A throwback to an earlier era

The Darkside Detective is a point-and-click mystery game very much in the vein of the old Police Quest series (right down to the EGA pixel graphics). You play as Detective Francis McQueen, a gumshoe of the “trench coat and fedora” variety. You’re tasked with solving mysteries in the fictional town of Twin Lakes (think “Twin Peaks”), and most of them involve supernatural forces from a parallel version of the town known as The Darkside.

When I say the game involves a lot of puns, what I mean is that there are a few parts of the game that are not. The rest is Pun City (which would have been a valid alternate title for this one).

The game itself is divided into several short mysteries. Think maybe 30-60 minutes of gameplay, depending how good you are at puzzle solving and sideways thinking. Over the course of these episodes, you’ll get to know your partner, Patrick Dooley, as well as several members of the local populace.

The puzzles are of the “combine weird items for weird uses” variety, mainly. Some are only intuitive if your brain is a little broken. The venues within the town of Twin Lakes are fun and well-considered, with lots of little details to find. The townsfolk are fun to talk to (and you’ll be talking to a lot of them). Even if you get stuck, trying as many random combinations of things as possible will eventually work, so there’s not really a need for walkthroughs.

Due to its bite-sized nature, you can play a little or a lot of it, depending on your tolerance for the puns.

P.S.: Did I mention the puns? Seriously, however many I’ve led you to believe there are in this game, there are more. And if you just updated your expectations, there are more than that many, too.