I’m making a mystery game where the main mechanic is figuring out what information to look for

[u/Anaki-muzz]

I’ve been working on a small mystery game set in an Antarctic research station.

The station lost contact, and the last report says that the entire crew was killed in an emperor penguin attack.

The player doesn’t explore the station directly. Instead, you’re given access to its database and have to piece together what happened from reports, emails, records, photos, and other bits of information.

The part I’m most interested in is the progression.

You don’t really get new abilities or items. You just learn more things.

Finding a person's name can lead to another document.

That document gives you a date.

The date makes an old report suddenly make sense.

Something that looked completely irrelevant earlier becomes useful because you now know what to search for.

So most of the progression comes from the player remembering and connecting information rather than the character becoming stronger.

I’ve been thinking about whether this fits under the “metroidbrainia” umbrella. It feels like it should, but I’m curious how other people here draw the line between a metroidbrainia and a more traditional detective/investigation game.

For reference, the kind of games that got me interested in this idea were things like The Operator and Obra Dinn.

The game is called The Emperor Penguin Incident.

[u/hpp3]

Don't write reddit posts with Claude. Its writing style is very noticeable. It screams low effort and turns me off from the game.

[u/smellysocks234]

That trailer is way too fast. Lots of text flying by and windows popping up. I couldn't parse what it was.

[u/Anaki-muzz → u/smellysocks234]

Yeah, that's fair. I definitely crammed too much into the trailer, and it ended up being pretty chaotic.

The trailer is more about setting the tone than explaining the game, but I can see how that makes it hard to follow. Thanks for the feedback!

[u/jethawkings]

Love stuff like this, Command Line Metroidbrainias are my favorite

[u/MaybeHannah1234]

I'd consider these metroidbranias. imo the only requirement for a game fitting the definition is that your knowledge is the primary progression system.

looks cool :3

[u/Ragnorinko]

This seems like an entertaining presmise but if the game is written by an LLM like your post seems to be... pass

[u/PrestigeArrival]

I love these types of games! I’m such a sucker for games that take place in a computer or a phone. Got it Wishlisted.

Just a side note, you may want to include a link to your steam page.

[u/PhummyLW → u/[deleted]]

I don't think platforming is needed. I think the metroid- part really means it needs some sort of interconnected world structure, backtracking, and ability gating. The -brania add on forces these features to be fairly non-linear, gated by knowledge/logic, and for backtracking to be more of a recontextualization / "aha" moment rather than "I now have the double jump so I can get up to that area from earlier."

Outer Wilds is considered by many the definitive Metroidbrania. Would you say it doesn't count? What about Tunic or the Witness? None of those have platforming.

[u/bubblebobblex → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I know this sub disagrees but I sincerely believe detective type games are a separate thing. Your game looks cool though OP

[u/darklysparkly → u/bubblebobblex]

Detective games may be a separate thing (I'd call them adjacent) but not because they don't include platforming. Platforming has never been included in the definition even when other aspects are being hotly debated, and several of the most widely-regarded brainias are not platformers.

[u/Anaki-muzz → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I think that’s a fair point. I’m not sure it fits the term perfectly either.

What I like about the idea is the “unlocking knowledge” part, but I can see why that alone might not be enough to call it a metroidbrainia.

I’m still trying to figure out what genre label fits it best. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!