Overview: 5.0/5.0
Jenny LeClue: Detectivú is “a narrative adventure game about detectiving, relationships, choosiness, and an epic tangled mystery.” I was extremely conflicted in rating this game. The game was funded through kickstarter and took approximately 5 years to develop, but I was not familiar with the game until closer to its release in 2019. The kickstarter successfully funded episode 1 of the game, but the descriptions on Steam, the Jenny LeClue website, and even in the game itself make no mention of the fact that only the first installment is playable. It was only when I completed the episode that I realized the full game was not available. (And then I had to do some research to understand the development history of the game). Initially, this realization (and the way in which it was delivered) soured my experience with the game. However, every moment up until the ending of Episode 1 was so ridiculously well-crafted that I couldn’t bring myself to lower the rating. So: you’ve been warned. Hopefully knowing that this is only the first episode will allow you to fully enjoy the masterpiece that is Jenny LeClue: Detectivú.
Developer: Mografi
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: September 2019
Platform: PC, Apple Arcade
Price: $19.99
Narrative
Jenny LeClue: Detectivú is a framed narrative. Jenny is the main character in a series of mystery books where the author is struggling to keep the interest of his publishers. Throughout the game, the author will act as a narrator describing Jenny’s adventure. However, the player is shaping the story, and can periodically choose to defy the author’s intentions and expectations. This leads to some fantastic dialogue from the narrator, while still allowing the player to continue with their original choices. These interactions also often poke fun at the genre as a whole, so longtime fans of point-and-click mysteries will appreciate the game’s humor even more.
The game follows Jenny’s attempts to unravel her first “dark” mystery: a murder. The young detective faces not only the challenge of solving the crime, but the stifling expectations of the community adults. The player gets to make choices in both of the narrative threads, as the author and as Jenny, and often see the consequences in the alternate narrative. Ultimately, both storylines are equally engaging and rewarding, and I can’t wait to see how the narrative continues in the next chapter. Despite the whimsical nature of the game, it does have subtle undercurrents of very real and important themes that give the game even more depth.
The cast of characters in this game is diverse and mostly charming, and they defy common expectations. It is so refreshing to meet the citizens of Arthurton and uncover the depths of their personalities. Everyone is well-written, the dialogue between them is both humorous and genuine, and Jenny herself is the perfect combination of wholesome and sassy, stubborn and empathetic. The way that these characters come together throughout the narrative is incredibly rewarding, and truly reflective of our struggles to define ourselves, particularly when we’re young and under the control and/or guidance of the adults in our lives. Jenny’s determination to defy expectations is a struggle that will resonate with many players.
Environment
This game is absolutely beautiful. The aesthetic is one of the first things about this game that caught my attention, and the execution remains consistent throughout the entire game. Jenny LeClue: Detectivú has a moody atmosphere and matching color pallete. The world is full of sharp angles and soft colors. The soundtrack is amazing. Even the world-building of Arthurton itself is so well done. This game is very similar in many ways to the worlds of Night in the Woods and Oxenfree, and that’s a great thing. One of the difficulties in a framed narrative can be establishing the unique stories without making them feel too disconnected. This game does a fantastic job of using the art of the game to keep the worlds connected, while still making the transitions between narratives clear. One of the ways this is done is by incorporating the typewritten narrative as we transition back to Jenny’s world. This is not only beautifully done, but is a wonderful analogy for immersing yourself in a story, when the individual words fall away and the imagination of the story takes over.
Mechanics
There are three primary mechanics in this game: movement, puzzles, and choosiness. Navigating from place was easy, particularly with a controller. For the most part, the player can move Jenny left or right within a location to explore and search for clues, though there are occasional obstacles that require jumping or climbing. This isn’t a platformer though, and the navigation is fairly unobtrusive to the game. There were very few moments when I didn’t immediately know where to go next or how to get there. (Note: I played this game on PC with a controller, and cannot speak to the mobile controls on the Apple Arcade version.) The primary exception to this was a sequence where Jenny is climbing on vines and cliffs to located various family tombstones, but even that portion of the game wasn’t exceedingly frustrating.
The game includes a good variety of puzzles, ranging from ciphers to environmental puzzles. The puzzles are all challenging enough to stimulate thought, but not so challenging that the player feels overwhelmed. There were one or two moments where I sought out a hint, but for the most part the puzzles were completed with a bit of time and thought, and very satisfying to solve. The most common puzzle is the process of scrutinizing a suspect for clues, questioning them about discrepancies, and finally identifying which clues from a set support Jenny’s conclusions. These puzzles aren’t difficult as long as you’re paying attention to the dialogue, and it’s great to watch the drawings animate on the pages as the clues are all tied together.
As for choosiness, the choices in this game are fantastic. The player is defining the character they want to play, the person that Jenny is growing to be, and of course the protagonist that will (hopefully) save the novel series of the framing narrative. These choices mostly concern how Jenny responds to the characters around her, but also determine who Jenny trusts and how other characters feel about Jenny. Sometimes the choices won’t affect what Jenny does in the end, but they do affect the relationships the player is trying to build. There are also occasionally choices that the player makes for characters other than Jenny, or that the player makes for the narrative as a whole.
Of course, since this is only part one it is impossible to evaluate any long-term significance of each individual choice. However, the game does use your choices - even smaller, perhaps inconsequential ones - to summarize the protagonist’s personality as you develop it through gameplay. In Jenny’s notebook, there is a record of your choices and an overall characterization of your Jenny LeClue. This assignment fluctuates as you play the game, and it’s fun to see how your choices change your assignment throughout the episode.
Performance
There’s not much to say about technical performance for this game. I didn’t notice any frame rate issues, long load times, bugs, crashes, etc. It was ultimately a very polished experience and the technical performance never interfered with immersion in the gameplay itself.
Summary
Jenny LeClue: Detectivú is a fantastic game (or at least, a fantastic first chapter of what I really hope continues to be a fantastic game), and exactly what we all need right now. It is exactly the right combination of wholesome and sassy, and a perfect escape from the current state of the world. With a playtime of about 10 hours, this is an excellent game for a rainy day when you can dedicate time to immersing yourself in Arthurton’s strange world of unsolved mysteries and lovable misfits.
