Sometimes a name is e﷽nough to sell me. In the case of Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, it does exactly what it says on the tin. You are a Duck, a Detective, and there may be some salami involvement. Given it comes in at a palatable two hours, it won’t take long to find out.
Developed by Happy Brocolli Games, this short and sweet narrative adventure begins with you pulling up to a local bus company to solve the mystery of a𝐆 missing lunch. A simple task on the surface, but throughout your investigation you’ll discover a deeper conspiracy about missing mugs, personal grudges, and why exactly the cute alpaca in the kitchen appears to have a homicidal tendency or three. With a trench coat, oversized hat, and a button prompt that allows you to quack, the Duck Detective is on the case.
Freshly Divorced But Still On The Force
Duck Detective is described as Aggretsuko meets Return of the Obra Dinn, and while none of its puzzles are nearly as complicated as Lucas Pope’s masterpiece, this definition comes close to what this game is all about. It begins in the rain as o❀ur titular detective arrives at the bus garage, spouting an inner monologue about his inevitable divorce and desire to solve all cases that come his way - even those as inconsequential as a stolen lunchbox.
It’s drenched in neo-noir parody with relaxing jazz music and a tense vibe underpinning it all, which is promptly washed away when you come to realise you’re playing as a talking duck in a game world filled with other talking animals, each with their own distinct personalities. While Duck Detective wants to depict a bunch of adorable talking critters, all of them are engaged in bland office work and corporate tasks you’d expect from our own world, which imꦚmediately had me smitten enough to explore and solve puzzles.
Your main tools are your own two feet - or flippers, I suppose - and how you can explore the offic♚e to have conversations with each employee or analyse their environment to figure out not only their names, but what they do at the bus company. These will act as the foundation for later conundrums where you mus♒t piece together lines of enquiry in your journal to figure out whose lunch was stolen, what each employee does, and why you’re here to begin with.
Law & Order: Special Venetians Unit
Pieces of evidence can also be pilfered throughout the office, used as a means of getting vital information from 🍸each character. The game describes this as an interrogation, but to me, it’s a polite chat more than anything else. One of my favourite things is how everyone who works at the bus station is almost apathetic to your presence, confused as to why you’re solving this meaningless mystery and intruding on what, for the most part, is a normal work day. Nothing 🧔about Duck Detective is especially deep or challenging, but not once does it intend to be.
Note: Treat this like a cute little detective film you sit down to digest, which you will find much easier by enabling the ‘Story Mode’ that 🃏all but automates puzzle solutions.
When the time comes to finally break the truth to everyone, you round them all up in the main kitchen, only for them to walk away before you have a chance to say anything. You’re a bit of a joke, but that’s the entire appeal of a game like Duck Detective, one that leans into rapid absurdity as its main character still believes himself to be a legitimate upholder of the law. As it only comes in at a few hours long at most, the puzzle mechanics aren’t complicated, but the characters are so creatively presented tha𝄹t you won’t care.
After reaching🐓 credits, I wanted to see Duck Detective in a few other, equally absurd capers where he appears in unremarkable settings to solve a conundrum that nobody asked him to, yet he’s so dedicated to working through his divorce and earning some literal bread that our hero just doesn’t care. It’s a silly bit of rewarding, charming fun. We need more games like that these days.
