PLAYISM has announced that The Detective Reaper Invites, an indie game by solo developer SHIZU KANO UMI, which will release on Steam on 25 May 2024.

The Detective Reaper Invites fuses elements of roguelites, deckbuilding card games, and logic puzzles to create a unique deduction adventure where all of the murder cases, deductions, and game board are randomly generated, making every run unique. The controls and game mechanics are simple and easy to learn, allowing anyone to enjoy its endless detective gameplay. If you’re confident in your deduction skills, you can try to aim for speedier clear times as well as attempt the timed challenge of Hard Mode.

As no two runs are exactly the same, this game is perfect for content creators. Streamers can enjoy solving cases with their viewers without having to worry about spoilers. The job of a detective reaper is simple: get testimonies from the suspects, deduce the culprit, and execute them with your own two hands.

Culprits always tell lies, and the innocent always tell the truth. If you choose incorrectly, you will be deemed unfit to be a detective reaper… and yours will be the next life to be harvested. Every murder case you have to solve is randomly generated on a game board, and if you fail (and get a Game Over), you will have to start all over again. No two cases are entirely the same, and there is no single correct way to proceed. Rack your brain and expose murderers, one after the other. How long do you think you can last…?

You start with some spare change and 3 basic cards in your deck. Choose between Deduction, Shop, Treasure, and Random tiles to make your way across the game board. On deduction tiles, you must solve murder cases by examining the suspects’ testimonies. Use a variety of cards to get more information from the suspects and execute the culprit(s) to proceed.

Cards are the key to solving cases accurately and moving forward on the board, but using cards costs money. Manage your costs (and maybe even rely on a stroke of good luck) and try to find the culprits without overspending. Successfully solving a case rewards you with a new card, as well as money you can spend to buy items or more cards at shops. Push forward and solve as many cases as you can as the difficulty increases with each stage!

Once you either get a Game Over or beat the game, you will receive a report detailing how well you did as a detective reaper. Here, you can see how much time you took, how many mistakes you made, how many cards you used, and the total amount of money you spent on your run. If you manage to beat the game, you can try to surpass your own records in another playthrough. Even if you’ve beaten it once, the roguelite elements will make sure to keep you on your toes. Feel free to share your results with others on social media and compete with fellow players.

What’s more, by meeting certain requirements, you can unlock Hard Mode, which adds a time limit to the mix, forcing you to be as quick and accurate in your deductions as possible. Even the slightest hesitation could cost the whole run. Are you up for the challenge?

Check out the trailer below: