Jenny LeClue – Detectivu from Mografi is a charming, funny, and gorgeous adventure game that you should definitely check out on Nintendo Switch. Find out why in our Jenny LeClue – Detectivu review!

 

Jenny LeClue – Detectivu from Mografi is a fun and charming adventure game in which you’ll take control of the titular character. She’s an aspiring young detective who has on goal: to discover the truth! She lives in a small town where nothing interesting ever happens… until, for some reason, her mother is accused of murder! You can imagine how this makes Jenny spring into action so that she can discover what has really happened in order to save her before it’s too late. Your journey through Arthurton will soon make you realize that there’s more to this sleepy town.

Mografi took Jenny LeClue to Kickstarter way back in 2014, asking for $65,000 in funding to be able to complete the game. By the time the campaign was over, the indie team had managed to secure over $105,000 in pledges thanks to the support of more than 3,900 backers who believed in the project. The game was originally planned for a 2016 release, but, as usually happens with Kickstarter funded projects, there were some things that got in the way, which is why the game ended up releasing until 2019.

 

Yes, Jenny LeClue – Detectivu was originally released on PC and on Apple Arcade last year. What can you expect from the game on Nintendo Switch? First of all, the whole game is fully voice-acted, which certainly adds to the overall charm of the game. On top of this, there’s the option of playing the game like an animated movie of sorts, with an auto-play option for the dialogue. Add touch controls for when you play this one in Portable or Tabletop Mode – or on a Nintendo Switch Lite -, as well as localization to 14 different languages (English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, Turkish, Portuguese [Brazil], Chinese [Simplified and Traditional], Korean, Japanese, Russian and Arabic), and you have what feels like a solid remastered take on the game. Mind you, this new version is now also available on Apple Arcade and Steam, but at least we’re now getting the definitive version on Nintendo’s console.

You can move Jenny with the left analog stick, running by pressing and holding down the B button. The A button is for interacting with things, and you can check your journal with the X button. You can inspect objects by zooming in with the Y button, rotating them with the right analog stick, flipping them with the X button. You can do all this with the Nintendo Switch’s touchscreen, by dragging your finger around, tapping on the screen, pinching to zoom, using two fingers to flip, and more.

After a short tutorial section that will teach you all of the basics – while also doing a great job at grabbing your attention in full thanks to being able to control a mysterious figure who uses a contraption in the middle of a lake to access an underwater facility – the game proper begins with one Arthur K. Finklestein, writer for the Jenny LeClue book series – and the story’s narrator. It turns out that the sequence you played through was to serve as the prologue of his latest book, but the whole story arc for the new book is about to get a big shake.

 

Richard, the book’s publisher, calls Arthur to let him know that there needs to be a big change to what this book will need to do, story-wise. It turns out that the sales numbers for the book series have seen a considerable dip. The publisher had sent Arthur a letter to let him know about this, stating that young readers now want more mystery and danger and that the repetitiveness of Jenny’s adventure has not been good for sales. If the next book doesn’t sell more copies, then the series won’t continue!

Because of this, the publisher requests some changes for the 39th book in the series, attaching a newspaper review of the previous release – Jenny LeClue and the Missing Marmalade Sandwich – that states that the once fun franchise has taken a turn into mediocrity. Arthur must, therefore, introduce a proper murder mystery into the new book, while also raising the stakes for our heroine, turning her world upside-down. This is what is needed to boost the sales of this now thirty years old series.

You’ll get a taste of the humor for Jenny LeClue right away just from the intro sequence that shows you the main street of Arthurton – and the fact that the town is named after the book’s author. You will see stores such as Mr. Beans Coffee Shop, Agat Crusties, or The Great Placebo Pharmacy and Magic. This is followed by a dead Jenny LeClue on the floor during the start of the book’s first chapter. It turns out she’s not really dead, but only pretending to be while her mother, Julie LeClue, is teaching students about how to become better detectives.

 

As you progress through the game, the choices you make will be noted in your brand new journal – which you will get as a gift from your mother. The journal will be very useful since, along with noting your choosiness, you will also get to note any important information and keep track of the many postcards you’ll find during your journey, which will function as the collectibles for Jenny LeClue- Detectivu. Oh, and going back to the choices you make, once you’ve completed the game, you’ll be able to revisit things and select other options to see how this changes not only the story – and the book’s author’s reactions to them – but also the overall personality of Jenny, adding some replay value.

Jenny LeClue is a charming and very fun adventure game with a great voice cast, plenty of puzzles to solve, an intriguing story, and a gorgeous art style, making this a game I highly recommend you try out on Nintendo Switch. Jenny LeClue is out now on Nintendo Switch with a $24.99 asking price, but don’t let the price tag scare you since you’re going to get more than your money’s worth with this one!

Disclaimer
This Jenny LeClue – Detectivu review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Mografi.