You’re on the case as the Duck Detective in the newest entry in the cozy and quaint series: The Secret Salami! I’ll be reviewing the iOS mobile app version that just released in April, but the other platform versions are exactly the same, save for the touch controls. There’s a wonderful charm to the style and humor that Duck Detective carries throughout its 2-3 hour runtime, which is buoyed by the personality-filled graphics and voice acting. Developer Happy Broccoli Games has a great thing going with this series, and The Secret Salami was an engaging mystery to solve.
You move your 2D cutout of a duck around various rooms and environments around and inside a call center, which is going through a life-or-death situation involving someone stealing someone’s lunch. However, everything may not be as it seems. It’s your job to dig into the soft, bready center of the case. You use a combination of dialogue options and visual inspection of subjects and your surroundings to collect “keywords” that you then choose from in your case files to piece together the actual happenings around the office. It’s an easy to follow setup that allows you to enjoy the interoffice drama between the very inventive characters, even with the sorta silly story that unfolds before you. There are little details within the clues that start to piece together the overarching story, and the clue system allows for lots of leniency in how you figure out the solutions. There’s also a nifty hint button that gently nudges you towards the truth. I found myself only having to use this once, but the option was always there. It doesn’t straight up give you the answers, allowing you to still deduce what to do.
Finding the anthro characters and places you need to investigate wasn’t made out to be difficult, and the in-game map of the offices shows where you’re lacking keywords to finish out the parts of the case you’re on. Depending on how much you use the assists available to you as a player, the game may be shorter, but it’s a memorable little experience that is overflowing with colorful and very professionally crafted tongue-in-cheek detective drama moments. If you’re a fan of animal people (which, if you’re checking out this review on our site, you probably are) you’ll love the Duck Detective’s cast of call center characters, and the protagonist himself. Every animal has its own backstory and well-defined personality that dips and dives between the storylines of others as the case progresses. Things started falling into place about 75% of the way through, ending with a climactic finale that pays off your investigative chops well.
If I had to choose the best qualities of Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, it would be the audio and visuals delivered by the artists. Every voice actor delivers a fantastic performance that paired so well with the associated character’s species and facial reactions. You also get to zoom into the characters to find their story-specific clues, which adds depth to their otherwise simple, cute designs. I had a fun time using the magnifying glass to find out about what hid within their clothes, on their expressions, and other small features. Additionally, the music fits into the noir style that the story is going for, which added to the humorous juxtaposition effect of having such a serious duck quacking around the offices.
I’d love to see more entries in this series, as Happy Broccoli has proven they’ve got the writing and creative chops to sustain such a ridiculous concept as a “Duck Detective.” Now that I’ve entered the world they’ve designed, I want to go back over and over. You don’t have to have played the first game, The Ghost of Glamping, to enjoy The Secret Salami, but you should. With the series’ arrival on mobile, there’s never been an easier and more accessible time to check out the gripping mystery of the stolen salamis with a down-on-his-luck duck.
Gaming Furever was provided a review copy for the iOS release.
