Cat Detective Albert Wilde

Introduction

Cat Detective Albert Wilde casts players as an anthropomorphic feline private investigator unravelling a murder that gets progressively stranger, in a world thick with film-noir tropes and comedy. Developed and published by beyondthosehills, it launched on Steam on 24 January 2025 at NZ$17.49. Its 132 English-language reviews sit at 95% positive, Very Positive. This review read all 6 negative reviews in that sample alongside a range of the positive side.

Genuinely brilliant writing

The dialogue is the clear centrepiece, and reviewers say so consistently and specifically. "The script is both hilarious and willfully verbose, setting the tone early and gripping on until the conclusion," reads one detailed review, calling it "probably my favorite narrative game of the year." Another draws the natural comparison directly: "Reminded me a bit of Blacksad and Chicken police, but it has some different twist to it." A third simply states: "I've seen Netflix series with worse production in every way from visual usage, interactivity, voice acting, and animation." Even this review's small negative sample doesn't dispute the writing's quality — the single most detailed critical review opens by conceding "it's funny enough to have a good time."

An honest, repeated gameplay caveat

That same critical review continues into this sample's central, honestly-argued complaint: "the actual game is lacking. First of all, gameplay is barely existing. All you do for the vast majority of it is look at all the hotspots and talk to everyone about everything. Hardly any puzzles or things to figure out or decide." A positive reviewer, more measured, reaches a similar conclusion from the other side: "it's primarily a visual novel with some light exploration — so don't expect much action." That's a fair, consistent read across both sides of this sample: what's here is genuinely excellent, but there's less traditional detective-game mechanic underneath it than the premise might suggest.

Divisive humour, and a patched rough edge

A minority of this small negative sample pushes back specifically on the comedy's tone. "I overdosed on the advertised 'a lot of cringe humour' in under fifteen minutes," reads one review, while another calls the game's sense of humour "overly self-referential and crass" and not to their taste. Separate from tone, this review's negative sample also converges on the game's one combat-adjacent sequence near the finale, with multiple reviewers citing "terrible controls and Quick time trigger points." This review checked the developer's own update history and found that complaint had already landed: a February 2025 patch specifically added "Steam Deck Fix & Even Easier Fights," addressing the exact sequence reviewers flagged.

Verdict

Cat Detective Albert Wilde is a genuinely brilliant noir comedy, and this review's full read of its small negative sample confirms the writing lands even with players who don't fully recommend the game. Its honest weakness is thin, mostly dialogue-driven gameplay rather than real detective puzzle-solving, and its broad humour won't land for everyone. For anyone drawn to sharp, film-noir- flavoured storytelling, this is an easy recommendation regardless.