THE LAST CASE OF BENEDICT FOX

Explore the dead's memories in this Lovecraftian detective story

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As creative director Bartek Lesiakowski tells it, The Last Case Of Benedict Fox became a Metroidvania almost entirely by accident. When development began around three years ago, this Lovecraft-inspired adventure about a “self-proclaimed detective” had a keener focus on story. Then the idea of exploring the human psyche was mooted, and the environments they built became more maze-like. Gradually, the game took on a new shape. “After a few months, we were like, ‘Oh, we have a Metroidvania on our hands’,” Lesiakowski recalls. “So let’s go all-in on that.”

That organic shift makes sense: Metroid has a lot of common with a detective game; certainly, they feature many of the same verbs. In both cases, careful observation of your environment is key, with investigation yielding important secrets. And both find ways to keep their mysteries under lock and key, the world itself and your understanding of it growing as you gradually open them up.