Taiwan-based indie studio PHOSEPO has announced that its mystery deduction game Psycho-Sleuth will release on November 5 for Windows (Steam and Stove Store). Combining whodunit elements with cognitive distortion mechanics, the title revolves around a deadly murder game consisting of 13 participants vying to ascend to godhood.
Psycho-Sleuth is set in a world predominantly controlled by the religious cult known as Li. Li’s power and influence allow it to hold a ritual in which Afflicted Ones – individuals with rare cognitive disorders that spread their perceptions to others – are tasked with committing murder without getting found out. Those who emerge victorious ascend to godhood and can have any one wish granted.
You play as Lyle, one of 13 Afflicted ones who joins the ritual alongside his sister Lena. Using your detective skills, you must discover each participant’s abilities and solve each murder as it arises. Solving a murder disqualifies the killer from the ritual, and they will receive an appropriate punishment based on their cognitive disorder.
Cognitive disorders are unique to each Afflicted One. Lena’s disorder, for instance, prevents her from lying. Other disorders have one person losing their left-side vision and another not being able to recognize faces. While these may seem detrimental to the Afflicted Ones, the fact that they can spread their perceptions to nearby people makes covering up a murder quite easy. All of the murder scenes are distorted in some way, with some bodies missing faces or entire areas being erased from your perception.
After inspecting each distorted murder scene, you enter Debate Mode. It is here that you judge each character’s statements and cross-reference them against the evidence you find, as well as the exhibited cognitive disorder(s). Similar to the Ace Attorney series, your task is to refute false arguments and logically corner your opponents. Additionally, the game appears to reference Capcom’s popular legal visual novel franchise, with Lyle shouting “Exposed” whenever he makes a breakthrough.
With an anime aesthetic brought to life through Live2D animations and CG sets, Psycho-Sleuth surprisingly covers some dark subject matter. Fans of murder mysteries might want to keep an eye on this one.
Psycho-Sleuth is set to release on November 5 for Windows (Steam and Stove Store). A free demo covering the entirety of Chapter 1 and the setup for Chapter 2 is also available on Steam.
