Midnight Files: THE NOIR CUT

Surprised by all of the positive reviews this game is getting. First of all, [b]this game uses generative AI assets which are not disclosed on this game's steam page[/b], which is a deceptive practice I do not want to support. That wouldn't be a big deal if the cases here are any good though, but the cases you have to solve are really simple. Like, really simple. For the first case, you essentially just need to find two clues that narrow down the suspect exactly. In the third case, you really just need one clue. Both of these cases can be solved in around 10 minutes. No deduction work is needed for these cases, it's just a case of finding the person that matches the attributes of these clues. The second case is the best one here but it's also very straightforward. It's the only case that requires a bit of deduction, but the pool of suspects is like... two people. It's not all that satisfying to solve.

TLDR: The dev used AI assets to develop their game without disclosing it on the store page. It's deceptive and uncool. No thanks. I really wanted to like this game, and I was starting to enjoy it. I played it for just about 2 hours, spent some time learning the mechanics and exploring the first crime scene. Eventually, I moved on to the office. I was still feeling pretty engaged, though the computer function is a bit under-developed. All the files for all the cases are stored there, which normally would be fine, except some of them take place in the future. My confusion continued when I looked at the wall and pin-board. At first glance it's all in-line with the 80's noir aesthetic. But after using the map a couple of times, I realized it just looked wrong. The roads didn't make sense, and the river that should have terminated in the harbor just sort of...ended randomly. I quit the game and went to look at the community discussion, and confirmed that the dev had used AI assets at the very least in the map visuals, and had not disclosed it on their store page. It's a deceptive and misleading practice already, but I'm not willing to support AI at all when I can actively do something to prevent engagement with it. I really think this could have been a decent game, but I don't trust that AI wasn't used in other areas of the game, if the dev wasn't willing to disclose AI assets for a map visual. I requested a refund.

The game is pretty good, but I have a couple of small criticisms The good: It lets you play like an actual detective, you aren't linearly force-fed the solution to each case, you actually need to put in a bit of deductive reasoning to piece together how each crime occurred and who's responsible for it, it's entirely up to you to collect evidence and then piece it together in your office, [spoiler] the first case is the best in this regard because the answer isn't anywhere near as obvious as the second and third cases [/spoiler] The not so good: The camera mechanic is frustrating, it's not always clear what you should be taking photos of, if anything, [spoiler] during the third case I only found two pieces of evidence with the camera, and neither of them actually helped me to find the killer, this was so disappointing because the first case made a photograph the lynchpin of the case, it was the one piece of evidence that proved who the killer was [/spoiler] (also the 14 photo limit always makes me think there are more photos to be found than there actually are, it doesn't make much sense for there to be a limit anyway, a proper detective would probably take multiple cameras with them in case the first one runs out, but this criticism of the camera limit is mainly a pet peeve) Speaking of [spoiler] the third case, it's by far my least favourite case so far, both the third and the second case give you the first initial of the person responsible for the crime, although in the second case the initial doesn't belong to the actual killer, and both cases make it way too obvious who the killer is because you can learn both their names at the crime scene, the first case had you accessing files on your Office Computer to find the real killer's name, [/spoiler] I want more cases like that Lastly, the game doesn't make it clear to you that you've found all the evidence you need, giving the player a small hint to indicate they've combed the crime scene from top to bottom would be really helpful If the developer reads my review, I hope it doesn't come off as too harsh because I really enjoyed this game, I just wish that later cases follow more in the footsteps of the first case by not being quite as obvious [spoiler] and giving us more red herrings, [/spoiler] better camera usage, and giving us a hint when we find everything at a crime scene (I don't mind leaving with incomplete information, I just wish I knew when I've gotten everything, I spent way too long in the third case at the crime scene because I thought there was more evidence to collect than there really was) Edit: Also the next crime mechanic doesn't make much sense to me, [spoiler] aside from technically the second case because of the whole accomplice angle [/spoiler] you're never given any helpful clues which point to where each killer will strike next, it's always a guessing game, and usually the correct answer is [spoiler] the district where the killer lives [/spoiler]

[b][i]Детективное расследование + головоломка. Осматривайте места преступлений, собирайте улики, опрашивайте свидетелей и анализируйте данные, чтобы раскрыть уголовные дела.[/i][/b] Геймплей: https://youtu.be/3WXvRy-3T08 Желаете почувствовать себя Мегрэ, Коломбо или Пуаро? Тогда в это надо сыграть! Игра сложная, состоит из нескольких криминальных дел. В каждом надо осмотреть место преступления, собрать и сфотографировать улики, а затем в кабинете детектива соединить улики между собой логическими цепочками, проверить информацию в базе данных полиции, а затем указать место следующего нападения и преступника.

A super fun detective game that really rewards being observant and following hunches. Sift through detailed environments, figure out what's important, and then go back to your office to piece it all together and research leads on your computer. It's incredibly satisfying when some small detail seems to bring everything together, and it doesn't hold your hand through any of it. There's no glowing UI telling you what's important or if you're on the right track - it's entirely up to you. There's not a ton of content right now, but at the current low price it's worth it even for what's there, and there's plenty more planned. I had an early copy, and the developer has been very active before and after release fixing things and adding quality of life improvements.

之前因为3D眩晕打了差评官方很快回复并更新解决了晕3D的问题，态度很好。但是我还是要退款，因为本作的本地化只做了表面，电脑里的大量资料还是英语没有翻成中文，什么时候把本地化做完整了我再买回来。

Having played 3/4 cases so far, not included the add-on bonus case, I am thoroughly unimpressed and let down by the premise. Case 1 failed to establish effective motive, leaving it to a guess. Case 2 established motive but was ultimately a guessing game between multiple valid suspects. Case 3 was not an investigation at all. Would've been a sub 20min level if not for my trying desperately to investigate where the dev failed to include anything. Finally, half the issue in cases 1 and 2 was due to the game outright giving the wrong message in the tutorial itself. The directive of "Predict the next crime location" actually means "Where does the suspect live", fully setting you up to failure and frustration if you take the game at its word and attempt to engage in motive and prediction. The game has a fairly strong start with a well detailed small space investigation that establishes far more intrigue than the writer was ever interested in providing. Subsequent investigations continued the downward trend and provided no divergent suspects or motives, as well as much larger and less detailed scenes to investigate. By the time you complete the first investigation, you will likely have missed the refund window and I all but guarantee that you will not find further enjoyment in the latter cases. It's very unfortunate that the game provides so little in terms of investigation and interpretation of clues, as there's a lack of games focused on detective work and especially detective work set specifically in the 80's before DNA became commonplace. And all of this without even getting to the use of AI assets which reportedly went unmarked for some time.

Pierwszoosobowa przygodówka detektywistyczna, w której faktycznie poczujemy się niczym śledczy w wychodzonym prochowcu. Dostajemy w swoje ręce aparat, fotografujemy kluczowe rzeczy i ślady, zbieramy dowody a później w naszym biurze analizujemy wszystko, by wytypować podejrzanego i miejsce kolejnej zbrodni. Gra praktycznie nie prowadzi za rączkę. Sami eksplorujemy miejsca zbrodni i jeśli natrafimy na coś ciekawego, to automatycznie spisujemy uwagi w notesie. W biurze raporty ze śledztwa oraz zdjęcia możemy umieścić na tablicy, aby mieć szersze spojrzenie na sprawę. I na tym polega zabawa. Do dyspozycji graczy autor oddał cztery sprawy i darmowy dodatek, akurat z dzisiejszą premierą. Pierwsza wydaje się najdłuższa, kolejne dwie są banalne a czwarta najbardziej bazuje na naszych domysłach. Każda dzieje się w innych miejscach i dostajemy nowych podejrzanych. Od gracza będzie zależeć, co uzna za kluczowe w sprawie. W biurze mając komputerową bazę analizujemy dowody, sprawdzamy pliki z informacjami na temat poszczególnych osób, miejsc i wydarzeń. Jeśli wytypujemy zbrodniarza to zaznaczamy go kółeczkiem na wydrukowanej kartce a na mapie zaznaczamy potencjalne miejsce kolejnej zbrodni. To, czy dobrze się spisaliśmy poinformuje nas komunikat, gdy zechcemy wyjść z biura. Po tekście zauważymy, czy rozwiązaliśmy sprawę, czy jednak zabójca nadal będzie grasował w mieście. Ponadto w biurze mamy możliwość zagrania w szachy i darta - przy drugim jest nawet karteczka z topką graczy, którzy uzyskali najlepszy wynik w rzucaniu lotkami do tarczy. Można zatem co chwilę się zrelaksować. Aczkolwiek osiągnięcie związane z rzutkami jest zabugowane - trafiłem w sam środek tarczy, ale gra nie zaliczyła tego... Graficznie jest całkiem przyjemna dla ok, muzycznie również w porządku. Ponarzakam jednak na jakość tłumaczenia - jest niedopracowane. Od drugiej sprawy, notatki na tablicach są po angielsku, interfejs po polsku, czasami jakiś wyraz w tekstach jest nieprzetłumaczony. Niemniej da się spokojnie wszystko zrozumieć. Chciałbym też, aby sprawy były bardziej pokombinowane, bo jednak od drugiej są coraz krótsze. Niezbyt dobrze też brzmi głos w polskim dubbingu (prawdopodobnie AI). Midnight Files okazało się ostatecznie przyzwoitą grą przygodową ze swobodnym śledztwem, jakich nie jest dużo na rynku. Do tego ma bardzo dobrą cenę. Warto.

This game is incredible, i was not sure what i would think going into this game, but i can happily say, this game is a true hidden gem. 9.5/10 i highly recommend this game to everybody & it's price tag is set to a great price as well.

Short game, depending on how quickly you're able to solve the cases but I enjoyed it. The game definitely doesn't hold your hand, and finding relevant evidence photos can be difficult, but you can get by with utilizing your notebook and taking notes of things you find important just in case your photos won't have notes with them. The most recent case (the museum) is definitely the best so far. I hope the game will continue to be updated and tweaked, because it's really promising.