It was a dark and stormy night. When you are roaming the streets aimlessly and looking for a challenge, what better thing has a copper to do than play “Detective Hank and the Goldens Sneeze”? I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but those blasted crooks were not gonna catch themselves and injustice is a word that sticks to my temple. Starting a new game might seem daunting, but I came prepared; I read this guide.

When a detective wants to catch a thief, they need 3 things from the swindler: a motive, an alibi, and evidence; This game was no different. I was smart enough to take the advice of the tutorial and kept pen and paper ready. Throughout my playthrough, all characters would give me clues to their motive and alibi and I would need to puzzle the evidence together myself. One needs to be careful, though. Even if someone might not have an alibi or evidence might have made a person look fishy, if not all 3 were complete, I might be barking up the wrong tree and captain Stevens would have my head for that. Still, there's no shame in taking a gamble.

Sometimes, being a detective looks too easy. One reads a text and clicks on some options, maybe even with gamepads and touch-screens, if they want to, but looks can be deceiving. In “Detective Hank and the Golden Sneeze” the story changes in subtle and less subtle ways, so mindless clicking would only lead me to chase my own tail. I might have been tempted to use the 'skip to the next choice' button in the pause menu, but I would miss out on important details that could snitch on a thief; The devil is always in the details. If I regretted my temptation, though, I could always use the scroll wheel on my trusty mouse to read back past text. Sidekicks like that will save your life more than once.

No one could prepare me for the dilemma of choice, however. The game was only saved at the beginning of a new chapter, so save points were few and far in between. This did not faze me, as a little risk keeps me on my toes.

Whenever I would get from a crime to arresting a suspect, I always needed to traverse 5 chapters. The first chapter had me investigating the crime scene and I needed to pay close attention; Most of the incriminating evidence is on the crime scene itself. If I didn't use my pretty eyes there, I might as well have given the criminal the keys to the city. After the initial investigation, I went into town and searched for my first clues. By then I should have had my first hunch.

The second and third chapter were a different breed, but I held my ground. Here the group of suspects was split into two and I had to choose who I would chase and who I'd let slip. If I did not have a hunch after chapter 1, I might get into a little trouble, but a detective isn't scared of taking chances. If everybody seemed innocent, I could always chase the right one in the next chapter. If the culprit's antics really caught me off guard, then I could always double down on chapter 4 where I had the chance to interrogate everybody again.



You might be surprised how much people can blabber once you gain their trust. This happened to me a couple of times, as I was able to interrogate one person every chapter. You know, when you get someone's complete attention and you say the right things, they will let you in on a little secret they actually don't want you to know. I had to find out what they wanted to hear or I might botch the investigation. I could slip up a little and they would forgive me, but if I gave them too much, I don't think they would help me. Sometimes they might help me and I might not have noticed. If I missed a bit of vital information earlier, there's a big chance I would miss out on their clue.

Chapter 5 was where everything would come together and take the culprit apart. I started with lining up my suspects with my notes. By clicking on every suspect's name, I would first review all clues I had on them, compare them to the crime scene and I would decide whether I should arrest them or review someone else. There was room for error here, so sometimes I would arrest someone, just for the fun of it. It's not the proper thing to do, but my puppy dog eyes can get me out of any situation when I say sorry.

If I would catch the right culprit, I took them to court. If you've been paying attention, the justice system is not all it's cracked up to be. I answered 4 questions and there was room for one mistake, but if you don't know what you're doing, then you will have to make due with the bad ending.

So, I caught my crook. Now, you should try to do it yourself. Good luck, and remember: This isn't a racetrack; no spoilers.