Worm Club’s Frog Detective trilogy arrives on consoles in Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery – a great entry point for those not yet familiar with this series after their PC releases. This bundle combines all three endearing escapades of the titular investigator, each offering a nice and relatively laid back gaming experience that is nice to unwind with. We checked it out on a PlayStation 5.
As Frog Detective, players navigate various mysteries from a “haunted” island to a wizardly village and a Wild West town plagued by hat thefts – this is clearly a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The gameplay itself is straightforward as well, involving interacting with eccentric characters, gathering items, and facilitating trades to progress. It’s essentially a series of fetch quests, but the simplicity is balanced by the sheer joy of exploring Frog Detective’s world and its charming characters.
The true highlight is the writing, which is filled with absurd non-sequiturs and hilarious tangents that never stop being entertaining. The lack of voice acting can feel like a bit of a shame as good voice acting would have added even more character, but the developers have done a good job bringing their characters to life with text and animations. And while the cases that you tackle themselves are intentionally trivial in nature, they add to the lighthearted nature of the game.
Each entry in the trilogy takes around an hour to complete, making them great one-and-done experiences for when you don’t have that much time to spend. Frog Detective 2 introduces a helpful notebook adorned with cute stickers, while Frog Detective 3 brings a scooter mechanic, adding a fun element to exploration.
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery offers a succinct and sweet bundle of short-form adventures that are irresistibly charming and wholesome. The addition of a scooter minigame, which is unique to this trilogy release on consoles, adds an entertaining bonus – and it’s nice to have all three games together as well, as they would individually feel quite short.
However charming the game’s characters and writing are, the relatively simple nature of the gameplay may not appeal to those seeking more complex experiences and puzzles in their adventure games. However, for those who appreciate quality writing inside a whimsical and humorous narrative, the Frog Detective trilogy is wonderful bundle of games.
Score: 7.9/10
Press Play Media 