Controls
The game plays with keyboard, controller or mouse. The How to Play screen on the title menu lists the essentials; the full set is below. Controller buttons are given by position, which is the same on every pad.
| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Move | WASD | Left stick |
| Talk, examine, take; ask the chosen topic | E | Bottom face button |
| Casebook | Tab or C | Top face button |
| Save and load | F5 | Left face button |
| Quest journal | J | Left stick click |
| Previous / next case in the casebook | Q E | Left and right bumpers |
| Scroll a long page | Page Up Page Down | Right stick |
| Choose in lists | WS, AD to change | D-pad or left stick |
| Confirm | Enter | Bottom face button |
| Back, close, menu | Esc | Right face button |
With the mouse, click the ground to walk there, click a person or object to walk up to it and use it, and use the buttons along the top of the screen and at the foot of each panel.
The screen
Top left: where you are, and a line saying who to see next (or, once a case sheet is ready, who to lay it before). Top right: the day and its segment, your findings and the cases solved, with buttons for the casebook, save and load, and leaving to the menu.
The casebook
The left rail lists every case you know of: open cases first, closed ones below. The page on the right shows the case's patron, how many of its clues you hold, its evidence (findings), its leads, and at the foot the case sheet. Up and down pick a line of the sheet, left and right change the name on it; only names your findings support are offered. When every line holds a name and the patron is beside you, Present lays it before them.
A case can have many more clues than its sheet needs. The walkthroughs list only what the answer requires.
Day and clock
Each day has five segments: dawn, forenoon, noon, dusk and night. Walking moves the clock on by one segment every 25 steps, and a wrong case sheet costs one. Some things in town happen at set times, such as the market closing at dusk; they change what people say, not what can be proved, and no case runs out of time.
Skills and heroes
Six skills (Reason, Rapport, Perception, Insight, Hands and Lore) open extra lines of questioning and observation. Your hero starts with a few; the rest rise through particular acts around the town, each once.
Saving
The game saves itself whenever something changes in your investigation, into the Autosave. F5 opens the slot picker, with seven manual slots beside the autosave; left and right switch between saving and loading. From the title menu, Load Game opens the same picker. Achievements you earn stay earned across runs.