Case Solved: The London Files

Introduction

Case Solved: The London Files dresses up a classic logic-grid puzzle in a cosy noir coat: walk London's rainy streets, question witnesses, gather clues, and fill in a deduction grid to name a killer using nothing but pure reasoning. Developed by Minimol Games and published by SpecNext Ltd, it released 29 July 2026 to a "Mixed" reception: 30 of 50 launch reviews recommend it, every one of which this review reads in full. That's a genuinely divided score, and reading the sample closely shows a game whose core idea earns real, consistent praise while everything wrapped around it draws real, consistent frustration.

A well-loved core, wrapped in noir dressing

Nearly every reviewer, positive or negative, agrees on what the game gets right at its centre. "Pure logic, zero luck, cozy rainy London with a jazz soundtrack. Solved one case, stayed for them all," reads one positive review, and another calls it simply a case where "the answers can be achieved purely from logic, with no need for guessing." One of the more detailed reviews explains the appeal precisely: the puzzles are built on "Einstein's Riddle," presented "dressed up as detective cases" rather than a bare grid, which the reviewer calls "a much friendlier way in than the classic version" for anyone unfamiliar with the format. The art direction draws similarly consistent praise across the sample — "the art style is really nice, very polished and cute," reads one representative comment — and the soundtrack is repeatedly singled out as relaxing and well-suited to the tone.

Where the wrapping comes apart

The negative half of the sample rarely disputes the quality of the puzzle itself; instead, it targets the structure built around it. Several reviewers describe a specific disconnect between investigation and deduction: one explains that "you go around talking to the different characters, click on the objects they point out in the scene, and then you get clues for the logic puzzle that are often completely unrelated to whatever you investigated to find them." A separate review calls this a "hidden object" side-mechanic that "really doesn't add much to the gameplay" and feels like "a waste of time" relative to the puzzle it's meant to feed. A related complaint appears across multiple reviews on both sides: some answers can be inferred from narrative context rather than pure logic, with one reviewer noting dryly that "the musician did music stuff with their instrument, seems about right" — a fair critique for a game whose pitch is built entirely on the promise of logic without guesswork.

A specific bug cluster in the third case

Beyond structural complaints, a cluster of reviews independently flags concrete bugs concentrated in the game's third case. "The third chapter is horrendous! Dialogue meant for one character is given to another, the characters keep swapping voices," reads one negative review, and a second corroborates the same issue: "there's too much time wasted... I also faced the issue of there being bugged clues in the 3rd case, where clues were li[sted incorrectly]." A third reviewer describes an even sharper version of the problem, saying the third case has "clues all in one category making it impossible to actually solve." These aren't vague quality complaints; they're specific, repeated, and concentrated enough in one part of the game to suggest a real quality control gap at launch rather than a matter of taste.

Length, price, and the "Classified" cases

The sample's other major fault line is scale. "I finished the main story in a little over an hour," reads one comment, echoed by several others reporting completion times between ninety minutes and two and a half hours for the three main cases. Beyond that, the game offers "Classified" or "Secret Files" cases unlocked through codes players must find in and out of the game — content that splits opinion sharply. Some reviewers relish the hunt: "I'm still hunting down all the codes by myself, without using any guides," reads one, while others find it an unwelcome barrier rather than bonus content, with one calling the design "lazy and unfinished" for locking so much of the game's total content behind an external scavenger hunt rather than in-game unlocks.

What the achievement data shows

Case Solved's 15 tracked achievements broadly support the review sample's account of a short main story with much rarer bonus content. Early story achievements sit high — 94.5% and 90.1% for the first two tracked milestones — consistent with reports that most players who buy the game finish its opening stretch. A cluster of achievements tied to finding the game's hidden cats (mentioned directly by several reviewers, who describe "15 hidden cats" scattered through the main cases) falls between 31% and 78%, and achievements tied to completing all three main cases sit around 41-57%. The lowest achievements in the list, at 10.5% and 9.5%, line up closely with the "Secret Files" bonus content and full mastery of the puzzle system respectively — hard evidence that only a small minority of buyers pursue the code-gated content the sample argues so heavily about.

Value

At NZ$15.75 with no DLC or in-app purchases found at review time, Case Solved asks a price that a large share of its own reviewers say doesn't match a main story many finish in under two hours. "This game is incredibly short for the price, the rest of the content is locked behind codes," reads one representative negative review, while a more forgiving reviewer who spent close to eight hours across the main story and Classified cases says they're "satisfied to leave off after finishing all the content." That split is the fairest way to read the sample's consensus: buyers who commit to hunting the bonus content get a reasonable amount of playtime, but anyone judging the game by its three headline cases alone has a real case for feeling short-changed.

Final Verdict

Case Solved: The London Files builds a genuinely satisfying Einstein's Riddle-style puzzle core, dresses it in charming noir art and a relaxing soundtrack, and then surrounds it with choices that undercut the pitch: a disconnected hidden-object clue step, a short main story, bonus content locked behind an external code hunt, and a specific, repeated bug cluster in its third case that should have been caught before launch. For logic puzzle fans specifically chasing the deduction mechanic, there's real substance here; for anyone expecting a fuller detective story or judging strictly by price-to-playtime, the sample's frustration is well earned. Worth trying on a sale rather than a day-one full-price purchase.