Some of our favorite games in this week’s Steam Detective Fest sale

You might be thinking that we only just had the Steam Winter Sale… but now it’s time for a new Steam Sale with Steam Detective Fest, where you will find a whole host of mystery titles on sale. But before we can recommend any games, we have to set the tone:

The rain worked the window like it had a grudge. I sat at my desk in a cramped office, coat still on, lamp buzzing, the city outside dripping neon and regret. Cold crept in through the walls, settling in my bones like it planned to stay awhile.

I was nursing a bad cup of coffee and worse thoughts when I remembered—quiet never lasts in this town. It just waits for the door to open.

Now, let’s talk about some highlights from the latest sale, which has games for everybody.

For a dose of mallard madness: Duck Detective

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami and Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping are both fun, short detective games where you are the titular detective Eugene McQuacklin, a down-on-his-luck duck who fits most of the 1930s detective tropes. The Duck Detective series of games are short, about 3-5 hours each, but are full of humor, quirkiness, and quite a few twists and turns. Interview people, use your own de-duck-tive reasoning, and break the case wide open!

Get Duck Detective (collection) for $13.50 on Steam.

For bizarre plants: Strange Horticulture

Sometimes, you just want to get away from it all and move to a small town where no one knows you, to open up a horticulture shop and just spend the rest of your days tending to your plants and petting your cat. Sometimes you end up opening that shop in Undermere, a quiet town surrounded by hag-infested forests and rugged mountains, where the occult seems to be in every whisper, and now you’re trapped in the center of it. Pet your cat, help the villagers, and unravel a mystery with your knowledge of local flora, but beware: things are not always as they appear.

Get Strange Horticulture for $6.50 on Steam.

For a classic (pixel art) mystery: No Case Should Remain Unsolved

I really wanted to put Blue Prince on the list of this week’s Detective sales, but decided against it because I wanted to focus on smaller titles that people may not have heard of (whereas you’ve probably heard of Blue Prince, which, p.s.,buy Blue Prince if you haven’t played it). With that said, I want to introduce everyone to No Case Should Remain Unsolved. You are (retired) Senior Inspector Jeon Gyeong, who twelve years ago was put on a missing girl’s case that led to no leads, no answers. Now, today, a young police officer knocks on your door, asking you to look at the case again — and in doing so you realize, everyone, everyone was lying to you.

Get No Case Should Remain Unsolved for $5 on Steam.

For a (dark) Ace Attorney vibe: Murder on the Yangtze River

Let me be absolutely honest with you all: I love the Ace Attorney games, I like Ghost Trip, I like anything related to that design — so Murder on the Yangtze River was absolutely wonderful for the feel. Look around the crime scenes, link evidence, question suspects, and try to figure out just who committed the murders in this early 1900s Chinese mystery game.

Get Murder on the Yangtze River for $10 on Steam.

Of course, that’s not all that’s on sale this week, so you should pop over to the sale page and see if anything else catches your fancy. Y’know, before the dame wanders in, smelling of perfume and cigarettes and a long, coffee filled week.