A multiple adaptation
Arsène Lupine – Thief One Day takes us into different investigations involving the gentleman burglar. The story plays on the interplay between the novels, the game and the plot that lies before your eyes. Arsène Lupin and Maurice Leblanc are by the fire, discussing the different adventures that the first experienced and that the second recorded in his books. The camera, placed behind the armchairs, keeps the faces of the two men anonymous. This is important because Arsène Lupine is known for his multiple disguises and it will often be a question of uncovering his new appearance through the investigations that you will carry out.
In addition to this very interesting narrative effect, it also allows you to play with yourself when you fail in the investigation phases. Instead of a game over, you will therefore have access to a small conversation between the two men, discussing the fact that no, that is not how this whole story unfolded. Remember!
The game, for its part, is a mix between a point and click and an investigation game. By playing different characters, you will have to make connections between the elements discovered, find hidden clues, question the protagonists of this adventure and flush out your favorite gentleman burglar.
Let’s investigate!
After a short tutorial phase in the form of a brilliantly successful burglary, you are immersed in the first investigation. On a ship crossing the Atlantic, a telegram was received reporting the presence of Arsène Lupine on board. A few clues put you on the path, but you will have to flush out the burglar to try to succeed in this affair… But are you sure? Is this really your goal?
By playing different characters as you progress, you will ask yourself: should you really try to discover who Arsène Lupin is or is your quest doomed to failure to allow him to escape? All this ambiguity is also present in the game and particularly well done. The scenario is effective, well conducted, the interrogations play on your dexterity and your sense of the right word. To the point of giving you the floor during rather tense conversations, where you will have to find the right sentences to push your interlocutor to reveal themselves. Game over is never far away, but it is not punitive, just making you redo the dialogue to find the right sentences.
There are several mechanics in the game. The first consists of exploring and discovering clues. It works like a classic point and click. You move your character around the environment, use the triggers to rotate the camera 90 degrees (you can’t control it, just rotate it to several preset angles). At certain times, the A key appears on the screen and allows you to access another exploration screen. Then, everything works like a classic point and click, finding the points of interest, pointing them and pressing A to access a dialogue and some thoughts from the characters.
In the mind of the investigator…
Once the clues have been collected, you will have to make connections. In the notebook, accessible with a button, you have a large amount of information: portraits of the different protagonists, the case that concerns you and a sort of mind map grouping together the clues that you have found. This is where you will act to draw conclusions!
To make connections, you’re going to have to… connect the dots. Yes, it’s obvious, but the principle is interesting: in your notebook, certain events are already linked (because you found a particular clue by talking to a particular person, or by searching a particular place, for example). But you’re going to have to make other connections to draw conclusions. Actually, it’s easy: you place yourself on an element, press A and go to the other point to connect and press A again.
The game has several things to help you if you need them. You can already see the number of possible links to make, which can save you from searching for 2 hours when there is nothing to link. Then, after a certain number of errors, the game highlights the two points to connect, to indicate the solution and allow you to move forward. The hardest thing about these connections is always thinking that you are in the shoes of a character and that sometimes this protagonist doesn’t know things that you know. Especially in the case of the cross-investigation at the beginning, where you will play two investigators in a row at two different times and with two types of clues and conclusions.
The production of the game is really good: the artistic direction, all in 3D, is well managed. Only the management of the camera is at times counterintuitive, the fault of the fact that there are only four angles despite your movements. If some controls may seem too rigid, the whole is rather good and effective: of course, we regret the absence of touch in certain phases, but it is not insurmountable.
