• Price: $24.99 USD
• Developer/Publisher: COWCAT Games
• Release Date: March 1, 2023

A review code was kindly provided by COWCAT Games. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warnings: some references to suicide, police brutality, oppressive government in a dystopian setting

COWCAT Games, the developer behind Demetrios – The BIG Cynical Adventure and Demon’s Tier+, spent six years making their latest game: BROK the InvestiGator. (I adore the pun!) Described as “the very first PUNCH & CLICK,” BROK is a game in which you play as an alligator named Brok, who works as a private detective. As he investigates crimes, he may need to bite and claw his way out of a place. Brok sure looks like a tough guy, so I think he will be alright. And with art inspired by Disney cartoons of the nineties, I definitely love the other characters’ designs as well. I’ve got a good feeling about this game, so I’m excited to get started!

When you start up the game, there are a lot of great accessibility options. You can control the message speed, subtitles are turned on as the default option, hints can be enabled or disabled, and the touchscreen can be used to play the game if you’d like. In addition, you can choose between three difficulty levels: Relaxed (more emphasis on the puzzles and story), Standard, or Hardcore. I love having the ability to customize my experience like this.

Once you’ve decided on your preferred play style, the story begins. You’ll find yourself in a burning room as Brok has a nightmare about the death of his wife Lia. He wakes up in his underground apartment, where he lives with his stepson Graff in a corrupt society of anthropomorphic animals. Upon waking up from his nightmare, Brok gets a call from a new client named Sin, who asks Brok to meet him at his place because he’s worried his phone may be tapped.

The dystopian world Brok lives in has nuclear waste and haze that can harm anyone without proper protection. There is a two-class system: those known as “Drumers” are the upper class citizens, who are allowed to live in a nicer area known as the Dome. “Slumers” are citizens of a lower socioeconomic status, and they are denied access to many areas and services that Drumers can use.

Brok used to be classified as a Drumer, but for some reason he lost that status and was downgraded to being a Slumer. Graff attends a special school that gives students a chance at earning Drumer status and all associated privileges. (The school is called the Consciousness Center, which sounds like some sort of cult. The teacher is a robot, and their teaching and testing methods are somewhat questionable…) You’ll switch between Brok and Graff’s perspectives over the course of 6 chapters.

Besides the difference in economic status, part of the reason that becoming a Drumer is so appealing is that Slumers have to take daily pills to protect themselves from the haze, while Drumers are protected inside of a dome. Brok seems to be immune to the haze, but he appears to be the only one. Unfortunately, Sin’s case would require Brok to enter a Drumer-restricted area, so you’ll have to look into getting that done so you can solve the case.

Any decent detective must be observant, and you’ll have to examine the environment in each area you visit to see if there’s anything that could potentially be useful to you. Something will inevitably prevent you from getting where you need to go or doing what you need to do. Whenever you click on an item, if Brok thinks it could be useful he’ll take it with him. The game has a decent amount of puzzles, and they don’t always require an item to solve them. But other puzzles have solutions that require one or more item(s), and you may not always think of them right away.

I’m not very good at solving puzzles, but I was able to think of the correct response for a decent amount of them. You can request hints if you’re really having trouble, which I often did due to my lack of skill. The first few hints for a puzzle are more vague, but then they become much more clear and helpful, as opposed to the usual roundabout hints I’ve often seen in games. I never would have thought of some of these solutions, but I appreciated that a lot of them made sense to me when the solutions were revealed.

If none of the items have an effect on the person or thing in your way, it might be time for Brok to use his brawn instead of his brains. Switch over to action mode to break through people and/or walls. You’ve got to be careful with the choices you make, though; smashing a wall might reveal a hidden item in one area, but it could result in a game over in another when the wall collapses on Brok and kills him. The good news is that seeing a “game over” screen doesn’t mean you’re sent back to the beginning of the chapter or game. Brok will simply reappear where he was before.

Working to uncover the truth is never easy, whether you’re trying to find an item or you’re investigating people. In a dystopian society, it’s even harder. Slumers struggle to survive outside of the Drumer’s safe zone in the Dome. Robots serve as menacing law enforcement/surveillance teams while also taking away much needed jobs from the people due to their “efficiency.” Any attempt to disrupt society is dealt with swiftly and without mercy – in some cases, death may be the kind option…

Although the robots would seem like the biggest danger, these animals with human attributes also continue to pose a threat to their fellow citizens. Members of a marginalized gang known as the Squealers go around extorting people – even those without a roof over their heads. Someone has been vandalizing the machines that dispense the haze protection medication. Brok’s first case in the game might be a simple lost & found investigation, but the severity of the crimes he looks into will escalate. Once you’ve thoroughly searched a room and questioned any witnesses, you’ll have to conduct interrogations and force the perpetrator(s) to confess by providing undeniable proof of their crimes. Sometimes you can decide whether or not you want to turn someone in or not.

Fortunately, Brok is a pretty bulky guy who is used to taking hits in his previous career as a boxer. He can handle himself just fine when any physical confrontations occur. This is where the “punch” in “punch & click” comes in. Some choices may allow you to avoid what would have turned into a fight, but sometimes the violence is inevitable. The combat is action-based, and Brok’s main weapons are his “hands.” He can dodge, jump, and attack with a variety of special moves. You’ll earn experience and a small amount of money for defeating enemies, and when Brok levels up you have to choose if you want to increase his health, attack, or his special move’s effectiveness.

Leveling up is not something you have to worry about in Relaxed Mode at least, because you can skip battles (or even most puzzles) by pressing the select button. In the other two modes, you may want to grind a little bit; Brok participates in illegal virtual arena battles run by his best friend out of her garage. Outside of the virtual battle events, you can take a break from your investigations to grind at the garage and get more money.

There are other optional activities that can benefit you in some way. The Trasher Hunt mini game, conveniently located right above Brok’s apartment building, has you try to find buried items and money in the trash. They give you six attempts per hidden item, and it will tell you how far off your guess was. If you’re lucky, smaller prizes may pop up in between guesses for the main item’s location. And speaking of guesses, every room you visit will have 3 optional collectibles known as “ads” that you can use to ask for hints in your investigations. Ads tend to be hidden quite well, so you may need to go and pay someone for clues on their whereabouts in each room. As some mysteries and puzzles can be hard to figure out on your own, you may want to have as many hints as you possibly can.

Finding all 111 ads will apparently unlock an extra scene in the credits. There are 10 endings to unlock, and additional scenes play during the credits. You can see how many endings you’ve seen by checking the game’s achievement list. My first playthrough on Relaxed Mode lasted about 13 hours, and once you’ve beaten the game for the first time you’ll see a helpful flow chart showing what choices you made that time. This summary of events remains accessible in subsequent playthroughs, and you can use it to restart the game from a specific chapter and even check it to decide on what to do in your current playthrough.

As far as the actual plot goes, I enjoyed a lot of the ideas that went into the storylines leading up to each of the endings. Some endings seemed deliberately nonsensical, which was interesting to experience. Most endings are more serious. I appreciated Brok’s dedication to taking care of Graff after his mother died; towards the end we discover that Brok did something that is absolutely amazing for Graff even though they have a hard time relating to one another. I also really liked Tidy the robot, whose dialogue made me chuckle.

Although I liked a lot of the characters, just a few of my questions about their lives and the world they live in went unanswered from what I could tell. I wanted more insight on Lia, Shay and her inventions, and the government. I also wish we could have seen more of an aftermath for the events in the game. The majority of the story did seem to come together for me – there were just a couple of loose ends. I would love to see a prequel game where we could see Brok, Lia, and Graff together, and also see the events that led up to this game.

I was really impressed with the artistic quality of this game. The character designs should evoke a sense of nostalgia for those familiar with the inspirations. I know I got the references, and I absolutely love it. You can unlock some fantastic extras in the form of the game’s concept art, art book, soundtrack, and even fan art that was submitted to the developer!

These were some of the best extras I’ve seen in a game; there’s a lot of content here. The voice acting was also top notch for me; my favorite was Brok (Bryan Olson), whose voice reminded me of Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967). While the atmosphere is quite tense in BROK, they managed to include enough quips and clever dialogue to break some of that tension every once in a while. Between the art direction, unique concept, and fantastic accessibility and quality of life features, there’s a lot to like here. BROK the InvestiGator is certainly a creative “tail” that you can really “sink your teeth into.” 😉

8.5/10