The Last Case of Benedict Fox Review – Crafted With Love

What do you get when you combine a good old-fashioned murder mystery with the supernatural and Metroidvania-style design? The Last Case of Benedict Fox is the answer!

Game Name: The Last Case of Benedict Fox
Platform(s): Xbox Series X|S (Reviewed), PC
Publisher(s): Rogue Games
Developer(s): Plot Twist Games
Release Date: April 27, 2023

Intriguing Mystery

The Last Case of Benedict Fox is a Lovecraftian-inspired Metroidvania game, in which you take control of Benedict Fox, a detective with a demon inside him. This demon grants Benedict Fox the ability to enter the memories of people, even after their death. A fitting ability for a detective trying to solve murders, right?

To set up the basics, Benedict is looking into the deaths of his mother and father by entering their memories which are fittingly called Limbo. The story, however, is not one I will spoil here as the mystery and uncovering it is what sets this game apart from other Metroidvania games.

Simple Start

The Last Case of Benedict Fox’s gameplay is made up of three key elements: Exploration, Puzzle Solving, and Combat. This being a Metroidvania means that things rather predictably start simple. You are almost immediately thrown into combat, which feels fairly limited at first, offering you a heavy and light melee attack done by holding or pressing X buttons (Xbox). You’ll also get access to a block, which can be pulled off by holding RB. Holding the button too long and then the barrier manifested by your demon companion to block attacks will disappear. Lastly, you’ll get a gun that serves as your only ranged attack, with one shot using LB and X to fire, the shot can be recharged simply by using melee attacks.

During combat, you’ll pick up INK, which at a certain point can be used for upgrades to your companion. Just make sure you don’t die without banking your INK at the nearest Anchor, a portal that acts as a way out of limbo and a fast travel point, enabling you to get around more quickly. The companion upgrades help open up combat a bit more and, in turn, make it more engaging. Ultimately, your companion is perhaps more crucial to exploration.

Exploration

Initially, as you explore, you’ll find many places you can’t get to. This is because you are quite limited in traversal to start with. The game does start you off with a double jump, but this isn’t enough to get you to some places, and sometimes just because it’s a little inconsistent and doesn’t always work exactly as expected. Through upgrading your demon companion by getting tattoos, that’s right, the INK is used for tattoos! Eventually, you will unlock a triple jump, while this doesn’t fix the inconsistency of jumping, it does help elevate the problem somewhat while also allowing you to get to places you previously couldn’t. That’s why upgrades are so important, and your companion isn’t the only upgrade you’ll get, be on the lookout for when you get a new bullet type, which will help you explore even more! Exploring more leads to puzzles which are often key to advancing both in exploring and narrative terms.

Puzzles

Puzzles are engaging and more varied than I initially expected, from placing keys correctly to opening chests, doors with teeth, and more. Of course, some of these puzzles are easier than others! The hardest are those involving symbols, this also makes them the most satisfying to solve, and once you get a book with lots of symbols in it will help. What makes the puzzles special is how they feed into the narrative, while encouraging exploration off the beaten path.

Undeniably Art

In its Lovecraftian way, The Last Case of Benedict Fox is a beautiful game, with equally horrifying and wonderful sights to see and explore. Multiple times, I found myself stopping in disbelief as the art in this game is just that art.

Of course, great visuals need great audio, and I’m happy to say this audio is also masterful from the haunting ambiance of the musical score to the horrible (in the best way) sounds of some enemy attacks. Every piece of audio just adds to the overall experience and enhances the incredible tone set by the art direction. One thing does stand above all else for me audio-wise, and that is the voice acting, from Benedict to the tattooist. Every voice is fantastic building on each character with a mysterious vibe to every word. My personal favourite is that of your demon companion; this character’s delivery is so haunting that I can hear the voice as I write this. You’re never sure of his motivations, and that makes it the perfect performance for me.

The presentation of this entire game is fantastic and refreshing to boot, it is undeniably art for the eyes and ears!

Accessibility

Accessibility is somewhat lacking here, but the ability to somewhat customise the way you want to play can help. There is an invincibility mode that immediately makes the game more playable to a larger audience. The ability to also have more markers on your map as a visual aid of sorts is nice.

I’m not going to sit here and hold a smaller indie title to the same accessibility standard as a big-budget AAA game. It is just that when I enjoy a game this much, I want more people to be able to play it, and a lack of options will never not be disappointing.

Technical Performance

During my time playing on Xbox Series X, I didn’t encounter any bugs, but that’s to say that there may not be any. I have heard that some people have encountered a few, so maybe I was lucky. I did have one performance issue which reoccurred a few times, the frame rate would drop significantly when jumping onto wooden platforms to the point the game would be in slow motion for a second. Hopefully, it is fixed since a patch was released today, and I wasn’t able to recreate the issue post-patch.

Summary

The Last Case of Benedict Fox was clearly crafted with love as it nails what it is to be a fantastic Metroidvania, wrapping it up in a Lovecraftian murder mystery. Every part of this game feeds wonderfully into the others, creating a great experience that is only really let down by some mechanical inconsistencies.

The Last Case of Benedict Fox is now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam, Epic Games Store).

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of The Last Case of Benedict Fox was provided to us for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.