If you liked Obra Dinn and the Roottrees Are Dead/Roottreemania, this game is for you.
[VERY MILD SPOILERS FROM EARLY GAMEPLAY BELOW]
You're tasked with investigating the disappearence of a CEO for Zoolingo, which is a program best described as Duolingo 2.0 for you and your pets. At first you do a kind of "tutorial run" (which is also the game's demo version) where you fill in the CEO's family members/related people in a very Roottree-esque manner based on evidence you've been handed. After you've completed this, your handler tells you that unfortunately the CEO has been found murdered; and thus begins the meat of the game.
The game mechanics are very similar to the Roottree games: you fill out a "family tree" (well, in this case, a corporate structure tree) based on deductions you make from the provided evidence. Given the nature of the company, you also need to fill in their pets whenever applicable. Also, like the Roottrees, you progress in groups of three. So whenever you've filled in 3 people (or pets!) correctly, you get a little confirmation. These confirmations all eventually lead you to discover more and more evidence. Unlike its' family tree cousin, however, you do not have access to databases. This can be a good or a bad thing depending on who you ask. It sort of focuses your "investigative field of vision" on the evidence in front of you, which some might find limits their creative thinking process; others might actually feel more creative from this limitation (I belong to the latter category). The world is less "information-dense" than, say, The Roottrees, and from a storytelling perspective that might leave you afterwards with a sense of "Oh, uh, okay.... and now what?". However, I recognise this is an indie game from a small team, and as far as those go, the game is actually pretty detailed.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the actual deductive loop. Some games like to pretend they're deductive, when really they're just information-heavy (Orwell, another game franchise I really enjoy, is somewhat guilty of this). Other games seem to confuse "deduce what happened based on this evidence" with "deduce what the developer wants you to find" (Her Story and Telling Lies, which I also enjoy, sometimes do this). In both cases, it can cause you to completely emotionally disengage and eventually you're just clicking on everything or looking up literally any word you can think of. A Case of Fraud, however, does not do this. Instead it makes you consistently go "OH. WAIT". Which is a really nice feeling (I found myself having an Eureka moment while doing the dishes). And even when you do sometimes get stuck and ask for hints, you're not left wondering "How on Earth was I supposed to get to that conclusion?"; instead you're often like, "Oh. Well of course. Silly me".
All in all I think this is a really, REALLY well done game in most aspects. The only "complaint" I have is that, like I said, sometimes the characterisations are a bit uneven. Some characters are REALLY fleshed out and really give you a "gut feeling", whereas others are just kind of... there. I have been looking for a Roottree-like game for like, forever, and this game REALLY scratched that itch for me. I would love seeing the developers maybe expand on this storyline in a sequel of a bigger scale (this game took me about 4-5 hours with breaks, and due to the nature of the game, there really isn't any replay value that I can think of). If the developers ever do a sequel (or even make a franchise of it), it has the potential to stand on its' own, instead of just being categorised as a "game for people who like The Roottrees are Dead and Obra Dinn".
