PC (Microsoft Windows)2020

Lockheart Indigo

Lockheart Indigo is an 8-bit psychological thriller. A private-eye must deceive a rich family into revealing their darkest secrets, before the killer amongst them silences everyone.

Storyline

Beatris Summers, a young cynical detective, looks into the murder of wealthy robotics tycoon Evan Volkov. Hired by Aya Volkov, the victim's widow, Beatris must untangle the lies whispered within the Volkov estate & clear Aya's name... Before the killer or suspicion claims another life.

Trailers

Screenshots

Very Positive

40 Steam reviews

Review History

Reviews

40 total

≥h

Steam User 5220STEAMRecommended

Very fun little game. Really appreciate the GBA style based of the Gameboy Zelda games i presume. well written and the persuasion game is good too. wish there was more, or a sequel i like the protagonist quite a bit.

Mar 30, 2022·3h·Verified

Steam User 7256STEAMRecommended

Excellent detective game, 2-3 hours long. Great characters, setting, story, and art.

Then I learned about the secret ending and HOLY HELL

Mar 28, 2021·3h·Verified

Steam User 1113STEAMRecommended

At the time of writing, this game only has 48 reviews, which is just a shame. It's a damn good adventure game with beautiful artwork, cool gameplay mechanics, engaging characters, a well-written story and a FANTASTIC soundtrack! I did encounter a couple glitches during my playthrough but it didn't marr the experience too badly! Lockheart Indigo is a cool murder-mystery noir that I would highly recommend, especially since it's free (well NOW it is, after I had already paid for it lmao)!

Mar 10, 2021·3h·Verified

Steam User 5786STEAMRecommended

So much style, and I love how at home a game like this would feel on an old handheld - it just really reminded me of some great 8-bit experiences from back in the day.

Chiptune music was lovely, and I really enjoyed exploring the mansion and trying to break the resolve of the various characters you stumble across. Lovely subtle animations and artwork. I had a great time.

Jan 27, 2021·17h·Verified

Steam User 4537STEAMRecommended

A short game with a distinctive atmosphere. I loved playtesting it and I love it even more as a finished game. Harmless knows their strengths and plays to them well. Does it live up to the numbers of 10 suspects and 100 rooms? I couldn't tell you, I was busy having a philosophical discussion with the previous gravekeeper. If you see him again, tell him I said hi.

Dec 17, 2020·2h·Verified

Steam User 7544STEAMRecommended

Good short game when you incarnate a private detective called to solve a murder in a mansion.
The persuasion system is rather interesting, so I'll advice you to try this.

Dec 12, 2020·2h·Verified

Steam User 7020STEAMRecommended

If you've got a spare 2 bucks and like mystery, this has my rec. It's a pretty solid small story that'll keep you occupied for a night.

Dec 12, 2020·2h·Verified

Steam User 1009STEAMRecommended

I had a wonderful time with it. The game was short and straight to the point, which I appreciate (and wish more games were like). My only minor gripes are that I didn't care much for the robots, and I wish the color-coded doors were marked on the map. My game soft-locked in a hallway with the robots, thankfully the game saves often enough that it wasn't a big set-back. Aside from that, I 100% recommend.

Dec 6, 2020·3h·3·Verified

Steam User 3908STEAMRecommended

This game is fabulous. It's unique gameplay is amazingly immersive and very fun to work with. I had a lot of fun exploring this murder mystery and meeting all the well developed and interesting characters. I love the art style and I just really enjoyed playing this game. I love it to death! You should really check this one out.

Dec 6, 2020·4h·Verified

Steam User 4833STEAMRecommended

É um jogo maravilhoso e muito bem trabalhado em questão de história e estética. Como se a história oficial não fosse boa o suficiente, a pequena história extra no final deixa ele melhor ainda. Meus dois únicos pontos negativos foram bugs onde saindo e voltando de uma sala fiquei preso numa parede e tive de reiniciar e após morrer numa cena de perseguição, ao voltar onde parei, a música da cena não tocou mais. Porém, nada disso tirou a experiência incrível do jogo! Recomendo <3

Dec 1, 2020·19h·Verified

Steam User 6320STEAMRecommended

Me and my friend liked it a lot, good value for money

Nov 21, 2020·3h·Verified

Steam User 0908STEAMRecommended

Short and sweet Game Boy/GBC styled murder mystery game. It's like a fusion of oldschool narrative RPGMaker with The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls (The Game Boy Zelda predecessor), with a dialogue battle system and a bit of noir aesthetic to it with its clever use of color over greyscale.

It's nice to see someone bring this particular genre to the aesthetics and limitations of a console that wasn't known for its narrative muscle and pull it off like Lockheart Indigo does. If you look at the screencaps and you think to yourself "yea, I would vibe to this in the evening with a hot coffee" then I recommend you check it out.

Nov 11, 2020·3h·Verified

Steam User 1751STEAMRecommended

The game can be finished in about 2 hours, and I think it's a positive thing - the story flows nicely from start to finish and that's all, no time to get stale.

The art is really good for an 8-bit "RPGMaker-like" game, very stylish. It's a typical "hardboiled detective" adventure with very cool conversation/interrogation mechanics. I sometimes got a bit confused with the huge map and all my dialogue options, but it wasn't that much of a problem. Well worth the price.

Oct 31, 2020·4h·7·Verified

Steam User 1438STEAMRecommended

Hard to judge as a "proper" game. However I like the attempt even if I wasn't blown away by the content.

Oct 24, 2020·1h·Verified

Steam User 9630STEAMRecommended

This game oozes style, but backs it up with solid story and gameplay. Absolutely LOVE it.

Oct 6, 2020·3h·5·Verified

Steam User 8089STEAMRecommended

Lovely style, interesting premise, and a literally colorful cast that you get to interact with - If there was one thing, the music was a little bland, but if you got a couple hours, it's a good game to enjoy.

Wish there was a lot more to the game, like cases with Phoenix Wright.

Oct 3, 2020·2h·Verified

Steam User 1449STEAMRecommended

I was definitely impressed by this game.
The gameplay is fantastically well thought, the characters are nice to discover, the dialogues are very personal to each, making them feel more real to the player.

I really love the whole story, even though I am not familiar with the type nor genre.
I recommend, especially for such a great adventure at such a low price!

Oct 2, 2020·4h·4·Verified

Steam User 9991STEAMRecommended

A awesome mystery detective game with !!! If you're looking for any excuse to buy this game here's your sign!

Oct 1, 2020·14h·3·Verified

Steam User 9377STEAMRecommended

It's been so wonderful to see this game come from pre-alpha all the way to full release, and it was also wonderful to come back and play the whole game again to see the ending!

Lockheart Indigo is an action-adventure-RPG game where the "battles" are actually interrogations carried out by the (frankly, awesome) protagonist Beatris Summers, a private eye brought in to investigate the murder of one Evan Volkov, a member of the elite Volkov family.

As you progress further into the game, questioning more and more of the other Volkovs, the story begins to take shape and the whole horrible truth comes to light. All of this in the midst of a breakout of killer robots (this all totally makes sense when you play the game, I assure you!).

When the dust settles, you're left with a feeling of satisfaction at having cracked the case and a (mostly) clean conscience.

I love everything about this, no word of a lie. The awesome old school design, the huge range of characters with their own ulterior motives, the puzzles to be solved and the story to be uncovered. It's all fantastic, and well worth playing if you wanna try playing an RPG with a twist!

(Note that the first 9 vids of my playthrough are from the old alpha, but still give you a good idea of how the game works!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFmyrSLdYOQ

Sep 28, 2020·2h·1·Verified

Steam User 2065STEAMRecommended

This game was pretty good i would say i liked the music and the conversation's system and having to guess characters' personality and figuring out this whole investigation as well as exploring the mansion so for such a low price i would say go for it

Sep 28, 2020·5h·Verified

Steam User 8769STEAMRecommended

[i] My Experience [/i]

I'm never quite sure what to think of detective games. I'm always looking to have the "eureka!" moments that are depicted on film and TV, but they never seem to come for me. More often than not, I'm just bumbling around, hoping to hit on whatever line of questioning the developer intended me to take.

Lockheart Indigo is very clever about mitigating some of these irritations. First off, the game has a built-in hint system (the Oracle's Chamber), which can give you direction if you're lost. Also, as another reviewer mentioned, the game's central characters and various lock types are all color-coded - if something isn't colored, there's a good chance you don't need to interact with it. However, there is some good information that can be gleaned by interacting with grayscale objects/individuals as well. Additionally, there is a book on the first floor that tells you exactly which areas are on each floor. I wrote this down, and referenced it as I moved through the game. The game includes multiple telephones on various floors that can be used as save points, and Beatris can teleport from one to another to get around more quickly.

I got through most of interrogations easily enough, but I never knew exactly which "fact" to present to a suspect to begin the persuasion minigame. I couldn't ascertain the logic here. The game is kind enough to provide a simple "read" button during the interrogation so Beatris can reveal what she's been able to glean about the psychological characteristics of the suspect. As a result, once the persuasion mini-game begins in earnest, you'll have a good idea of how to proceed. It did take me a few tries to complete the final interrogation, and I felt that the checkpoint was a little "off" here. I got tired of walking up the stairs, heading down the path through the multiple arches, and watching the "cut scene" play out before I could begin the interrogation anew.

I appreciated the game's Game Boy aesthetic, and found the mansion itself to be well-designed. Although it may initially be overwhelming, by the end of the game's brief runtime you'll have a good idea of how to reach any of its 100 rooms. I have to give developer Harmless praise for the game's logo, combining Beatris' distinctive hair with the many keys she must acquire to explore the home. It's exquisite.

I think it could benefit the developer to provide a few more clues as to what is happening in the game's final explanatory scene (where the player is not playing as Beatris). I'm pleased with the conclusions I drew, but it took me quite a bit of rumination to arrive there. Perhaps things could be made a bit more explicit?

Lastly - and maybe I missed something here -[spoiler]does Beatris turn off the radio (that she has been wearing to converse with Aya) before or during her chat with Yvon? Did she forget that she had it on?[/spoiler]As this decision is spoken about a lot in the game, I think that perhaps the characters should address the concern I had above. Although I liked the ongoing conversation between Beatris and Aya, I felt that perhaps it'd be better if this were strictly audio. I know that the game as it currently is has no voice-acting, but it could be distracting to pay attention to where you are going (especially while trying to push crates around) and also pay attention to this dialogue.

I can cautiously recommend Lockheart Indigo. Although it's not the best detective game I've played (Subsurface Circular or Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments likely takes that crown), it's got an interesting tale to tell, and you can "hear" it for only five dollars.

Sep 20, 2020·3h·2·Verified

Steam User 6114STEAMRecommended

I thought this would be a quick review but...I feel a lot should be said before ppl buy.

Pros
- Decent story w/ an intriguing mystery. Very Clue-like.
- Some sense of skill building (a couple books you read give you the options to gain separate convo skills, but you can end up getting all skills anyway).
- Some optional info bits and unanswered oddities you find around the mansion add to the depth of the story.

Cons
- Pause menu and dialogs don't actually stop the game world...so you can still get chased/hit by robots.
- Can't go back in some convo options, have to just loop the success or try other options you know will fail. Also, recycling options Beatris knows won't work still goes through a lot of unnecessary dialog cycling.
- No screenshots =(

Also, the dialog "combat" was a bit confusing at first, but easy to figure out after the first or second "battle". I wish there was a quick tutorial on what the icons meant, but I suppose that's part of the design - to let the players figure it out.

Overall, a good experience in just about 2.5 hours. I think it's more "open-world" than I played, in regards to who you talk to and when. But not sure. You do get to explore the mansion and have to find/earn keys to unlock doors. But I'm not sure if it's 100% linear or not. But if you like mystery games and convo simulators, this is a good, cheap, quick game I'd recommend.

Sep 7, 2020·2h·Verified

Steam User 8344STEAMRecommended

Really enjoyed this game! Compelling story and unique mechanics. The music and visuals are really well adapted to the Noir mystery flavor of the game. Truly impressed!

Sep 7, 2020·3h·Verified

Steam User 5101STEAMRecommended

Hidden gem for rainy weekend.
I recommend you to play it.

Sep 5, 2020·2h·Verified

Steam User 0362STEAMRecommended

本作的主要创新在于，用“嘴炮”的方式进行“战斗”，攻破对手的心理防线，以得知他们的秘密。

不过我感觉我实在没怎么理解，要怎么根据对手的性格特点，准确地找到刺激他/她的方法，以至于整个游戏我都是试过去的，看来我的情商实在太低，社交能力为零，谈崩专家，实在是非常惭愧。

但是从剧本的角度来说，剧情和玩法的契合度还是很高的，本作设定嘴炮玩法的“最终BOSS”的方式也很巧妙（剧透警告）：[spoiler]手无寸铁面对持枪的两位凶手，主角要试图用言语挑拨他们之间的关系，最终让他们杀死对方[/spoiler]。

要提醒的是，虽然本作有个“侦探”的标签，也确实是在调查谋杀案，但本作绝对不是一个推理游戏，从本作极为硬核的排除方式就可以看得出来（剧透警告）：[spoiler]不是凶手的人差不多都死光了[/spoiler]。

唯一的缺点是，本作后半段的机器人相当烦，不明白设计目的在哪里，好在有个选项降低这部分的难度。

所以......感觉也没什么别的可说的了，就这样吧。

结论：[b]推荐[/b]。

Sep 4, 2020·2h·4·Verified

Steam User 6257STEAMRecommended

Just wow.

+ The atmopshere is captivating
+ Sounds feel fitting for such a simple yet well portrayed game
+ Story is actually pretty damn good with a big secret/plot twist at the end
+ "Combat" is actually very cleverly made, kudos to the devs for that

+/- Leaves more to be desired. I'd love witness more adventures of Beatris
+/- There doesn't seem to be multiple endings as far as I can tell. Story is linear.

- Might not be easy on the eyes with all the greyscale/white screens
- Softlocks here and there but it's not serious (restarting the game solves them)
- Robots are damn annoying to get past sometimes, the corridors could have been slightly wider
- No achievements (yet?) (even simple ones would do!)

I bought this on sale and damn I wish I got it for full price. Totally worth your time.

Sep 3, 2020·3h·1·Verified

Steam User 6974STEAMRecommended

I had a lovely time with the game for its two hour running time. It's basically a detective game where you gather clues and then use them to interrogate suspects a la L.A. Noire or Ace Attorney Investigations if you've ever played them.

Unfortunately, it leans more on the L.A. Noire side of things in that you never really have to think too hard about what you're doing or try to reconstruct the crime in your head as there is information that is always hidden from you and there's no mechanics geared toward logically trying to piece together what happened like Investigations does with its logic mechanic. Plus, the penalty for not picking the right options is just being sent back a short ways or having to start the conversation over from the beginning which gives the player the incentive to randomly guess options rather than thinking about them.

I don't want to seem like I'm being too harsh because I did enjoy this game, I recommend it, and I'd say it's worth the full asking price. The artwork and animation is fantastic for the interrogation scenes and the story is enjoyable if really short. Plus, I do really like Beatris as our protagonist. I like how she's trying to be a seasoned Poirot-type even though she's still pretty young and in over her head. I also like how crass she is when she thinks to herself and cuts loose.

What I'm really trying to say is that I'd like to see a longer sequel someday that expands on the mechanics this game lays out. And I'd like to see more of Beatris and her adventure in this odd, sci-fi version of the 60s. Maybe even progress into the 70s and 80s if they so desire.

Aug 22, 2020·2h·1·Verified

Steam User 2368STEAMRecommended

Fun investigation game with unique mechanics and an overall interesting approach. Highly recommend! :)

Aug 20, 2020·3h·Verified

Steam User 7283STEAMRecommended

Fantastic and interesting detective game. What personally interested me was the stylistic choices art-wise and the general tone the game gives off, but I was surprised to find the story was highly engaging and kept playing because of that. Interesting combat mechanic as well!

Aug 11, 2020·4h·3·Verified

Steam User 6647STEAMRecommended

Having recently streamed this game, I can safely say it is well worth the price of admission. The mechanics of the "combat" are well implemented, and the story is very well written. I'd like to see the mechanics expanded upon possibly in a future game. Small gripe of it being linear and the second half does have some softlock potential if your saves aren't in a good spot. Otherwise, fantastic experience!

Aug 8, 2020·2h·Verified

Steam User 2457STEAMRecommended

The interrogation mechanics are really fun and a nice twist on a traditional "battle" system. The story is engaging, the atmosphere is amazing and I especially loved the character art.

Aug 8, 2020·3h·Verified

Steam User 9725STEAMRecommended

Neat concept, would love to see it fleshed out more

Aug 7, 2020·2h·Verified

Steam User 5625STEAMRecommended

Lockheart Indigo is a shorter game that can be completed in roughly 2 hours, however the whole time the game stays interesting making you think about the events and piece things together yourself. It was a wonderful and fulfilling game to play through and i enjoyed it the whole time. for the price of this game and how fun it is, i highly recommend anyone who sees this game to buy and play, you wont regret it.

Aug 5, 2020·3h·1·Verified

Steam User 4539STEAMRecommended

I'll update my review when I finish (I played another 30 mins of the demo on itch before this)
But so far this game is awesome! I love the way it blends old and new. Cool, unique mechanics, all wrapped up in this GBA Pokemon aesthetic, and battle system? LOVE IT!!

Aug 5, 2020·3h·Verified

Steam User 7991STEAMRecommended

Jogo maravilhoso e muito bem trabalhado em questão de história e estética. Como se a história oficial não fosse boa o suficiente, a pequena história extra no final deixa ele melhor ainda. Meus dois únicos pontos negativos foram bugs onde saindo e voltando de uma sala fiquei preso numa parede e tive de reiniciar e após morrer numa cena de perseguição, ao voltar onde parei, a música da cena não tocou mais. Porém, nada disso tirou a experiência incrível do jogo! Recomendo <3

Aug 4, 2020·2h·5·Verified

Steam User 5899STEAMRecommended

Lockheart Indigo is a simple and well written murder mystery well worth its price tag. My only gripe with the game is the enemies in the later stages of the game have the potential to cause game breaking barriers if you time your saves poorly

Aug 3, 2020·4h·3·Verified

Steam User 9331STEAMRecommended

Extremely heartwarming story. Gorgeous artstyle. A true labour of love. Buy it.

Aug 2, 2020·3h·4·Verified

Steam User 1777STEAMRecommended

Overall Lockheart indigo was a pretty nice little detective game, although it can be finished in 2-3 hours the story was interesting enough to keep me going.
Things i enjoyed
-the art style
-the story (although its pretty linear [spoiler]i liked how the protagonist takes the bribe rather then doing whats "right" (to me this felt like a more believable reaction). The twist was unexpected (at least to me lol) and you kinda fall right into the villains plan[/spoiler].
-Combat dialogue system (cool idea, i just wish there were more options to it)

The negatives
-The game is quite linear( there is a specific way to do things, you gotta choose the correct dialogs)
-In the second half of the game the enemies are annoying(this one is more personal but i still wanted to add it).

Overall for the price point lockheart indigo was a fun little detective game, if you happen to have a spare 5$ the game is worth picking up for a few hours.

Aug 2, 2020·3h·7·Verified

Steam User 9628STEAMRecommended

[i] About 2-3 hour long detective game where the combat is replaced with interrogation, it's kinda like playing Undertale and only using the dialogue choices (no bullet-hell though). Whenever you need to get information from the character you have to find a way to probe them by using evidence and their motivations against them. The story was decent enough for me to finish the game, but I was a bit disappointed with the illusion of choices as the game is pretty linear overall. You can use F4 to set the game to fullscreen, however, it does not have a widescreen so you will be playing with black borders. Even though the game is relatively polished and resistant to stupid choices, there are some potential softlocks due to the enemy AI, you should keep 2-3 save slots 30 minutes apart just in case (I wasted like 40 minutes because one of the quest items became inaccessible).

There are some interesting choices that developers made to keep this game intuitive and remove any moon logic. First of all, the entire experience is colour-coded, if something is black&white it's most likely not relevant to progression which makes it easy to remember anything with distinctive visuals. The game also has a built-in hint system that will tell you where to go, but it does have a cooldown so use it sparingly. If you screw the interrogation you not going to lose much progress, the game is pretty friendly with the checkpoints and memorizing what you already accomplished. Visually I was not too impressed with the experience, it was just okay, but I enjoyed some of the facial expressions.
While I didn't find the soundtrack very memorable, I think it had the right amount of retro and niche quality to it, like many obscure games in the past.

[h1] Pros: [/h1]

+ I enjoyed the story, it could use some branching paths, but not bad
+ Interesting use of 'dialogue combat', more depth than similar games
+ I am kinda impressed by how intuitive progression was
(colour coding, timed hint dispenser, map, frequent checkpoints)

[h1] Feedback: [/h1]

[u] Glitches/Softlocks [/u] - the game seemed very polished until the enemies started to chase you. Some of the rooms forced me to exit the game completely and reload the save file because I got stuck. Enemies can also push you over walls where you can't walk. There is at least one place where you can miss one quest item and break the game, I already posted about it in the forums.

[u] Text formatting [/u] - I found the formatting a bit hard on the eyes, the letters kept blending and I had to read many words the second time.

[b] Overall Thoughts: 7/10 [/b]

The developers took the dialogue mechanics and build a game around them instead of just having the generic RPG combat - we have seen other games do it, but they expanded upon it. It may not be as flashy as some of the other games in the genre, more niche in a way, but I thought the story and characters we enjoyable enough to justify $5. There are many small details in the design of the game that make it more intuitive like colour coding, map, and the hint system, that shows me that developers cared about this little project. [/i]

[code]Review By: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

Aug 1, 2020·4h·36·Verified

Steam User 7289STEAMRecommended

Fantastic and unique experience so far!

Jul 31, 2020·1h·1·Verified