Inspector Schmidt: The Ebbing

Inspector Schmidt: The Ebbing is a detective RPG set in the coastal town of Havstedt in 1870. You play Valentin Schmidt, a young civil servant whose North Sea holiday is interrupted when Bente Hansen’s body is found at the telegraph station. Investigate the murder, trace eerie telegraph signals and strange symbols, and discover the secrets kept by the town’s inhabitants while avoiding danger in the moor.

Havstedt and its secrets

Havstedt is unsettled by Bente Hansen’s death. The townspeople are asking who killed him, what the symbols appearing around town mean, and whether a brutal beast really lurks in the moor. Each faction in the town has its own dark and strange secrets, and your investigation takes place amid the arrival of the first functioning transatlantic telegraph cable, industrialisation, social conflict and fears of conscription during the Franco-Prussian War.

Investigate the case

You can move freely around the open-world coastal town, question residents, confront suspects and search for hidden evidence. The revised Detective Sweep helps you check rooms for anything you have missed; you can inspect objects for clues and search inside furniture. Puzzles include combinations and numbers, so solving the case calls for deduction as well as interpersonal skills.

You also sneak into forbidden areas and avoid detection while surviving the dangers of the moor. The stealth mechanics support quests built around sneaking, and you can adjust the stealth difficulty to control the tension of these sections.

Develop Valentin

Classic pen-and-paper-style skill checks use dice rolls. You develop Valentin by choosing which skills to improve, and can gather resources to craft items and consumables that improve his skills. Your actions affect the story, and you can pursue success through approaches such as charisma or diplomacy.

Choose your mode

Story mode provides plenty of quest-log clues to guide you through the case and puzzles. You can simplify the dice skill checks or turn them off. Detective mode gives fewer quest-log clues, leaving you to record your findings and keep track of whom you have questioned and what information you still need.