Detective Instinct: a retro throwback that celebrates menu-based sleuthing

Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved opens with police bursting into your hotel room during a study trip in the fictional European country of Vendreka. A local lead detective recruits two literature students—you and your friend Emma—to offer a fresh perspective on a murder that happened on the floor above.

The tutorial soon gives way to a sleeper train journey from Vendreka to London, where Emma encounters a mysterious woman who then disappears. Helping her unravel that disappearance exposes a wider conspiracy and a cast of larger-than-life staff and passengers who may be hiding more than they admit.

The game leans into a retro, menu-based command system that echoes Japanese detective adventures from the ’80s, calling to mind Famicom Detective Club and The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case. Stylized sprites, detailed backgrounds and compressed full-motion video cutscenes recall early CD-era adventures such as Snatcher and Policenauts, and developer Armonica clearly aims to capture that classic feel.

Vendreka, London