Jenny Leclue: You deserved better.
My dear geeks and freaks it is October, the only month worth anything. The time of spooky movies, Count Chocula, candy corn(It's good! Shuddup!) and of course, if you're an Indie geek like Moi, It's time to Replay Night in the woods for the uptillionth time.
Everyone knows this delight of a game by now and since it's not the main topic of this blogpost I'll keep this brief. NITW is an indie side scrolling story driven game about Mae and the weird events of her town after she dropped out of college. The game is truly without compare and holds a special place in my heart and in the hearts of so many others. and as such when you finish it you feel a bit of a hole at the center of everything.
When I got that feeling, My natural instinct was to search out another game to fill in that void. I've tried more than a few, The darkside detective was too puzzle driven to give quite that same feel that NITW gets, and Kentucky route zero, while a masterwork in it's own right and well deserving of it's own entry on my little autism den here, was just too abstract, artistic and serious in tone to get that same sense of what I call 'dark whimsey' that NITW has.
But then I came across this: Jenny LeClue Detectivu
I stumbled upon this game on a long since lost reddit post about games similar in vibes to night in the woods. and this one one I saw out of the blue. I had never heard of it before so I gave it a look. I was pretty late to the party on it, The steam page for it has glowing reviews and it came out in 2019, before even the... incident we dare not speak about. The Artstyle alone grabbed and pulled me in, it's unique and appears almost like a paper cutout animation with a cel shade put over it, and as someone who grew up playing the HER interactive nancy drew games, Seeing the detective girl troupe in this game practically forced me to buy it. so I did.
What I got, Was a game that came as CLOSE as was possible to evoking the same feelings I got from playing NITW for the first time.
The game is honestly best experienced by playing or watching it, a description of it cannot do it justice. So before reading further
PLEASE PLAY THE GAME FOR YOURSELF!
Anyway, onto my brief overview and honest review.
The game opens up not with Jenny, but with a mysterious man in black
He wanders through a dark woods and takes a boat out onto a lake, he turns a dial, and then finally we witness a machine rise through the water, he steps onto it, and sinks down beneath the water. and then...
Our intrepid author wakes up. This is when we learn the entire game is simply a book that Arthur is writing. Arthur being an author who's facing some troubles from his publisher. His books are too 'kid friendly' they want blood, darkness, intreague. and so without a choice. Arthur gets to writing his new story, centering around our Intrepid young protagonist:
Jenny LeClue!
The worlds greatest detective. The game starts out pretty cheery and mild. You help your mother who is a former detective herself, then you leave the college where she teaches and go about Jenny's day. you talk to a few characters and you find that the day is the day the college Dean, Straussberry, is retiring today, from there and the biggest thing that happens is you help an old lady find her glasses for a nickel. But as the game goes on, Jenny visits the library, and finds it to be a wreck. and underneath it...
the dean... DEAD! And as you investigate, you find this was no accident... it was murder...
From there the game centers around Jenny as she tries to figure out the truth of what happens, and uncovers the clandestine secrets in her otherwise quiet town of Arthurton. Telling a story with lots of secrets and mysteries to discover with some fun puzzles to boot.
That's the synopsis out of the way, how does it play? Largely like a storybook, like Night in the woods for the most part, like a playable storybook. you walk left and right, occasionally up and down and inspect stuff. but there are a few puzzles, none of which are too demanding or complex. My favorite part though were the evidence gathering and then drawing a conclusion afterward.
At various points in the game you get a screen like this where you have to put the pieces together and actually solve a mystery. the game makes it pretty easy to figure out, but still it really gives you that feeling of "I'm using my BRAIN!" When you do them and I like that!
Besides that, There's collectibles in the game. Stickers which decorate your journal, game concept art and postcards which I don't think serve any purpose at all. these are scattered all over the place and don't really serve any larger purpose that I've found besides just giving some extra content or letting you snazz up Jenny's journal.
Speaking of journal, Your journal holds a bunch of different stuff. There's notes on the game, a Map of arthurton, your postcard collection, and 'Choosiness' which tracks your choices and gives you a personality thing basically.
That's about all that's said for the gameplay, no complaints there.
The artstyle? Is outstanding. it really evokes the same comfy autumn feelings I get from night in the woods. the colors are vibrant and the music pretty perfectly captures the mood the game wants you to feel whether that be cheery or unsettled. and as of 2020 the game has full voice acting, which I have to say is very well done, Jenny's VA was a very good pick for her role and really brings great emotion to the game.
But onto my biggest gripe with the game... it ends on a cliffhanger and a BIG one. it leaves off with a 'to be continued' that leaves a TON of questions unanswered and seeing as how the game came out way back in 2019, over six years ago? I'm not too optimistic about Jenny Leclue 2 coming out and WHOOPS it's like revenant hill all over again! that is to say- heartbreaking.
Still though, Jenny Leclue gave me a wonderful time during my time playing it. and if you enjoyed Night in the woods and need something else to scratch that itch this October? I Can't recommend Jenny Leclue enough.
10/10
Anyway, onto my brief overview and honest review.
The game opens up not with Jenny, but with a mysterious man in black
He wanders through a dark woods and takes a boat out onto a lake, he turns a dial, and then finally we witness a machine rise through the water, he steps onto it, and sinks down beneath the water. and then...
Our intrepid author wakes up. This is when we learn the entire game is simply a book that Arthur is writing. Arthur being an author who's facing some troubles from his publisher. His books are too 'kid friendly' they want blood, darkness, intreague. and so without a choice. Arthur gets to writing his new story, centering around our Intrepid young protagonist:
Jenny LeClue!
The worlds greatest detective. The game starts out pretty cheery and mild. You help your mother who is a former detective herself, then you leave the college where she teaches and go about Jenny's day. you talk to a few characters and you find that the day is the day the college Dean, Straussberry, is retiring today, from there and the biggest thing that happens is you help an old lady find her glasses for a nickel. But as the game goes on, Jenny visits the library, and finds it to be a wreck. and underneath it...
the dean... DEAD! And as you investigate, you find this was no accident... it was murder...
From there the game centers around Jenny as she tries to figure out the truth of what happens, and uncovers the clandestine secrets in her otherwise quiet town of Arthurton. Telling a story with lots of secrets and mysteries to discover with some fun puzzles to boot.
That's the synopsis out of the way, how does it play? Largely like a storybook, like Night in the woods for the most part, like a playable storybook. you walk left and right, occasionally up and down and inspect stuff. but there are a few puzzles, none of which are too demanding or complex. My favorite part though were the evidence gathering and then drawing a conclusion afterward.
At various points in the game you get a screen like this where you have to put the pieces together and actually solve a mystery. the game makes it pretty easy to figure out, but still it really gives you that feeling of "I'm using my BRAIN!" When you do them and I like that!
Besides that, There's collectibles in the game. Stickers which decorate your journal, game concept art and postcards which I don't think serve any purpose at all. these are scattered all over the place and don't really serve any larger purpose that I've found besides just giving some extra content or letting you snazz up Jenny's journal.
Speaking of journal, Your journal holds a bunch of different stuff. There's notes on the game, a Map of arthurton, your postcard collection, and 'Choosiness' which tracks your choices and gives you a personality thing basically.
That's about all that's said for the gameplay, no complaints there.
The artstyle? Is outstanding. it really evokes the same comfy autumn feelings I get from night in the woods. the colors are vibrant and the music pretty perfectly captures the mood the game wants you to feel whether that be cheery or unsettled. and as of 2020 the game has full voice acting, which I have to say is very well done, Jenny's VA was a very good pick for her role and really brings great emotion to the game.
But onto my biggest gripe with the game... it ends on a cliffhanger and a BIG one. it leaves off with a 'to be continued' that leaves a TON of questions unanswered and seeing as how the game came out way back in 2019, over six years ago? I'm not too optimistic about Jenny Leclue 2 coming out and WHOOPS it's like revenant hill all over again! that is to say- heartbreaking.
Still though, Jenny Leclue gave me a wonderful time during my time playing it. and if you enjoyed Night in the woods and need something else to scratch that itch this October? I Can't recommend Jenny Leclue enough.
10/10
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