Rival Games has kicked off The Detail with an unforgettable first episode, setting a very high bar for itself. With so many different story threads started, the challenge will be to weave those threads together into a rich and satisfying tapestry that involves the player. And this is all while seeking to recapture that explosive opening where the player is pushed to look within themselves without necessarily finding a “right” answer.

Episode 1 does exactly what it should, grabs you right from the get-go and leaves you desperate for more.

A well-made police procedural. It’s only true fault is the short length, but perhaps that will be fixed in the later episodes. [Dec 2014]

Its story and atmosphere are intriguing, if a little too reliant on dark tropes to get the gravity of the situation across, and the unique art style is eye-catching and memorable.

Aside from the short play time, it's rather engaging, and while it is way too early to say whether The Detail ends up being a great adventure, the first episode will certainly whet the appetites of those who love a good police procedural.

Promising first episode.

The Detail is a valiant effort to bring gritty police drama to PC. Aside from some dialogue issues, the tone is flawless while the story offers up plenty of intrigue to keep any wannabe sleuth entertained for a few hours.

This dark point-and-click-adventure is too short, but it amazingly drags you into the story about crime in a Gotham-like city. Great animation style plus an interesting soundtrack.

It tries to mix The Wire with the Telltale Games and maybe the ambitions are too high, but the mood is strong and there's some potential.

The apparent willingness from the development team to invest emotion and drama in the game's plot, combined with various, interesting, characters give us a nice start for an interactive storytelling game whose biggest drawback is the complete lack of voice overs. At this point, the choices we make do not lead to serious differentiation of events, but that's something many games of this relatively new category suffer from.

The game rushes to reach the end which sours the experience slightly, leaving the player with an undercooked taste.

Played as a complete season it feels much more like a complete game, especially as you don’t have to wait eight months between episodes as they were initially released, and overall I very much enjoyed it. However the rushed ending and lack of polish does unfortunately count against it – despite comparisons to The Wire it’s nowhere near that level.

Overall, Where the Dead Lie, is a good introduction to what could possibly be an amazing experience.

The unofficial NYPD Blue adventure game that Telltale never made. Aside from some pretty clear budgetary constraints, The Detail’s hard edged cop narrative has a compelling opening.

In a game about big-picture, important ideas of societal problems, a lot of the choices feel not-so-important.

The Detail is a videogame in which the dialogue and its design are the parts that stand out the most. However, the mechanics are so simple that it can be considered as an interactive comic.

There's nothing truly ground-breaking going on in The Detail (Telltale and BioWare have done better in the "players-choose-their-responses" department), but it does have potential.

The Detail is a good adventure, ideal for those who enjoy mature stories and noire style. It doesn't use all its potential, but it is definitely very enjoyable.

The Detail isn’t bad, it’s just not as good as the games it’s trying to emulate.

So, The Detail Season 1 isn’t perfect, but what ever is? It fails in some places and shines in others. Despite the clunky gameplay elements, there’s a unique style and an expertly written cast of characters waiting to be uncovered for those who are willing to stick it out. For all its problems, The Detail still has plenty there to make me excited for the next season.

What you have here is two thirds of a good show that has been axed by the television network, leaving the studio to sort itself out, bringing an end to the season early, except what was offered for a closure was a cop-out, robbing The Detail of a truly satisfying ending that it deserves.

Rival Games started something very interesting with The Detail in the first two episodes. The story was immersive and the characters engaging. But because of budgetary constraints episode three undoes what the first two set up, with plot lines left abandoned and bugs that are very detrimental to a game based on choice.

The Detail sets out to provide a memorable police thriller with visual flair, but can’t quite seal the deal in either storytelling or gameplay across its three-part narrative arc.