When Australian studio Worm Club first released Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island in 2018, it became a smash hit. It was chosen to show at GDC’s Day of the Devs, won a spot at Fantastic Arcade and was nominated for Best Student Game at the IGF awards. It would be a few years before the sequel, Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard, and the final game in the trilogy, Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County, but the series has become a defining face for the country’s indie scene. Its absurdist sense of humour and Creative Director Grace Bruxner’s idiosyncratic character designs have proved that video games can both be culturally meaningful and extremely silly and fun.
The Entire Mystery scoots over to consoles in a bundle that includes all three games.
Frog Detective’s sleuthing adventures have been a runaway success since it hopped onto PC in 2018 with The Haunted Island, the first instalment in its trilogy of animal-based mysteries. Its low-poly first person visuals and laid-back approach to clue hunting and suspect questioning have earned it a sizeable cult following.
The first case sees our sleuthing hero tasked with solving the mystery of a tropical sloth haunted by a ghost that nobody can track down. Armed with their trusty magnifying glass and a kooky cast of characters, the hero soon finds themselves on an adventure full of slapstick comedy.
After a bit of exploration, our hero encounters Martin, the owner of The Haunted Island. He tells us that he’s heard ghost noises but hasn’t seen the ghost himself and insists that the ghost is not real.
It’s here that the player gets the chance to use their magnifying glass and discover the truth. The ghost is actually Finley, Martin’s friend who happens to be practicing dancing in the cave. Luckily, Frog Detective can save the day by creating an explosive device and saving the island from its ghostly curse.
This is just one of the many cheeky moments that abound in The Entire Mystery. Its infectious humour and unique visual style have helped make this one of my favourite indie games. It’s a worthy swan song for a series that started life as an experiment during Worm Club’s undergraduate degree. The trio of endearingly daft titles has proven that blending serious design and slapstick silliness is possible, even in a small handheld game.
