The Dagby Files Review: Intriguing Detective Stories Told Through Jigsaw Puzzles

When I first saw the demo for The Dagby Files on Steam, two things caught my eye: the fact that it was a jigsaw puzzle game, which I love, but also that it was a detective mystery game. These two elements combined got me intrigued. I thought this was a really cool concept.

I tried the demo out, and after doing just two jigsaws, I was sold on it. But is the full release of The Dagby Files any good, and does it do well with incorporating both the puzzle and detective elements? My review should help answer that.

The Dagby Files is available now on Steam for $6.99.

Story – Half a Dozen Mysteries to Solve

The wonderful thing about The Dagby Files is that while on the surface it looks like another jigsaw puzzle game, at the heart of it is a detective mystery – or a series of detective mysteries. The Dagby Files includes at least half a dozen mysteries in which the titular character Dagby and his faithful sidekick Valmont need to solve. These are your typical detective stories, including deaths and stolen property, all depicted through the jigsaws you have to solve.

In every investigation, you are presented the option of figuring out who or what is responsible for the crime. Depending on how good you deduction skills are, and how well you’ve been paying attention to the dialogue and pictures, you can choose the culprit from a list of options.

You don’t get rewarded for choosing correctly; there’s no bonus reward or Steam achievements. However, you don’t get penalized either for guessing wrong. It’s just a bit of fun, and to get you more involved. At the end of the day, the case will still get solved.

The first puzzle is usually Dagby and Valmont arriving at the scene of the crime.

A Casual Crime Solver

All the cases differentiate from each other, and are interesting to read through, as well as witness through the puzzles you complete. Some might wish for more involvement in the cases themselves. This is certainly no L.A. Noire in terms of crime solving. However, the purpose of The Dagby Files is to provide a casual experience with puzzles, with stories added to make them more interesting.

You don’t have to stress about missing clues or interrogating suspects or getting the wrong culprit and being penalized for it. You can just enjoy the puzzles and the story, and have a go at guessing what happened without worrying about getting a game over or serious consequences. 

You’re not meant to stress over solving the crime. It’ll get solved anyway; it’s just to get you more involved.

Gameplay – Solving Jigsaws and Mysteries at the Same Time

The Dagby Files is a very simple game. There’s nothing complicated about it. You complete a series of jigsaws, and then watch a crime investigation unfold. 

Scenes of the Crime in Jigsaw Form

With every case, there are four jigsaws to do, each depicting a different scene in that investigation. They usually include Dagby, Valmont, and other characters involved, plus the location you’re investigating. Each of these jigsaws don’t take long to do, depending on how good your jigsaw puzzle solving skills are. They can take about 10 minutes on average. These aren’t difficult 500-1,000 piece puzzles which take hours each to do.

The whole jigsaw setup is very straightforward. All the puzzles are exactly the same size, with the same number of pieces. It’s just the scene that changes each time. All the jigsaw pieces are lined up at the bottom of the screen, and you simply drag them one-by-one onto the board. It’s very easy to organize the pieces. There’s no fiddly controls or gameplay to deal with.

You simply plonk the pieces down in the right places, where they click into place when done correctly. You can only lock the corner pieces into place on the board itself, even if you put the other pieces in exactly the right place, but you can still connect the correct pieces together even when they’re not locked into the board.

Each jigsaw shows a different part of the investigation.

The Investigation Goes On

Once a jigsaw is finished, the story continues. Between doing puzzles, you read through the dialogue, which is shown to the side of the jigsaws. There’s no voice acting or cutscenes, you just click through the dialogue, which is shown as speech bubbles next to the corresponding character’s profile.

Whenever you’re given the opportunity to deduct who committed the crime or how it happened, a list of options appear. You are also given the chance to review the previous dialogue and jigsaws you completed in that case to remind yourself.

When presented with deducting the mystery, you can go back through dialogue and previous puzzles to review the evidence.

Graphics – Wonderfully Illustrated

For a jigsaw puzzle to be good, you need to have good pictures to go with them. Fortunately, The Dagby Files does not fail there. Artist Dave Montes provides all the artwork for The Dagby Files and he did a brilliant job. All the illustrations included in every puzzle are fantastic, as well as cleverly designed. The scenes of the locations, the crimes, and the characters are just marvelous to look at. 

Also, they work well from a practical point-of-view, as the way they’re created makes it easier to complete the jigsaws. When you start working on a new puzzle, you don’t get a preview of what you’re doing, but that’s the beauty of it because it’s fun putting it together and seeing what the result is.

Audio – Moody Jazz for Mystery and Puzzle Solving

As you go through the investigations and complete the jigsaws, fitting background music plays. It is your usual detective noir fanfare; moody jazz bluesy type music. However, it fits the game perfectly and provides an immersive environment.

It doesn’t appear to play in every jigsaw you work on though, so it’s not known if this is intentional or a glitch. Nevertheless, when it is there, it works. The satisfying musical cue that plays at the completion of a puzzle or a whole crime case completes the musical package.

Another mention should go to the subtle sound effects. The only notable one is when the pieces correctly connect together, which makes a satisfying clicking sound. It provides that sense of being one step closer to not only solving the puzzle, but solving the crime as well. It’s surprising how a little goes a long way.