Deduction games are in right now. We’ve had Curse of the Golden Idol, Duck Detective and The Roottrees are Dead in the last few years, all being massive hits. Now comes Little Problems with its own spin on the deduction formula.
Firstly, what do we mean by a deduction game? Let’s do a little history lesson, because there’s more nuance to this genre than you might expect.
Many people trace many of these games to the Nintendo DS and the number of detective and deduction games it gained, but I think that would be a mistake. Sure, Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk featured detectives, but they’re more akin to visual novels with puzzles. We’re presented with a story and must do something to move it along. In Phoenix Wright’s case, it’s sitting trials and pointing out objections. In Hotel Dusk, you’re straight up sleuthing.
Deduction games are built differently. The first real example to break through was The Curse of the Obra Dinn, in which you’re presented with scenes and must use your own deduction skills to fill in information, both about who people are and what happened. Obra Dinn was great. A unique art style, a great setting and clearly the work of a super genius. The problem I had is that it’s hard to tell apart a load of low pixel beardy men. It simply required too much from me.
This is where Little Problems comes in. Subtitled A Cozy Detective Game, it aims to take all of these great ideas and make something laxer and more enjoyable. Instead of dealing with murders and krakens, we’re dealing with figuring out which people want to attend which concert. And when things get too hectic, there’s a clear and helpful hint system to ease you through. It’s an experience you’ll want to sit down and complete.
Little Problems follows Mary as she starts university and navigates the same thing every student goes through: friends, gigs and working out exactly which of her friends checked out which specific book from a local library. We’ve got preppy music and nice scenes that feel hand-drawn. It’s charming.
There are ten cases in here, each giving a scene to investigate. You can click on clues or people to read their phones or see social media profiles, along with shift rotas, posters, and schedules to glean more information. These clues are then used to populate a board, matching identities to people, or in the game’s best case, the identity and meaning of the noises cats make.
It’s gentle stuff, but the puzzles themselves get reasonably complicated. By the time I arrived at a gig and had to work out who was a fan of which group, I was using a notepad and pen to keep notes. However, the developers have done a really good job of balancing ease with frustration. The puzzles are difficult and require real thinking. But the frustration is minimal, as the hint system is well thought out. You can brute force the answer using the system, but the hint system generally is quite good at not just telling you what the answer is but allowing you to think differently. I’ve played quite a few of these games, and the balance here is leaps and bounds over the rest.
In fact, if you’ve ever wanted to try a deduction game, this is the perfect intro. This is one of those games where the developers want you to play it to the end and have done everything they can to give everyone possible a route through without sacrificing difficulty for those who still want a challenge. It’s hard not to appreciate that.
The only ding I could throw at the Little Problems is the controls on Switch 2. Cursors are controlled by the analogue sticks, plus there’s touchscreen support. It would have been nice to additionally see Mouse Mode support and maybe a pointer snap, where it’s drawn towards the next input box. It’s serviceable but doesn’t feel very Switch-like.
Don’t let that put you off, though. As we approach chilly season, I can’t think of a better thing to do than to put a big jumper on, grab a mug of hot chocolate and curl up on the sofa with Little Problems. Just remember to bring along a notepad and pen.
Amplified Games’ Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game is out now on Switch.