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Lord Winklebottom Investigates brings a murder mystery, dashing animals, and point-and-click gameplay when it launches in July. We spoke to developer Cave Monsters\u2019 Charlotte Sutherland to learn more.<\/h2>\n

Fancy diving into a murder mystery game set in the 1920s and populated by fabulously-dressed animals? You\u2019ll be able to do just that when Lord Winklebottom Investigates launches in July. We reached out to developer Cave Monsters to learn more, with sole developer Charlotte Sutherland having been kind enough to answer our questions. <\/p>\n

What is Lord Winklebottom Investigates?<\/h3>\n

Lord Winklebottom Investigates is a murder mystery, point-and-click adventure game set in the 1920s and featuring a lot of fancy animals. It\u2019s in development from and published by Cave Monsters.<\/p>\n

Sutherland is the sole developer at Cave Monsters. \u201cI\u2019ve had some people helping me out with regards to social media and marketing,\u201d she explains. \u201cI\u2019ve been working with Acorn Games to help me with managing social media on Twitter and things like that\u2026 it makes it a bit easier for me so I can concentrate on the development.\u201d Some students helped out a little, doing a handful of background animations and cutting up some of the VO files, while Gustavo Coutinho worked on the soundtrack, but the majority of the work was done by Sutherland. \u201cI\u2019ve worked on it mainly solo up until the music, really,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n

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As for which parts of development she most enjoyed, Sutherland tells us, \u201cthe main stuff I\u2019ve really enjoyed is doing the paintings of the characters and doing the animation. I enjoy coming up with the story\u2026 some of the more technical elements… I\u2019m not a coder, so those have been more of a learning curve for me, but the actual art creation and getting the theming down and just seeing everything come to life in that way has been really enjoyable. Also getting the voice actors and getting the lines recorded,\u201d she continues. \u201cAfter playing the game again with all the voices in, that makes it seem much richer and alive \u2014 it\u2019s nice to see it in that state, it feels much more fleshed-out and I think it adds to the atmosphere and the tone of it all. It was really exciting working with voice actors to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

When does Lord Winklebottom Investigates launch?<\/h3>\n

We now have a release date for Lord Winklebottom Investigates, which launches for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on July 28th. It\u2019ll be priced at \u00a315.99\/$18.99\/\u20ac18.99.<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s it about?<\/h3>\n

In Lord Winklebottom Investigates, we play as Lord Winklebottom himself \u2014 a gentleman giraffe and a renowned detective. He and his hippo friend, Dr. Frumple, are invited to a lonely island only to find on their arrival that their old friend has been murdered, leaving behind a mystery for Lord Winklebottom to solve.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wonderful idea, to populate the game with animals rather than people. \u201cIt all stemmed from a painting I did after going to the zoo one day,\u201d Sutherland explains. \u201cI usually go to the zoo quite a bit at weekends, and I thought it would be nice to do a series of fancy animals as paintings, and I did a very snooty-looking giraffe \u2014 he looks a bit different, he looks much snootier than the final rendition of Lord Winklebottom, and I wanted to go with a slightly funny-ish name\u2026 it sounds slightly bemusing,\u201d Sutherland continues, \u201cand I thought it would be a funny little character. There weren’t really any initial plans to do him as a game, it was just sort of a series of fancy animal paintings \u2014 I did Dr. Frumple the same way, he was the second sort of fancy animal painting that I did\u2026 it all really stemmed from going to the zoo. It was after doing a few of the paintings that I thought it might lend itself to a point-and-click adventure-style narrative game,\u201d Sutherland adds. \u201cAt the time, I was also watching stuff like Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, and I\u2019ve read a lot of Agatha Christie in the past, so I kind of blended them together slightly with the fancy animal elements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be warned, however \u2014 Sutherland tells us that \u201cthere\u2019s more going on than meets the eye\u2026 the story gets darker as it goes along.\u201d<\/p>\n

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How does Lord Winklebottom Investigates play?<\/h3>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried to go for classic point-and-click gameplay,\u201d Sutherland tells us, \u201cso there will be some interrogation, you\u2019ll be discovering clues about people in your notepad \u2014 you have a notepad system, you can go through that and collect the clues so you can make your own conclusions based on that, as well as unlocking other talking points.\u201d Along with collecting clues and interviewing suspects, we\u2019ll also face a number of puzzles around the island and the house \u2014 \u201ca lot of it is using items that you\u2019ve found, combining items to make new ones, solving some puzzles to access new areas, and also using those items potentially on the suspects as well to progress the story and to get them to come out with new information,\u201d Sutherland concludes. Naturally, Lord Winklebottom will be equipped with endless pockets for the clues he collects in his investigation. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the world like?<\/h3>\n

Lord Winklebottom Investigates is set in the 1920s, and is inspired by British murder mysteries. \u201cI wanted to set it in the past as I thought it might be more in keeping with the theme,\u201d Sutherland begins, adding, \u201cit was more that kind of old prim and proper style kind of British murder mystery stuff\u2026 I wanted to get a mixture across of the time periods,\u201d Sutherland continues, explaining that Sherlock Holmes was one inspiration for the game. \u201cI was also listening to Paul Temple on the radio, which is set later, so I tried to get a nice inbetween where it\u2019s still art deco-y in a way \u2014 it\u2019s kind of getting that inbetween stage of classic British murder mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the game, Lord Winklebottom and Dr. Frumple travel to the Isle of Barghest. Sutherland tells us that it\u2019s a small island with about five or six locations, including the house, the crypt, the jetty, and the cave \u2014 \u201ceach one has some other bits in it \u2014 the house, for instance, has other rooms you can explore. The island has a few areas that are potentially locked at certain points, so it is a case of progressing through with the story \u2014 it\u2019s more of an isolated island, so there\u2019s only the one manor house on there\u2026 they have a family crypt on the island, so you can explore around there\u2026 there\u2019s the jetty where you first arrive, there\u2019s other areas that can be explored off of there, and there\u2019s a lighthouse\u2026 but there\u2019s a few areas that you can\u2019t necessarily get to straight away, so it\u2019s more unlocking them through the story.\u201d To add to that creepier atmosphere of Lord Winklebottom Investigates, \u201cwhen you first arrive, there\u2019s a storm, so you\u2019re trapped for a little while.\u201d Sutherland adds that \u201cit\u2019s a bit darker to begin with\u2026 I wanted it to be slightly in the theme of \u2018And Then There Were None\u2019 so that everybody\u2019s trapped on a little island that you can\u2019t really escape \u2014 that\u2019s where the storm comes in, so you\u2019re stuck there with the suspects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sutherland explains that she also \u201cwanted to get a 1920s vibe\u201d for the music, and that Gustavo, the composer, \u201cwas actually a kickstarter backer that offered his services of composing\u201d \u2014 he had previously worked on other games, including Payday 2. \u201cHe sent over a really good sample reel, and it really got the vibe I was looking for, for that era, and it has an ominous vibe to it as well \u2014 it adds a lot of character to it. When it all comes together with the lighting and the character, it feels to me like it invokes that atmosphere of that old murder mystery in that ominous setting.\u201d Sutherland\u2019s aim was to \u201cmix and match things I\u2019m interested in in general, like with the comedy \u2014 it\u2019s a bit more deadpan, so I\u2019m trying to get that British humour in there \u2014 in a sarcastic, deadpan way, rather than it being puns or stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Any news on the Lord Winklebottom Investigates achievements?<\/h3>\n

We don\u2019t yet have the Lord Winklebottom Investigates achievements, but Sutherland gives us an idea of what to expect, telling us that we will see the game\u2019s sense of humour reflected in its achievements. \u201cThere will be stuff in the achievements that suits that slightly comical but quirky style, such as stuff that stood out in testing \u2014 things that people found amusing, I tried to kind of incorporate achievements into those elements.\u201d Interestingly, Sutherland adds that \u201cthere\u2019s a few optional achievements in there\u2026 depending on your choices, you may or may not get all of the achievements.\u201d We might not have the full Lord Winklebottom Investigates list yet, but we are told of one achievement in advance: \u201cif you eat a plant in front of the gardener (the gardener\u2019s a slug) \u2014 you can eat it when he\u2019s not there, but if you eat it in front of him, he kicks up a fuss. That achievement\u2019s called Grand Theft Flora, so I\u2019ve tried to incorporate a bit of humour where possible,\u201d Sutherland explains, \u201cwhile also trying to make it so that you won\u2019t necessarily get them all straight away \u2014 it does depend on your choices in a few places.\u201d We wondered what these different choices might mean for replayability, and Sutherland explains, \u201cthe ending of the game will stay the same \u2014 I\u2019ve tried to keep it manageable for me working on it, because I knew if I did an open-ended thing with a lot of different endings, it would take a lot more work and make it a lot harder for me, as I\u2019ve already been working on it for a few years. I tried to keep it within the scope that I knew I could manage at the time. It\u2019s a linear story, but there\u2019s a few extra achievements you could get the second time round, if you do miss any.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for her thoughts on what makes for an ideal achievement list: \u201cI do like stuff where it depends on your choices \u2014 with regards to some of the games I\u2019ve played, I do prefer if you do have a choice-impacted achievements rather than just the standard flow of achievements\u2026 I\u2019ve been playing The Quarry recently \u2014 stuff like that where you have impact-based achievements, I think it adds to the experience for the player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lord Winklebottom looks like it will hook us in with its mysterious story, investigative gameplay, and deadpan sense of humour. Out of all that it offers, what is Sutherland most excited for players to experience? \u201cI hope that they\u2019re going to enjoy the story, and enjoy the aspect of the animals in place of the people, having the anthropomorphic murder mystery style \u2014 I know it\u2019s a bit unusual and a bit quirky so I hope people do enjoy the atmosphere of it and the art style, and the theming of it. It is a bit quirky,\u201d Sutherland says. \u201cI wanted to do a game that I would like to play, so I\u2019m hoping that other people will enjoy what I\u2019ve created.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think? Will you be travelling to the Isle of Barghest in July? Let us know what you think in the comments!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lord Winklebottom Investigates brings a murder mystery, dashing animals, and point-and-click gameplay when it launches in July. We spoke to developer Cave Monsters\u2019 Charlotte Sutherland to learn more. Fancy diving into a murder mystery game set in the 1920s and populated by fabulously-dressed animals? You\u2019ll be able to do just that when Lord Winklebottom Investigates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.trueachievements.com\/customimages\/129920.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-xbox"],"yoast_head":"\n