Disclaimer: The developer provided us with a free key to review this game.

GAMEPLAY 7/10

Card Detective is a card battle game set in a comic book style where you can build your own deck as you see fit, even adjusting it from one battle to the next. The battle setting is unique in that you are using cards to break down the mental defenses of characters you are interviewing in an attempt to determine if they are lying or telling the truth.

There’s about 5-8 hours of content here but unfortunately not a lot of replayability other than if you want to try a couple of different deck builds.

NARRATIVE 7/10

In the story you play a reporter who’s investigating an accident at a construction site and must interview both witnesses and other characters to determine what happened. Is there more here than meets the eye? Is there a cover up? Was the construction company negligent?

True to its comic book style character’s personalities are exaggerated and over-the-top which you may find charmingly-cheesy depending on your tastes.

Neither the story nor the characters are especially nuanced and anyone with a bit of history with narratives will see through certain characters almost immediately.

GRAPHICS 7/10

I loved the realistic comic art style the devs chose to drive the narrative forward. But the graphics fall a little bit flat on the card art. Cards are hand drawn but very similar to each other.

SOUND 6/10

The music is great and sets the mood well. Unfortunately the soundtrack is limited and audio engineering is almost non-existent with tracks stopping abruptly, followed by a few moments of silence, only to have the same song start again.

About 3 hours into my playthrough I turned the music off.

VALUE 9/10

Card Detective is less than $5 on Steam without a sale and with up to 10 hours of content that’s not a bad value at all.

OVERALL 7.2/10

Related: Card Detective All Puzzle Solutions