Review: The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

Title: The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker
Platform: PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 (reviewed)
Developer: D’Avekki Studios
Publisher: Wales Interactive
Release date: Out now
tl;dr:Â This is exactly what the Doctor ordered!
Price: Console – Â£10/$12
PC – Â£7/$10
Family Focus: Click here for more information.

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker is an FMV game blended with a text-based adventure, as you must question the patients of the late Doctor Dekker and get to the bottom of his murder. The game was developed by D’Avekki Studios – a pretty unknown studio in the video game market, as their previous titles are DVD, CD, or card-based roleplay games, whilst Wales Interactive have had two notable titles recently, both of which are FMV games, these two games are The Bunker and The Late Shift. You check our two seperate reviews for The Late Shift here for both the cinema and console release here

You play as a psychiatrist, who is not only trying to treat patients but is also trying to gently coax information out of them, regarding the recently killed Doctor Dekker. You can either select dialogue from a suggested list, or you can type out your own questions and see what kind of response you get. And you donâ€™t have to worry about that friend tweeting spoilers about who the killer is, or the awkward moment when browsing YouTube and you see the ending of God of War because of broken street dates, as the killer is selected at random at the start of your playthrough. This leaves the game wide open for more endings than a David Cage title such as the recent Detroit.

Because this game is a heavily focused on story, the characters must be strong and outstanding; luckily, these characters are indeed strong and full of individual characteristics. Thereâ€™s the man who keeps reliving the same 24 hours over and over, or the guy who thinks he has 25 hours in his day and can do whatever he likes in the extra hour. Then there’s the woman who gets blackouts and keeps waking up naked on the beach. As you progress through the game you slowly learn more and more about these intriguing characters as well as their relationship with the infamous Doctor Dekker.

The game consists of five acts but after the first act, the game is already firing on all pistons. The amount of thought and planning that went into this game is incredible, to say the least, and not only is the story gripping, but the acting is superb from all cast members. The latter needs to be top notch for an FMV game, or else you won’t be taken seriously, like the cheesy 90’s Sega FMV title Night Trap, for example. All the actors are incredible, but the definite star of the show is Marianne, played by Aislinn M Deâ€™Ath. Marianne is distractingly good looking, but deep beneath the surface, she is clearly holding onto a darkness that is portrayed masterfully.

By the end of my playthrough, I was intrigued how the game would play out again a second time, and it was completely different, which was refreshing, to say the least, I’m not usually too interested in the FMV game genre as I prefer my action-RPGs with over the top character aesthetics and their wildlyÂ eccentric costume designs, but this game actually hooked me after the first act, and I’m glad to go back and platinum it.

Overall, The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker is worth investing in as the price tag is incredibly reasonable for the amount of replayability you get out of it, and with the various platforms available, you can play at home, or if you get the Nintendo Switch version, you can play on the go, which could make those long journeys feel like a quick pop to the shops.

The Good

Fast paced narrative.

Intriguing characters with top quality acting.

Multiple choices that leads to various endings as well as the murderer being random each time.