No Case Should Remain Unsolved Spins Mysteries Right

Mystery games are probably my favorite genre. I can just never get enough of them! But they keep pulling me in two extremes: either I feel like I’m just following a story and the game periodically ensures I’m onboard or I’m so overwhelmed by the freedom that I must gather all my cognitive processing to finish it over one evening or weekend. Otherwise, I might not be able to go back and I’ll have to start over.

No Case Should Remain Unsolved sits somewhere in the middle of those extremes. It onboards me just enough not to be overwhelmed, but it never feels restricting as I still have to figure out everything beyond that point myself. It lets me know when I’m making progress, but I can never truly brute force conclusions by just reordering text blocks between characters and within the timeline. I have to think things over! And it’s lenient, occupying only one evening even if I read testimonies slowly and thoroughly. It’s very forgiving in how it lets me guess too, and I never even notice that it’s always got my back when I’m even mildly stuck.

Yet the most magical touch is in how No Case Should Remain Unsolved delivers its ultimate twist. In a genre so dominated by writing whims rather than game design whimsy, it’s a rare moment where self-revelation stays mechanical and is only later confirmed by storytelling. In Ace Attorney, I’m mostly a spectator who can rely on outside help during the most pivotal moments. In Return to the Obra Dinn, I quickly realize that I might not be good enough for the job. No Case Should Remain Unsolved lets me do the job, then reaches out with powerful emotion and leaves with grace. The only mystery left is if somebody can replicate the same magic again, even if it’s the creator of the game.