Every hardboiled detective works alone. Almost every hardboiled detective, that is. Sonny Featherland is in-between-partners, so to speak. And his days are numbered. Looking ahead to his retirement from the Clawville Police Department he gets an unexpected visitor. It is not the Femme Fatale herself who approaches this weary, jaded old copper. But it is the next best thing: When one innocent-looking fawn walked into Sonny's appartment office, a wild ride through the city's underworld on the hunt for the truth begins. The Wild Gentelemen's 2020 "Chicken Police" is more than just an hommage to the works of authors like Raymond Chandler. It is true Noir and at the same time an outstanding piece of artdesign. Adhering to the genre conventions and yet doing its own thing. Seeing high-resolution photographs of animal heads crafted onto the actor's models might irritate at first. However, every character has ... well, character. The voice acting is superior to most other debut games like this. The nods to the noir genre, be it literary references or quotes from motion pictures like "Cassablanca" or "The Maltese Falcon", are a-plenty and yet should not confuse players who are unaware of those nods. During the dialogues between the main character and the other animals we gather information about the case as well as find out more about the "Chicken Police"-universe. Piece by piece the game lets us in on the lore behind Clawville, its century old history, its politics, economics and what distinguishes this stand-in for New York/Chicago/Los Angeles from other parts of the "Wilderness". Players should pay attention to the details reveiled in those conversations. Thankfully Sonny writes everything down in his notebook. We can always look up key information about the case as well as observations about the other animals. Many conversations eventually unlock the option to not just ask a bunch of questions but to interrogate a character. Herein lies the core of the detective-game
A faily creative twist on the proven formula of Point'n'Click adventures this game is all about the question whether new generations can truely create new art or if any new art is just a derivative of existing art. Here books are the stand-in for today's remix culture. Writers are unable, it seems, to come up with new ideas so they hire people like our protagonist to steal exciting McGuffins from other writer's works. With every level we puzzle our way through we encounter those mashed-up ideas, some being more familiar than others, but always with the recognisable link to an old tale of myth, legend and popular literature. The art style of this game is tremendously charming while functional at the same time. The contrast between the "overworld" our protagonist inhibits and the "book world" we travel through enhances the fantasy-driven level design of each "level". I could not help but be reminded a lot of "Disco Elysium", be it the interface, the dialogue window or the overall approach to characters and their portrayal. So one might argue that The Bookwalker is derivative even in this regard. But if so: it is truely an innovative approach, at least in my perspective. Play this game if you really dig detective CRPG games and/or look for games which tell a story, multiple stories in fact, and if you are an at least avid reader of popular fanatasy, sci-fi or classic mythology stories.
