almost wrote this off because it looked a bit wholesome games baitish and i'm not into that generally but i'm glad i gave this a go. it was very charming and sweet without being in an annoying way.

enjoyed the progression of the three cases as they not only increased in complexity (not a ton, obviously) with the mysteries involved but also added little touches to the gameplay itself too. the scooter in case 3 also getting a little THPS styled mini-game was a treat.

would absolutely play another one of these or something like it.

The thing I appreciate the most about this collection of three games in the Frog Detective franchise is being able to see how the games got bigger and more nuanced with each entry (in the last one you even get a scooter to drive around). The core of the gameplay is the same - you talk to NPCs, each of them needs an item from you and in return will reward you with another item that some other character requires, and so on. It’s a very simple loop, but it works because of the writing - it’s very quirky, with lots of pleasant, PG humor and colorful characters. You even get to decorate your own detective notebook, which comes in handy in second and third entries as the number of characters you need to help increases.

Going forward (no idea if the devs are planning to continue with the franchise, but anyway) I’d love to see some actual puzzles in the game, which would break up the loop of simply walking from one NPC to another and exchanging key items.

There’s also a Tony Hawks’ Pro Skater-like minigame involving a scooter, but I found the controls to be too wonky to enjoy it.

Pep's Detective Deep Dive - Game 3
Did you expect me to give this a bad review? What, do you think I'm some kind of monster?

This is just what a sleepy Sunday afternoon needed. A zero-stakes, simple adventure game that didn't tax my braincells and frequently made me laugh. Each episode is more expansive than the last (and by "expansive" I mean that the second episode lets you put stickers on a notebook, and the third episode gives you a sick-ass scooter) and the twist in the third episode got me genuinely emotionally invested.

The only thing that kinda irked me was the occasional moment where the creator would literally insert herself into the game, interrupting the story to deliver some kind of "well, actually" message about how something a character said was wrong. I don't know if these moments were supposed to be jokes but they felt really weird to me, like the video game equivalent of a Twitter community note.

It's cute, it's fun, and it's on Game Pass. If you're looking for a short little adventure game where you don't have to think very hard then Frog Detective is perfect for you.

P.S. I'll play some actual detective games soon, I swear!

Delightfully silly little trilogy of games full of some real good laughs if it's your kind of humor. Plus some insightful lessons to be learned about the realities of crime.

Check out my individual reviews for the three Frog Detective games here:
Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island
Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard
Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County

Debo admitir que jugué este título simplemente porque lo necesitaba. Estaba cansado de esos juegos largos, con inmensos mapas llenos de secretos y una duración de más de 20 horas. Necesitaba un descanso, dejar de pensar en todas esas misiones secundarias acumuladas y olvidar esos mapas llenos de íconos y cosas por hacer. Estaba abrumado y agotado, no quería seguir jugando y sabía que necesitaba cambiar el chip por un tiempo. Fue cuando de la nada, apareció Frog Detective en GamePass, el juego que me hizo recordar por qué me gusta tanto jugar. Frog Detective es un título simple y al grano, que nos cuenta la historia del segundo mejor detective del mundo mientras resolvemos los misterios más inverosímiles que nos podamos imaginar. Es un hermoso y sencillo juego que se basa en la exploración y combina las mecánicas de un point and click y un walking simulator, entregándonos los personajes más variopintos y auténticos que he visto en mucho tiempo. Habla con todo el que te encuentres, intercambia objetos, has favores y descubre al culpable para avanzar. Es un título muy carismático lleno de humor y mecánicas sencillas que se acaba demasiado rápido, y en esta ocasión, eso es algo muy bueno. Altamente recomendado para todos, al fin y al cabo, no es tan sencillo como parece.