Lord Winklebottom Investigates review

By Heidi Nicholas,

Lord Winklebottom Investigates takes us to the Isle of Barghest to uncover the truth behind a gruesome murder. See what we thought of our time with the game in our Lord Winklebottom Investigates review!

When a dignified axolotl is murdered in his own manor house, who else should be called upon to investigate but his gentleman-giraffe friend, Lord Winklebottom? This manor house is of course located on an isolated island which you’re stranded on after arriving during a storm — throw in a number of panicked (but fantastically dressed) animal guests with secrets to hide, a series of unexplainable occurrences, and an unflappable hippo companion with a determined love of tea, and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect with the delightfully dry-humoured Lord Winklebottom Investigates.

Firstly — a shoutout to the way the game shamelessly calls you out on the way you make your cup of tea (this is the wrong way, in case you were wondering) and to Lord Winklebottom’s tea-obsessed hippo associate, Dr. Frumple. He may not always be able to read the room, and his jokes go sadly unappreciated by Lord Winklebottom, but one of Dr. Frumple’s greatest strengths is the way he manages to remain clutching his cup of tea in all manner of situations, even on our storm-tossed crossing to the island; he truly is a hippo after my own heart. It’s actually the icon of Dr. Frumple’s ever-present cup of tea that you can select to request a hint from him, although you should avoid using it if you’re hoping to get all of the game’s achievements on your first playthrough, as there’s an achievement worth 200 Gamerscore that you unlock by finishing the game without asking Frumple’s advice.

So, we (as Lord Winklebottom) and Dr. Frumple arrive on the Isle of Barghest to find Lord Winklebottom’s old friend has been murdered, before setting out on a mission to uncover the truth of the matter. This involves talking to all the animals gathered on the island, and being as nosy as you possibly can — poking through private belongings, stretching your giraffe neck to look through windows and into every room, and, more often than you might expect, “borrowing” the things Lord Winklebottom finds lying around. One of Lord Winklebottom Investigates’ strengths is that generous dollop of dry humour — the game isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself, calling Lord Winklebottom out on everything from his seemingly bottomless inventory to his habit of happily helping himself to things that don’t belong to him, and that banter between Lord Winklebottom and Dr. Frumple kept me chuckling as I played.

lord winklebottom investigates interview

Icons will pop up for things that you can interact with (such as a hoof to show you can pick something up or touch it) and as you explore, the mysteries of the manor house begin to separate themselves into distinct puzzles — it’s here that another of the game’s strengths shines through, too: you nearly always feel as though you have something to do or try next. Any new discovery usually led to a number of “I wonder if…” moments, and I was usually racing around the house and island to try things out. Lord Winklebottom Investigates does, however, occasionally fall into that puzzle game pitfall where it has its own peculiar logic on how things should be used. This can feel especially frustrating when you’re stuck and need just one thing to progress, and when these blocks happened, it sometimes felt like I stumbled on the answer by accident. It’s even more frustrating at one point in the game where there’s a sequence of events that need to be completed, and if you’re stuck on what to do next, each time you redo it you have to journey back to get a one-use item. On the plus side, this block is almost always followed by a wave of ‘I know just what to do now!” moments as the game opens up again.

The 2D, hand-painted art style is used beautifully in this point-and-click adventure, with lovely designs for each of the animals and gorgeous backgrounds to each scene. The music, too, really adds to the atmosphere — even at the beginning of the game, there’s something of an unsettling undercurrent to the music that keeps you on your toes and reminds you that there’s a darker side to this story. The voice acting was also enjoyable, although the characters do occasionally talk very fast. If you do find that they’re running through the text too quickly, and moving onto the next bit before you’ve finished reading, then there is an option you can use to stop the text from automatically proceeding to slow Lord Winklebottom’s galloping speech. Again, this is more of a minor annoyance and it’s easily rectified, and with the addition of voice acting in general, the animals’ characters shine through even more strongly. Another minor problem was the controls. In general, navigating between Lord Winklebottom Investigates’ notebook, items, and inventory was fluid and easy, but using the left and right sticks to move between and select objects and items could feel over-finicky. Again, this wasn’t a huge issue, as you’re mostly free to move through the game at your own pace, but it was a bit of an annoyance in some areas.

lord winklebottom investigates interview

The achievements, meanwhile, seem to be generous and well-paced — most of them should unlock as you play through the story, although you should steer clear of asking advice from Dr. Frumple if you want to unlock them all on your first go. There are also a few missables to watch out for, but as long as you’re exploring and interacting with everything, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with these. One of my favourite achievements was Grand Theft Flora (skip this bit of the review if you don’t want to know about the achievements beforehand!). Lord Winklebottom, while a gentleman, is still a giraffe, and is apt to eye up any nearby greenery if he’s feeling a bit peckish. There’s one plant in particular that tickles his fancy — if you eat it when nobody’s looking, nothing will happen. But if you eat it in front of the outraged gardener, you’ll unlock the achievement for Grand Theft Flora.

Summary

I played this game during a heatwave, and it was wonderful to find a distraction from the heat in the investigative shenanigans of these well-spoken animals. Lord Winklebottom was full of unexpected surprises, and kept me laughing throughout. If you’re a fan of point-and-click games, detective stories, or are looking for something that’ll get a few chuckles out of you, you might want to consider stepping into the shoes of Lord Winklebottom. I spent around nine hours in the game, and aside from a few frustrations, I really enjoyed my time with it. Here’s hoping for more Lord Winklebottom cases in the future!
8 / 10
* Heidi spent around nine hours uncovering the truth in Lord Winklebottom Investigates, unlocking 14 of the game's 15 achievements as she went. A review copy of the game was provided and played on Xbox Series X.
Heidi Nicholas
Written by Heidi Nicholas
Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature, and now enjoys writing news, reviews, and features across TrueAchievements and TrueTrophies. When she’s not writing, Heidi is usually either looking for her next RPG, or trying to convince the rest of the team to hear about yet another delightfully wholesome game she has found.
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