Last Effects
You are a municipal-archive appraiser. You have been sent to value a dead man’s estate.
The pocket watch is engraved J.V.H. The death certificate names Clarence Alderton — your client. The lawyer’s letter predates the residency permit it vouches for by three years. The paperwork is new; the name is old.
You do not know this yet. You have fifteen estates to work through. By the time you file the final lot, you will have read every letter, handled every receipt, logged every provenance card. The appraiser’s job is to notice. The game’s job is not to tell you.
Pocket watch, gold-plated, c. 1965
Movement serial partially abraded. Initials engraved inside case: J.V.H. Provenance as stated by Client at intake: personal item, acquired 1969. Appraiser note: the initials do not correspond to the Client’s stated name.
LAST EFFECTS runs on a pipeline you can leave. You appraise, you file, you walk away. You come back and there is a little more work done. The detective part — the noticing, the connecting, the case file — that is what you lean forward for.
Genre: idle-narrative detective / mystery / slow-burn
For players of: Return of the Obra Dinn, Her Story, Paradise Killer, A Case of Distrust
Playtime: 4-6 hours, resumable across weeks
Engine: Godot 4.x
Platforms: Windows / Mac / Linux / Steam Deck (verified pending)
Ship target: late 2026, post-500-wishlist orchestral-music commission
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Facts of the case
- 15 estates across a 30-year mystery arc
- 12 clusters of interconnected evidence, fair-play deduction by estate 12
- 120+ named entities — every person, ship, organization, date kept in a locked story bible
- 1 prepared piano note, played once per playthrough, never again
- 0 combat, 0 timers, 0 jumpscares — appraise, file, walk away, come back