Lockheart Indigo is an 8-bit psychological thriller. A private-eye must deceive a rich family into revealing their darkest secrets, before the killer amongst them silences everyone.
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This review contains spoilers
You may note at the beginning of the game that you have been given a dash button, and go, "I wonder if there will be a cross-mansion chase sequence?"
Yes. Yes, there will.
Yes. Yes, there will.
A 2-3 hour game about Beatris Summers, a private detective hired to investigate a recent murder at a business family's mansion. It's fantastic! Full of character, intrigue and a great send up to Raymond Chandler's work in such a small package.
I think it's also free? (It wasn't when I grabbed it at the Steam launch)
I think it's also free? (It wasn't when I grabbed it at the Steam launch)
Investigative game with a noir tone in which a mystery crime must be solved by questioning various suspects and exploring the crime scene.
The interrogation mechanic is constructed in a quite unique way and that is what makes the game special: you are given a set of dialectical tools through which you can overcome the psychological defenses of the questioner, whether by pressuring his insecurities, flattering him or confronting him with the reality of the evidence.
It's all pretty simple and straightforward, but it's really remarkable how in a little 8-bit game you can find such in-depth writing that creates a cast of characters differing in motivations, moral values, and temperaments, which obviously require different strategies to deal with.
The interrogation mechanic is constructed in a quite unique way and that is what makes the game special: you are given a set of dialectical tools through which you can overcome the psychological defenses of the questioner, whether by pressuring his insecurities, flattering him or confronting him with the reality of the evidence.
It's all pretty simple and straightforward, but it's really remarkable how in a little 8-bit game you can find such in-depth writing that creates a cast of characters differing in motivations, moral values, and temperaments, which obviously require different strategies to deal with.
When people try to imitate noir, they often lean too much in the wrong direction. What direction that is depends from story to story. Sometimes they center too much on the private detective aspect, forgetting that noir is more than just a gritty mystery drama. Its complex factions, con games, tense rivalries, ambiguous moralities. Sometimes it goes too deep on the gritty tone and doesn't think to have fun with the crime and mystery aspects. But more often than not, its a private detective in a hat solving a mystery and monologing. Sometimes I'm alright with that being the genre parody we get. Its good fun.
I think what impressed me about Lockheart Indigo is, for all its goofy 8-bit aesthetics, it hits such a nice noir tone. Beatris, the cyan 1960s detective, is explicitly disinterested in finding justice. She's a woman with a sick sister and bills to pay. She's here for money first. When shit goes sideways, her interest doesn't shift to heroism, it shifts to survival. Getting paid is crucial, getting the killer is crucial, but her central focus is providing for herself. While characters try to demean her for it and its certainly portrayed as a flaw, the narrative understands noir enough that its not a flaw she's going to be able to grow past. Its just how she has to live.
Pairing her with the far more self-obsessed Volkov family adds for a good contrast. Its an immediate nest of vipers, rich assholes climbing over each other to cling to their fortune. The gameplay involves straight-forward interrogations. Butter them up, chip at their ego, whatever tactic suits their personality. The different egoisms or anxieties of the cast make for good variety and help establish how easy it is for them to turn on each other to build their own fortune. It helps make the noir tone land. If you find the killer, what's left? The survivors will keep fighting and killing and striking at each other because its the only tools they understand. They can pretend to take a moral high ground against Beatris' own self-interest, but she can't match a candle to their own cycle of destruction. Beatris' "victory" earns her a 10k paycheck, 50k less than she was promised, and the survivors just have to stew in their mutual hatred. No one's happy. Its noir, baby.
The other key factor of the game is just how stylish it is. Locating colorful keys to match colorful keys to encounter color-coded characters to see colorful interrogation graphics. Its a stunning effort for a free rpg maker game. You gotta admire it.
Solving a sidequest unlocks a strange little post-game segment. The game lightly touches on the Volkov family backstory and the various times the family has circled the same patterns of murder. You get to walk around the manor of the early 1910s, observing just how similar the previous generations of the family acted to the modern ones. Still gossiping, still sniping, still letting jealousy rumble beneath the surface. It doesn't add much to the main plot of the game, but its just kind of a charming way to add more layers. To just demonstrate how constantly the family falls into these patterns. Its just good narrative hooks. I like to see it unravel. And a cozy little indie rpg is all I need for that sometimes.
I think what impressed me about Lockheart Indigo is, for all its goofy 8-bit aesthetics, it hits such a nice noir tone. Beatris, the cyan 1960s detective, is explicitly disinterested in finding justice. She's a woman with a sick sister and bills to pay. She's here for money first. When shit goes sideways, her interest doesn't shift to heroism, it shifts to survival. Getting paid is crucial, getting the killer is crucial, but her central focus is providing for herself. While characters try to demean her for it and its certainly portrayed as a flaw, the narrative understands noir enough that its not a flaw she's going to be able to grow past. Its just how she has to live.
Pairing her with the far more self-obsessed Volkov family adds for a good contrast. Its an immediate nest of vipers, rich assholes climbing over each other to cling to their fortune. The gameplay involves straight-forward interrogations. Butter them up, chip at their ego, whatever tactic suits their personality. The different egoisms or anxieties of the cast make for good variety and help establish how easy it is for them to turn on each other to build their own fortune. It helps make the noir tone land. If you find the killer, what's left? The survivors will keep fighting and killing and striking at each other because its the only tools they understand. They can pretend to take a moral high ground against Beatris' own self-interest, but she can't match a candle to their own cycle of destruction. Beatris' "victory" earns her a 10k paycheck, 50k less than she was promised, and the survivors just have to stew in their mutual hatred. No one's happy. Its noir, baby.
The other key factor of the game is just how stylish it is. Locating colorful keys to match colorful keys to encounter color-coded characters to see colorful interrogation graphics. Its a stunning effort for a free rpg maker game. You gotta admire it.
Solving a sidequest unlocks a strange little post-game segment. The game lightly touches on the Volkov family backstory and the various times the family has circled the same patterns of murder. You get to walk around the manor of the early 1910s, observing just how similar the previous generations of the family acted to the modern ones. Still gossiping, still sniping, still letting jealousy rumble beneath the surface. It doesn't add much to the main plot of the game, but its just kind of a charming way to add more layers. To just demonstrate how constantly the family falls into these patterns. Its just good narrative hooks. I like to see it unravel. And a cozy little indie rpg is all I need for that sometimes.
-Beautiful and well-detailed 8-bit art style
-The soundtracks are really nice and set the tone of this futuristic 8-bit universe
-Gameplay is simple but the height of it is the conversation and the options you have
-The story is just good enough to play through it; it has its own flaws but still worth the time
this game is far too good to be free
-The soundtracks are really nice and set the tone of this futuristic 8-bit universe
-Gameplay is simple but the height of it is the conversation and the options you have
-The story is just good enough to play through it; it has its own flaws but still worth the time
this game is far too good to be free
it cute