Detective Dotson, in all its pixelated wholesomeness, really is a love letter to India. Developers Masala Games have made it explicit that they want to create a game that celebrates the culture and vibrancy of India, rather than the false narrative that the country is “poor and ancient”, which some pop culture depicts. Detective Dotson is a short, side-scroller puzzle adventure game where you play as Dotson, an amateur sleuth who is investigating his father’s death. However, during his investigations on other smaller cases around his town, he realises that some suspects are also connected to his personal case. It is up to you to gain information from the people around Dotson to crack the case on who was responsible.

People will not be forthcoming in supplying this information; they will have to be enticed by an item, a picture of which will float over the informer’s head. Once you give them what they asked for, they will provide you with what they know. To gain these items, you will have to explore the Indian environment around you, looking through the stalls and brick and mortar stores, and also seeing if any of the locals may have the item to trade. To earn money to buy items, you will have to compete in one of Detective Dotson’s mini games, some of which are more fun than others.

My favourite is the Hidden Objects game, which can be played by approaching people with a coin rotating above their heads. This mini game freezes a scene from the game and provides you with a number of objects to find in a certain amount of time. If you look closely when you are out of the Hidden Objects gameplay mode, you will find that items/pictures are hidden amongst the bricks in walls, or behind other objects. Also, the objects can be bigger or smaller than is displayed on the ‘to find’ cards. Once you find all the objects, you will be rewarded with a monetary amount. I enjoyed this minigame not just because it was fun to explore, but also because it forced me to be more mindful of the artwork in each scene, leading me to have a deeper appreciation for Masala Games’ pixel art style. 

The other mini games on offer are a rhythm and cricket game that I couldn’t get excited about due to their gameplay. When batting in the cricket game, I couldn’t get the angle of the cricket bat right, but also wasn’t enticed to learn as to play a round, you will need to bet some of your hard-earned Hidden Object money. I’m not a betting gal to begin with, especially when I know I’ll probably lose a bit of money before I get a full grasp on the mechanics.

Another smaller mini game that I had further issues with was when I found scrap pieces of paper around the world that I had to piece together. The aim is to place these pieces in the right order in the ‘container’ provided, and this will reveal a clue for your evidence board. However, when I tried to put these pieces into place, the pieces would all scatter and freeze, leading me to have to manually restart the game each time.

Dotson also includes a mechanic where you can ‘change’ into different disguises and alter your appearance. By wearing these disguises, you can enter places where only your customed character can and also have special ‘abilities’ that they can use to their advantage. One disguise, for example, is a ‘holy man’ who can read minds. However, this ability was only used once, making me wonder what the point of these disguises really is.

Though some elements could be tiresome or lack purpose, what did feel right was the general vibe of Dotson’s world. At one point, the world around me changed into a Holi festival, and NPCs were throwing powder coated in vibrant pinks, greens and reds. This only lasted when I was investigating one case, but it made the game come alive for me just a bit more in those Holi moments. Masala Games does an amazing job at incorporating colours, the constant diegetic noise of chatter, play and work to create a beautiful backdrop. Though Detective Dotson may have some visual bugs and some clunky gameplay elements, the world is what kept me coming back for more.