The Infectious Madness Of Doctor Dekker Review

The Infectious Madness of Dr. Dekker

Reviewed by Kieran

Developer: D’Avekki Studios
Publisher: Wales Interactive Ltd.
Category: FMV Adventure
Release Date: 06.05.2018

No Great Mind Has Ever Existed Without A Touch Of Madness

Occasionally a game comes along that I have absolutely no choice but to recommend. Sometimes this is because it is so good. It can also be because of how bad it its, or because of a unique game play hook. The infectious madness of Dr. Dekker falls under the latter category. For that reason I will honestly say, play this game, give it a try. It might not be for you, but it will certainly offer you something new.

The infectious madness of Dr. Dekker is an overly ambitious title that tries to do things just a little bit differently. This is, in no way a bad thing, it just falls a little flat, in no small part due to the nature of the game.

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker feels more like a simulation than it does a visual novel, taking place entirely in first-person and even going so far as to allow players to type their own questions. While it's a charming premise, one that certainly elevates the overall experience, it doesn't help in masking Doctor Dekker's very real issues. The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker puts you in the role of a nameless doctor as you observe and counsel the late Dekker’s patients after he is mysteriously murdered. As Dekker’s replacement, Your task is to find out who murdered him. Your main cast consists of five eccentric patients, as well as Jaya, your perky yet well-meaning helper.

Story

In The infectious madness of Dr. Dekker you take the role of a psychiatrist who is tasked with filling in for the recently deceased Dr. Dekker. The good Dr. has been murdered and you are tasked with taking his patients and seeing if you can establish who ultimately ended his life. Every time you start a new file, the identity of the killer is randomised. This creates suspense at every play through and offers a little bit of re playability.

By talking to the patients you can establish what makes them tick, what ails them and by asking pre determined questions, push and probe them into possibly divulging more information.
Herein lies my main gripe with this title. The stop start nature of asking questions, listening to responses and then choosing a follow up question really wears thin quickly. Of course, this is the nature of the beast, however it does grow tiresome very quickly.

Presentation

Everything is very well acted and the assembled cast do a great job of portraying the various mental conditions that the patients have. The great benefit from a production view is that, because of your position as a psychiatrist, nearly all of the scenes take place from a POV perspective on that most cliched of things. The shrinks couch. From time to time there would a scene in your office, but they were few and far between.

In addition to the majority of the sessions, which obviously share the same setting, there are a few videos from archives that further help to weave the story together.

Gameplay

A unique feature of Dr Dekker is the addition to interact directly with your patients using your own questions . You can literally type anything you want and will get a reaction. I found that key words were picked up, such as husband and affair, and would trigger a female patient to talk about how she stabbed her husband when she found out he was sleeping with his receptionist.

However, most of the time when trying to construct a proper sentence, the results were far less positive. On the other hand, those moments where it worked and everything clicked into place were perfect examples of those really joyful gaming moments.

I also had a lot of fun asking inappropriate questions only to be told things like ‘ I don’t want to talk about that now’ or ‘Please Dr, try to stay on subject’. Depending upon the stupidity of my line of question, this did create some laugh out loud moments.

Unfortunately for The infectious madness of Dr. Dekker, these moment are too few and far between and I found my self using the pre programmed questions more often than not.

Diagnosis

Overall, The infectious madness of Dr. Dekker achieves what it set out to by offering something different. All the actors excel in delivering solid performances and I did often find myself thinking about the characters in between plays. For this reason, the game manages to create a suspenseful and at times powerful experience. As well as this, the randomised nature of the killers identity offers a little bit of variety.

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When you manage to include appropriate keywords in your own questions, the results are honestly brilliant and really felt like a triumph by the developer for being brave enough to try something different.

With this in mind, unless you are the most die hard fan of the FMV genre, this title will only manage to keep you engaged for a couple of playthroughs at best and the stuttering nature of the narrative does slow the pacing down at times.

Consequently, what you are left with is an experience that will certainly leave an impression. Whether it is good or bad boils down to your personal tolerance of scrolling through reams of text and sitting through hours of video content, albeit very well acted .

TL:DR

Interesting concept. Excellent acting throughout. Compelling cast of characters and engaging, unpredictable story. Uncomfortable pacing. Repetitive questions.

3.5/5

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Interrogate some loopy characters in this FMV whodunnit.

I’ve said it before: the Switch is the perfect console to double as a games machine and also offer that Kindle-like experience of taking loads of good books on the go. Except, in the Switch’s case, that experience is far more immersive thanks to the use of live-action video.

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker takes the initiative in showing off just how varied a visual novel can be when you compare it to Late Shift. Whereas Late Shift offers more of an on-rails experience, where the action happens even if you don’t offer any input as a player, you’re far more in control here, as your patients require you to get them talking by offering questions and selecting answers when they look to you for guidance.

The story here details the mysterious Doctor Dekker, who it emerges has passed away, and you play as the doctor who has taken his place. Pulling usa cheats codes. After some guidance from his assistant Jaya, it becomes apparent that there is a strong possibility that one of the late doctor’s patients might have had something to do with his death, and so the game plays as a visual novel Cluedo as you talk to each of the patients in turn and piece the truth together.

Characters pop in and out of the new doctor’s surgery, but there are a few mainstays who are there near every day. Marianna is a flirtacious woman with an American accent who suffers, she says, from blackouts. Bryce is an uneasy gravedigger who believes he ‘has an extra hour’ in his day which nobody else experiences. Elin is a nurse struggling to comprehend the number of deaths on her watch; Nathan believes he has repeated days a la Groundhog Day, and ___ has a serious violent streak.

You can flick between the patients after each and every question, so you can ask one a question before firing a completely unrelated question at someone else. There is also evidence to look at and review which can make the picture clearer, but you’ll get all of the information you require simply from talking to all of the people sat on your office couch.

Games like this live and die by the quality of the acting involved, and while initially it seems like we’re in for a tough slog here, with all of the characters addressing the camera directly, you do become engrossed. The game is a long one for the genre, so if you’re playing it through to the end and not skipping all the video clips it’s hard not to tune in to the characters. Each does come across as heavily mentally disturbed, which is testament to the acting, though some of the characters are far more likeable than others. Marianna, for all her lack of loyalty, seems to have a lot more attracting about her than Bryce.

But the thing is, I found myself enjoying it. Getting to know the same few characters on different days in their lives really does feel like reading a good book. It’s the sort of engagement that you want from a game of this kind, and while the plot is complex, it’s not too much to stay on top of. Playing it for an hour each evening before bed is ideal, and I certainly recommend that.

Summary

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker is a lot more engaging than it ought to be. It’s a little awkward scrolling through questions, but the game will let you move to the next day when you’ve asked enough, allowing for a myriad of endings.