Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping review — Duck, Duck, Ghost

When Happy Broccoli Games announced that they were returning to Duck Detective with a new mystery to solve - this time with ghosts and glamping!? – I immediately thought of the likes of Poirot and Sherlock Holmes who each have their own episodic adventures spanning across many books. Because, of course, it’s a recipe for success, an ultra smart guy goes around solving evil plots and mind-bending mysteries! Okay, maybe our great Duck Detective doesn’t necessarily exactly fit the bill; he gets the job done, but I do question his tendency for bread and failure to pay his bills. But the reason why I thought of these iconic detectives is because of this cozy feel of following an investigator  in different surroundings, meeting new people, and solving new dilemmas. It’s addicting to get into, and I didn’t go into this game wanting anything groundbreaking or anything particularly new. Just a promise of more of the same fun.

It’s been several months since the Salami scandal – check out my review of it here - and it’s still not looking too good for Eugene McQuacklin. He’s been evicted and is being forced to rent a place with a roommate, he’s still addicted to slices of bread, and he still hasn’t gotten over his wife. The opening is pretty much the same as The Secret Salami, but we do get a couple of details of his wife and who she was, despite this suggestion that we would get more of her, she doesn’t show up again. But someone else shows up instead, eager and ready to be Duck Detective’s new sidekick, it’s Freddy Frederson! Surprising Duck Detective with a trip to a glampsite with a spooky abandoned Sanatorium on site, the pair venture out for a holiday.

The story this time personally hooked me straight away due to the camp and Sanatorium location, the map looks to be a tad bigger with the ability to go into people’s caravans and glamp pods too. The game is also really atmospheric in its descent into nighttime, with fireflies glowing by the ponds and a lot more things to catch my eye. The things/objects inside of people’s spaces, like the manager’s crystals, the piles of clothes that need to be returned, and the mess in the influencer’s VIP suite, just adds to the personality of the game.

Strange things start occurring around camp, kicking off with a stolen item from the VIP suite, which then descends into twists that felt very similar to the previous game. For me, despite saying I wouldn’t mind if the game didn’t do anything groundbreaking, I felt it to be a little too similar in some places, mainly in one of the core mysteries involving a military Brigadier and classified information. The game is structured exactly like its predecessor, and it really is just The Secret Salami but with a new coat of paint. Which is not a bad thing because it’s more of a good thing. However, I felt that the core mystery was quite undeveloped, seemingly slapped together rather than thought through, and despite arriving at the final conclusion, I was left wanting a little bit more to flesh out the characters and overall story. Despite this, I gelled much more with the story and characters this time, which may just be down to personal preference.

Other quick things to note are that the game is still amazingly voice acted by a new cast this time around, with my favourite performance actually coming from the child character, Tobi. It’s so refreshing hearing a child sounding like a child, instead of an adult putting on a child’s voice. I also jumped up and down with joy when Freddy made a reappearance, with Brian David Gilbert returning for a lot more funny line delivery.

Speaking of Freddy, he is definitely worth a mention as he plays a much bigger part in the game this time around. In The Secret Salami he was just a guy who was a fanboy of the Duck Detective, a bit dopey and very annoying. He acts as your assistant and he goes wherever you go and thankfully he isn’t an annoying Navi-type character that gives you tips or tries to help. He is pure comedic relief that chimes in now and then with silly commentary, or you can talk to him to get his reaction to what is going on. An even nicer touch was the budding friendship between Freddy and Eugene, with the pair getting a mini arc that is of course predictable and wholly unoriginal, but I’m a sucker for bromance. The game becomes more of a buddy cop adventure and personally he was a great addition to the Duck Detective dynamic, I hope the next instalment lets him return as Duck Detective’s apprentice!

My biggest takeaway from my experience with Duck Detective’s story is that it needs more polishing when it comes to the narrative. Whilst it’s not awful for it to harken back to similar plotlines in the previous game, there are still bits and pieces which made the story very flimsy. Examples being the idea of the ghost that is haunting the campsite - hello it’s in the title.  It appears in a creepy ghost story told by the manager when touring the Sanatorium, but that's it. It does not bear consequence or has any significance on what is happening to the characters in the story. Another element that felt underdone to me was Freddy and his new girlfriend. I can’t give many details because I would spoil the story, but despite this element ending up being really important, the story would have been the exact same if they weren’t a couple. It’s this clumsy storytelling that really sticks out in a narrative game like this, and it’s a gripe I had with The Secret Salami too.

Moving on, let's talk about gameplay. In this review, I’ll be spending less time talking about the it due to how similar it is to The Secret Salami. The mechanics are the exact same, you investigate objects and characters, gaining clues from their appearances and belongings. Investigating unlocks keywords that you gather in order to fill out a deduc(k)tion, which is a fill in the blanks. These are often really simple to figure out, but in fairness to Ghost of Glamping, the way it leads you to the answers is more satisfying and easier this time. I only hit a brick wall once with a code to a bag which I could not figure out for the life of me. If you get stuck, you’ll notice the hint system has completely changed for the better. Before, it would be incredibly vague with what you need to do, now you have three unlockable hints, each giving more clarity for the answer without directly giving it away. It reminded me a lot of the hint system in the Case of the Golden Idol games, along with a lot of their other game mechanics so if you’re looking for a MUCH more light-hearted version of those games, then you’ll love this. It’s baby’s first detective puzzle in comparison.

Another change to the gameplay is the modes you can choose at the beginning of the game. This time we have a ‘sleuth’ and ‘story’ mode, with the latter not highlighting words you got wrong, leaving you completely in the dark with what word you misplaced, and the former highlighting the answers you got right and wrong so you knew which to switch out. I went with story mode just so I could have an easier time with the game – girl is busy – but I can imagine the experience would have been a bit of a challenge if I didn’t have that guidance. We also get auto-dialogue, which just makes so much sense and of course every narrative game needs this thank you very much.

Once again, I don’t want to talk too much about The Ghost of Glamping due to its extremely short runtime, I completed it in 2 and a half hours. Every introduction and interaction should be the player’s own first experience and I don’t want to take that away because both games are such a delight to play.