort of mechanic.

This game doesn’t have a lot of filler. There are very few mini games, in fact, only 2 that I recall, and they aren’t really even mini games. One, you have to pick flowers for a bouquet, and another, you have to mix a specific medication. Packed neatly into about an 8-10 hour run time, it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

I love that there is a Streamer Mode as well. Settings like this aren’t always available, especially in smaller games, so it was nice to see a way for the game to help prevent copyright strikes for content creators.

I loved my time playing The Posthumous Investigation. Brás Cubas is a complex character, and I found myself intrigued about whodunnit. Who was he, how did he predict his death? Why did he surround himself with this group of people? Many characters were intertwined, and I couldn’t wait to see how it played out. Available now on PC, it’s well worth taking your time to investigate this game.

Until next time…be good to yourself and be good to each other.

**Thank you, Starfall PR, for providing the review code**