PARADISE KILLER
Andy Kelly: Paradise Killer came out of nowhere and singlehandedly reinvented the detective genre. The first project from indie studio Kaizen Gameworks, this is a detective game that lets you actually detect. You’re presented with a crime, a densely detailed island full of clues and suspects, and you can go to court and present your case whenever you like. This freeform structure is bold, but it pays off. A single, well-hidden clue can transform the version of events you’ve built up in your head, and it’s possible to pin the crime on the wrong person if you missed a clue.
The game won’t even tell you if you got it wrong; you just have to live with it, like a real detective would.
As well as being a great detective game, Paradise Killer is also an audio/visual feast. The vivid art style, outlandish character designs, idiosyncratic writing, and superb soundtrack combine to create one of the most visually and aurally stimulating games I’ve played in years. It’s also deeply, deeply weird. This is a mythical fantasy world of gods and demons, but also blandly contemporary, with convenience stores and apartment blocks sitting alongside immense crystal statues of goat-headed deities. Like the soundtrack, it’s a dazzling fusion of styles that gives the game a completely unique identity.
The first time I presented my case to court, I was convinced I’d hoovered up every last morsel of evidence on the island. But the outcome was far from satisfying, as half a dozen characters I loved ended up being executed. I wasn’t sure, but I felt like something was wrong, so I loaded an earlier save and looked for more clues. Then I found something that completely turned my case on its head; the smoking gun that every detective dreams of. I returned to court and watched things play out in a shockingly different—and less traumatic— way. Paradise Killer sets a new bar for detective games, and does it with a singular, eccentric style. It’s also one of a very small number of videogames whose soundtrack I’ve bought on vinyl. The music is just that good.