I like puzzle games, particular those focused on deduction. Return of the Obra Dinn remains top of list for me. A recent addition to the genre is The Incident at Galley House, which is a remake of a text only gamed called Type Help.

The challenge with describing any of these games is that the plot and the mechanisms to uncover the plot are so intertwined that they can’t really be talked about without spoiling the other. Going in blind is all but required to fully appreciate the art. In that respect, I’ll try to avoid as much as I can.

The GODOT engine can do a lot of things, and puzzle games is one that it really does well. Voice acting, interactive buttons, simple animations. Puzzles are about how your brain perceives data, so generally less is more from a visual aid perspective. Well… more is more I suppose as if the effort was made to visually present something, there’s a reason for it. That is certainly the case here, as the presentation is extremely well done.

The game starts off simple enough, you’re sent to investigate a slew of deaths at Galley House and through various presentations of key data, you piece together a timeline of characters, locations, and events. A few times I thought I was playing ‘And Then There Were None’, as it feels as though the characters all have something to hide, yet have a common thread. The act of discovering a name, or an avatar to show the character is as much fun as figuring out how they all interact within the timeline.

This timeline acts as a branching spiderweb of sorts, and some are hubs connecting to a half dozen threads, while others are simply dead ends. The good news is that you don’t have to discover all the threads, just piece enough of them together to get the major beats from start to finish. My obsessive part wanted to find all the bits though, and there are handy indicators when a thread is left to be found. In fact, the UI itself is a really an amazing tool as compared to the text only version. The visual aids are a tremendous help when you’re trying to keep track of key bits of data – it even comes with a search feature! I wouldn’t consider it difficult in any way, and if you do get stuck on any bit there’s a free hint system too.

By the time I closed the book on the mysteries of Galley House, I was somewhat amazed at how the story itself was constructed. All the logical breaks actually made sense, and seeming dead ends turned into new roads. Time, memory, and perspective are all key pieces of any puzzle, and they are wonderfully done here. It’s good to have closure.

Also worth noting, it plays great on the Steam Deck. Strong recommendation!