Solving crime is no walk in the pond. You are a down-on-his-luck detective who also happens to be a duck. Use your powers of de-duck-tion to inspect evidence, fill in the blanks, and bust the case wide open, in a narrative mystery adventure where nothing is quite as it seems.
Creative Director, Art, Writing, Design: Annika Maar

Programming, Design: Joni Levinkind

Concept Art, Animation: Caroline Buchmann

3D Art: Jacky Vintonjek

Sean Chiplock, Dashawn Ricks, Lizzie Freeman, Annika Maar, Nola Klop,

Cyrus Nemati, Shane Mullin, Brian David Gilbert

Developer: Happy Broccoli Games

Publisher: Happy Broccoli Games

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC

Release Date: 23 May 2024

When Duck Detective: The Secret Salami showed up in the Indie Showcase a month ago, I thought it was the cutest thing in the video, and I couldn’t wait to check it out. I’m happy to report that the game is as cute as it looks and has plenty of charm, adorable characters, and animal puns.

There’s a proper detective noire start to the narrative here with Eugene McQuacklin, the titular Duck Detective, finding himself in his apartment after having purchased a big bag of bread (oh no! the addiction!) and rummaging on his failing love life and inability to pay bills. Fortunately, he gets called to solve a case at the BearBus Offices, where someone stole a salami sandwich. You may find yourself thinking that the case of a salami sandwich could only go so far, but that’s where you’ll find yourself quacking in the wrong direction. Because as layers of this meat sandwich are peeled back, there’s a big secret and a case for a true detective, such as Eugene McQuacklin, to solve.

I may be over-selling it a bit. But take it as a sign I had a really good time with Duck Detective: The Secret Salami. And at around 2-3 hours, it felt like the perfect little afternoon mystery to play on my Nintendo Switch in bed with just the right amount of puzzles to pair with its charming characters and writing.

For the most part, you’ll be wandering around the BearBus offices, interacting with those who work there, like the Giraffe receptionist or the Bear running the show and gathering clues along the way. You can also pull out a magnifying glass to gather clues from items and people, and you’ll then use these to piece together different case titles to help progress the story forward. These word puzzles start simple, like getting you to know who does what at BearBus (BLANK works at BearBus, and their job is BLANK), through to solving the case at the end of the game. The last couple of these are a bit tricky, but the game does tell you if you have over or under 2/3 right or wrong, and you can narrow down which word slots you have wrong with some trial and error if necessary.

I was surprised to hear that Duck Detective: The Secret Salami was fully voice-acted, and the character’s writing came to life to great effect. Pair that with the colourful pop-up book art style and animal-related puns; there’s more than enough charm and fun here to be had by yourself or even playing with a kid – knowing full well you’ll need to help them with the word puzzles.