This edgy Ace Attorney-like game deserves your attention.
What They Say:
- Hardboiled action – dive into a gritty world populated by shady characters, and dubious allies. you’ll need to harness all of your focus and skills to separate fact from fiction
- Investigative instincts – to solve this mystery, you’ll need to use all of your master detective skills: Question suspects, search crime scenes, and Zero in on inconsistencies to discover the truth
- New cases, new faces – after a long hiatus, Jake Hunter is back on the beat and tasked with solving all-new cases with a cast of original characters and the return of some familiar friends
- And the password is – discover passwords hidden throughout the game’s world to unlock side stories, bonus features, and more!
The Review:
Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk on Nintendo 3DS is only the second game in this long-running detective series to make it overseas. Most comparable to the Ace Attorney franchise (though it predates it), this gritty investigative story is one that is absolutely worth your time.
Ghost of the Dusk is the latest entry in Japan and it makes sense why publisher Aksys Games has decided to publish this particular story. It’s grim, surprising, and emotional. You play as the titular character Jake Hunter, a private investigator who has long-time friends in the underworld and the police force.
Though it’s clear that many of the side characters would be well-known to someone who has played the other games, I didn’t feel left out from understanding any of the relationships, despite being a newcomer. The game does a great job of briefly referencing past key moments. It also helps that this story is standalone and a compelling one at that.
The main story in this 3DS title, Ghost of the Dusk, has Jake Hunter encounter a seemingly haunted mansion where a homeless man is found dead. Why is the reportedly kind homeless man there? Was it suicide, an accident, or homicide? These questions lead you down a rabbit hole with many twists and turns as you uncover the secrets behind the dark past of this place.
While none of the twists were super groundbreaking and many were predictable, the cast is what makes this game shine. Hunter himself plays the part of stereotypical detective so perfectly that I couldn’t help but like him. Hilariously enough, there is a button you can press at almost any time to light up a cigarette, which also acts as a hint.
Hunter is supported by a wide cast of fascinating characters from the lovable doctor to the young cabaret girl to Jake Hunter’s strong and helpful assistant. Each character gets time to shine, including the villains. The gameplay is also competent, similar to that of the Ace Attorney series.
You will spend most of your time reading text and conversing with characters about what’s going on. Through this, you will have to sometimes participate in short sections of deduction and interrogation where you will have to think about everything you know and pick the right options.
Other times, you will find yourself having to present evidence to someone, though, this doesn’t happen often. The biggest minigames, though, are the investigate and talk profile sections. Investigating is, again, similar to Ace Attorney where you have one or more areas to explore for all evidence.
Thankfully, the game doesn’t make these parts a pixel hunt as the cursor lights up blue when you go over something important. Investigating throughout Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk becomes increasingly more complicated as you have to deal with camera changes and multiple rooms but it still never felt daunting or time-consuming.
The other major minigame is the talk profile section. It’s here that you have a back-and-forth with a witness or suspect to find out what they know. There is a lot of deduction and thinking that the player must do but, again, the difficulty feels just right.
Perhaps my biggest takeaway from Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk was how forgiving the game is. There isn’t really a game over screen and the game gives you the right push towards the truth when it sees you aren’t getting it. Though it is more dark and mature in tone, this certainly felt like an easier starting point for players than any of the Ace Attorney games.
The main story of Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk took me just over six hours to complete. While that is short, it is worth noting that I am a pretty fast reader and others I’ve seen online took upwards of 15 hours to finish. What’s great is that this game is packed to the max with content.
Even after finishing the titular Ghost of the Dusk case, there are four more cases to complete that are also standalone. Even when you finish those, there is a chibi-style case that is goofy and off the walls for you to take on. The tone and gameplay are a little different in that chibi-style case, offering something wholly different from the grim world of Jake Hunter.
In Summary:
Though this is only the second game to get localized, Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk is well worth your time. It caters well to newcomers, featuring a standalone story that has many dark twists and turns that are elevated by the fantastic protagonist and well-rounded supporting cast. Even when you do finish the compelling main story, there is a ton of extra cases and content to keep you investigating for quite some time.
Grade: A-
Released By: Aksys Games
Developer: Arc System Works
MSRP: $39.99
Release Date: 9/28/2018
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
This review was done with a review copy provided by the publisher. We are grateful for their continued support.
