Bucket Detective is a video game released in 2018 by The Whale Husband, a collaboration between American independent developer Jesse Barksdale and Finnish developer Samu Kovanen. Described as a "dark comedy horror game", Bucket Detective is an adventure game in which an illiterate and perverse author endures personal and moral sacrifices made to a cult in order to receive the literary inspiration to publish a novel. Bucket Detective, in line with Barksdale's previous game, The Static Speaks My Name, was strongly influenced by personal themes of "depression, anxiety and obsession" and designed in ways to disorient and confuse the player. The game, which was the first commercial project from Barksdale, received a positive reception from critics, with particular attention directed at the game's unusual and grotesque premise and disturbing content.
Plot
Bucket Detective is played from the perspective of David Davids, a narcissistic, sexually neurotic, misogynistic man of middle age. An illiterate narration describes Davidson's desire to write a best-selling novel, Bucket Detective, because "famous book make it impossible for girls to resist sex ". A friend of Davids directs to a mysterious building under the promise that if they complete all that is asked of them, they will get what they desire. At various stages of navigating the building, Davids is able to dismember parts of his body, to receive passages from Bucket Detective, ultimately leading him to sever his finger, hand, and feet in pursuit of finishing the book.
The player's journey through the building is guided by found diary entries and an audio tour narrated by Gwen Sleeveless, a man raised as a child in service to the occupants of the building. As the player explores the building, Sleeveless' recordings explains that it is occupied by a cult who worship the Dark Lord Mishreal, founded by the Two Fathers: Dr. Z.W. Francis and Jedidah Holcombe. The player inadvertently becomes initiated to the cult and pass through a series of tests. Their final task is to bring about the rebirth of the Dark Lord through receiving the Genderless Child, a baby borne from Beth, a woman imprisoned and impregnated against her will by the Two Fathers. To complete the ritual, the player is tasked with delivering the Genderless Child to an elevator, upon which its closure causes the elevator to spew blood, implying the child has been sacrificed to the Dark Lord.
The game features five different endings depending on the choices made by the player during gameplay, with each providing an epilogue on the success or failure of Davidson's book, Bucket Detective. The player is presented with the choice at the end of the game to either leave, leave with Beth's child, or complete the sacrifice to bring about the rebirth of the Dark Lord and the end of the world. In most cases, Davids gains little insight or benefit from his experience, using the publishing of Bucket Detective to pick up women and ignore the consequences of his actions. In another instance, if the player leaves the baby behind and fails to complete the ritual, Davids realises he is a masochist and indulges in his self-destructive tendencies by removing all of his other body parts. However, the player is also able to exit the building upon entry, ending the game immediately.
Gameplay
Bucket Detective is a narrative-based adventure game in which players progress the game through exploration of the cult's building, with limited interaction with objects including to read notes providing background context, use items to complete puzzles, and press buttons to play Sleeveless' audio tour in various areas of the building. In some stages, progression to new areas is undertaken by the mechanic of interacting with machines to sacrifice parts of the player's body in order to contribute one of four sentences to 'the book Bucket Detective, selected through dialog options. As the game's story progresses, the player sacrifices larger and more impairing parts of their body to continue, such as their legs, ultimately affecting player movement from a walk to a crawl, or moving in a wheelchair. Barksdale stated these mechanics were based in a desire for the player to be "constantly aware of their body in a way the players normally are not".