Forensics: Crime Scene Detective

Forensics: Crime Scene Detective is a simulation title developed by Binary Impact and Alchemical Works, and published by Aerosoft GmbH. Unlike Autobahn Police Simulator and Highway Police Simulator, this time we find ourselves in the role of a forensic expert. What adds further importance to this title is that it was developed in collaboration with a police station from Rhineland-Palatinate, a federal state whose capital is Mainz.

Forensics: Crime Scene Detective begins with four tutorial missions, each related to a specific tool you need to use at the crime scene (UV light, camera, swab stick). After completing the training, you have fifteen cases available, which, as previously mentioned, were created in collaboration with the police, ensuring that each evidence tool behaves as it would in real life.

As for the story itself, it does not exist in Forensics: Crime Scene Detective; instead, you go from case to case involving: shootings, abandoned warehouses where cryptocurrencies are traded, robberies, break-ins, and similar incidents. After processing each scene, you return to the laboratory where you analyze the evidence, and based on that, you receive a final score when you close the case. My only complaint is that there are no dialogues like in previous games from this publisher, making the laboratory feel somewhat lifeless, as you are actually the only person there.

The gameplay itself focuses on going to crime scenes where you collect the necessary evidence and then return to the laboratory where various stations are available for you to analyze fingerprints, compare bullets, create DNA profiles, extract chips from smartphone motherboards, and many others. Most stations were easy to understand, except for the one mentioned earlier where you have to extract a chip from a smartphone motherboard, as you need to be careful about how much you heat the chip to safely remove it; if you let the temperature go too high, you risk overheating, causing the board to disappear and leaving you without evidence.

I must admit that I haven't played a title where you take on the role of a forensic expert in a long time; the last ones I remember are the licensed Ubisoft titles based on the CSI television series that were available during the 2000s and 2010s. If you are a fan of forensic series and video games, I can definitely recommend this title, as Binary Impact, Alchemical Works, and Aerosoft have offered something that will make you engage your brains and successfully close the case.

A copy of the PC version for review purposes was provided by the publisher Aerosoft