Confidential Killings – A Detective Game review: A straightforward but satisfying solve

Fans of investigative puzzlers like The Case Of The Golden Idol, Return of the Obra Dinn and last year’s double punch of The Roottrees are Dead and The Séance of Blake Manor have a new PC game to test their logical deduction skills: Confidential Killings – A Detective Game, from indie developers BRANE and Lorenzo Boni, plus publisher Surefire.Games.

Of the titles mentioned above, Confidential Killings is closest in style and structure to The Case of the Golden Idol. As a police detective, players are confronted with mostly static, but increasingly complicated, crime scenes which they must trawl for clues. Once they’ve collected, via point and click, all the relevant keywords from testimonies and evidence, they fill in the blanks on a reconstruction sheet to solve the case, typically identifying the main players and order of events. Get it right (the game will tell you you’re close to the correct theory, or not) and you progress to the next scenario, with each escalating in complexity. As a nice little functionality bonus, the game features a built-in notebook where you can type useful information, like discovered passwords and safe combinations.

All this said, Confidential Killings isn’t the toughest detective game. In fact, it’s easy to complete in one to two sittings, with an average playtime sitting somewhere between two and four hours. This doesn’t mean the game isn’t satisfying, though. While lighter on challenge, it delivers an engrossing narrative set against the novel backdrop of late 70s Hollywood. This is the title’s strongest selling point.

Confidential Killings isn’t sordid – it could have easily leaned hard R-rated if it wanted – but it’s certainly dark and gritty, calling to mind (at least for me) the likes of Boogie Nights and MaXXXine without the porn. This is a world of drugged up discos, romantic and professional rivalries turned deadly, blackmail, betrayal, celebrity cults disguised as self-improvement centres, and gruesome mass murders – all under a cloud of cigarette smoke. You may start the game investigating an apparent death by misadventure, but each subsequent crime scene draws you deeper into a grand conspiracy that benefits the biggest power players in Los Angeles. We’re talking Chinatown scale.

Confidential Killings has a pleasing interconnectedness, with recognisable characters and plot points appearing across the different levels. It’s far easier to chain narrative developments here than in, say, Golden Idol, due to the consistent, clear art style evidently inspired by those starkly inked comics from the period in which the game is set.

Then there are the recognisable parallels with our reality, from parody magazine covers to inclusions that feel like a reference to Scientology, the fate of Jeffrey Epstein, and political distraction strategies employed by those in charge to this day. While some of the last plot reveals step unnecessarily into convoluted territory, that doesn’t make Confidential Killings any less gripping. And, ultimately, the game makes for an immersive few hours, especially if you’re a fan of this niche, smarts-driven genre.

Having launched on 12 January, Confidential Killings – A Detective Game is available now for PC via Steam.