Press Kit

Description

One line

A modern whodunit where the suspects actually answer.

Short (50 words)

Open Verdict is a noir detective game built around one idea: in its open-interrogation cases you type any question you want, and the suspect answers in character. Press them, lie to them, present evidence at the table — and catch the killer by cornering them with their own contradictions.

Long

You’re the detective. The victim is on the floor. The suspects are in the next room.

Most detective games hand you a list of questions and ask you to pick one. Open Verdict doesn’t. In its open-interrogation cases you type whatever you want — “where were you at nine?”, “why is your handwriting on this note?”, “did you ever sleep with the victim?” — and the suspect answers in their own words, in character, on the spot. They deflect. They get defensive. Some of them lie straight to your face, and catching the lie is the game.

Nothing is improvised while you play. Every case is written in advance — a victim, a set cast, physical evidence, and forensic findings that hold together under scrutiny. Your questions are open-ended; the facts underneath aren’t, and any given playthrough has exactly one correct answer. Start that case again, though, and many will have quietly re-cast the killer — so a solved case can’t simply be memorised, or handed to a friend.

There are 58 cases across five eras — Modern, 1920s, Victorian, 1970s, and Cyberpunk — ranging from a rookie’s first body to cold cases where the evidence has had decades to rot. Ten of them are free, and use prepared questions rather than open interrogation: the fastest way to see whether the game is for you before spending anything.