Jenny LeClue: Detectivú is an adventure game developed and published by Mografi. It was released for iOS (as a launch title for Apple Arcade), Microsoft Windows, Mac, and Linux in September 2019, and will be released for PlayStation 4 at a later date. The Spoken Secrets Edition added full voice acting as a free update on July 24, 2020. The game was released for Nintendo Switch on August 25, 2020. A second part was announced via the Jenny LeClue Facebook page and is currently in development.
Gameplay
The choices that players make throughout the game have an impact. The game contains point-and-click elements, and features a hand-drawn art style. Players are able to interact with most items in the game. During dialogue sections, players can observe the person talking to spot clues as to whether they are lying. Locations that players explore include mines, graveyards, mountains, police stations, and libraries.
Plot
Author Arthur K. Finklestein is the creator of the Jenny LeClue series of books, a classic children's sleuth series whose sales are dwindling as readers begin to find the stories trite and boring. His publisher demands a darker, grittier Jenny LeClue book or else the series will be canceled, so Finklestein reluctantly responds by giving Jenny her biggest case yet: the murder of the beloved dean of local Gumboldt College, with her forensic science professor mother as the prime suspect. Within the narrative, Jenny must clear her mom's name and repair her fractured relationship with the dean's son, while Finklestein struggles to commit to putting his beloved Jenny and her town of Arthurton through the wringer in order to keep the series alive.
Jenny LeClue is a highly intelligent young girl who lives in Arthurton with her forensic scientist mother. Her best friend is Keith Strausberry, son of the town's college dean. One day, after solving a few trivial mysteries that includes the likes of figuring out what Dean Strausberry had for breakfast, Jenny complains to Keith about how boring Arthurton is, describing it as stuck in the past. Jenny then goes to the library to look for her mom, who was supposed to meet with Dean Strausberry there earlier. Instead, she finds the Dean dead, clutching onto her mom's ID card. Jenny tries to leave the crime scene though the window to avoid detection, but a hard landing knocks her unconscious.
Jenny's memory of the next few days are a blur. Her mom is now in prison as a suspect for the Dean's murder, Keith is not talking to her, and Jenny herself is now under effective house arrest at the Glatz Manor, home of the wealthy Glatz family, to prevent her from causing more trouble after causing a fiasco at the Dean's funeral. Determined to clear her mom's name and find the Dean's true killer, Jenny tries to escape the bedroom she's locked in, but instead finds a secret lab hidden in the attic above, which belongs to her cousin Susie Glatz. Having previously written off Susie as stereotypical blonde bimbo, Jenny is shocked to discover that Susie is in fact a prodigy in multiple scientific fields, but keeps this fact a secret from her own family due to social pressure of keeping up the appearance of a "Glatz Girl". Susie wants to befriend Jenny by helping her out on her case and gives her a custom walkie talkie to keep contact with her. Out of jealousy, Jenny is reluctant to befriend Susie, but accepts the walkie talkie. Susie helps Jenny escape the manor, and Jenny races back to her house.
Back at her home, now surrounded by police, Jenny sneaks into the basement to look for a spare change of clothes and detective gear. She is shocked to discover that a mysterious man in a trench coat, face completely obscured, is also inside her home looking for something. Jenny stealthily follows him, and eventually deduces that this mysterious man is on a mission to kill her mom. Jenny then pivots her attention towards breaking her mom out of prison to save her. Piecing together a shredded note discarded by the man, Jenny realizes that there is a secret entrance to the abandoned underground mines in the graveyard, which will connect to the sewer system and ultimately, the prison. Jenny calls Susie for assistance, mostly for the silent explosives Susie had developed, and races ahead to the graveyard to find the secret entrance. Susie, however, turns out to be more help than Jenny had bargained for, having extensive maps of the mines, which are owned by her family.