The Steam header for the first game in the series
Frog Detective is a comedic 3D Adventure Game trilogy developed by Grace Bruxner and Thomas Bowker, in which you play as the titular mystery-solving frog. All games in the series are currently available for PC, with the first entry released in November 2018, and the third entry released in October 2022. A compilation called The Entire Mystery was released in October 2023 for consoles.In The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game, a sloth is seemingly haunted by a ghostly presence, and it's the Detective's job to track it down. In Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard, a town is preparing to welcome a new wizardly neighbor into their community, but when the decorations are mysteriously vandalized, it's up to the Detective to find out who did it, and why. Finally, in Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County, the Detective and Lobster Cop head to the Wild West to try and find a missing sheriff, and uncover an actual crime in the process.
Tropes:
- Always Second Best: Frog Detective works adjacent to "#1 Best Detective" Lobster Cop, but doesn't seem to hold any grudges over it. Towards the end of "Cowboy County", it seems that Frog Detective will be the new #1 after Lobster Cop confesses to being a fraud worried that the Detective would steal his title, with the camera focusing on him as the Supervisor makes an announcement...before immediately panning over to Mystery Monkey, who receives the title for solving the case of who framed Frog Detective for a crime. Frog Detective takes it in stride.
- Author Avatar: Grace Bruxner, one of the game's developers, will pause the story and talk directly to the players if the Frog Detective does something that should not be done in real life.
- Author Tract: "Cowboy County" manages to slip in an argument against the penal system, stating in the climax that Mason Mole's concept of locking someone in a "Bad Room" for committing a crime is overly restrictive and does not allow the culprit to reform.
- Back for the Finale: In the finale for "Cowboy County", Mystery Monkey from "Haunted Island" learns about how Frog Detective was the victim of a Frame-Up, puts on a detective outfit in a Transformation Sequence, and comes to Frog Detective's aid. And in the very last scene, every single character from the trilogy shows up to celebrate Frog Detective's birthday.
- Brick Joke: Throughout the trilogy, Frog Detective notes how hats don't fit the unique shape of his head. The final scene in the third game has everyone Frog Detective helped give him a hat that perfectly fits the shape of his head as a birthday present.
- Chain of Deals:
- The first game has Frog Detective helping the Ghost Scientists and Martin in exchange for items that Larry, one of the Scientists, can use to make an explosive and open up the cave where the ghost noises are coming from.
- The second game is mainly built around one, with the Detective completing tasks to get a coin from the townsfolk, then spending the coins on an item to give to someone to further the investigation.
- The third game has Frog Detective having to help out the townsfolk with various tasks in order to gather the evidence (and meal) he needs to deliver to Lobster Cop to continue the investigation.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The mole that quickly hides behind some rocks if you look around the opposite side of the island in Haunted Island and is sneaking behind one of the buildings in Invisible Wizard turns out to be Mason Mole in Cowboy County, who was spying on Frog Detective on behalf of Lobster Cop.
- Dance Party Ending: The first game ends with a dancing competition, the second game ends with a parade, and the third game ends with a dance party at the saloon.
- Decon-Recon Switch: Cowboy County examines the Perfect Pacifist People society and the blameless mystery genre with this. Because the setting has essentially never dealt with actual crime, no one is equipped to handle it when two bad actors lie in their society, resulting in Frog Detective getting framed for theft. They're equally unprepared to grasp the concept of Bad Room and the bad precedent it could set for their lives. However, its also because of the kindness of Mystery Monkey and their sincere faith in Frog Detective that they are able to uncover the truth and turn the tables on Lobster Cop and Mason Mole. Furthermore, its this sincerity that persuades Lobster Cop to confess to his crimes and seek genuine atonement for his actions.
- Don't Try This at Home: If the Detective does something naive, like give a stranger his home address, the game will pause so an in-game version of one of the developers will inform players of the potential danger of doing such a thing in real life.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Frog Detective asks for people to refer to him as "the Detective".
- Fake-Out Fade-Out: "Cowboy County" ends with the Detective being the victim of a Frame-Up and sentenced to a year in jail. The credits start to roll. Then it switches over to the credits for an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation because the actual credits aren't long enough for the ending song. Then it cuts back to the Detective after his first hour of jailtime, allowed access to a computer so he can update his blog and inform his followers of his predicament, allowing Mystery Monkey and Mo from the original game, as well as the Supervisor, to find out what happened and come to the Detective's rescue in a playable sequence.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Despite the Detective's admiration for Lobster Cop, when they actually work together in "Cowboy County", Lobster Cop orders the Detective to find all the evidence and recover the hats for him (as well as get him something to eat) because the busywork is beneath him. He then immediately falls for the Frame-Up and has the Detective arrested, with everyone believing Lobster Cop due to his reputation as an actual detective. And then Mystery Monkey discovers that Lobster Cop and Mason Mole were working together to frame Frog Detective out of fear that Frog Detective would realize he only pretends to solve mysteries and would replace him as the world's #1 best detective.
- Frame-Up: In the climax of "Cowboy County", the sheriff takes a photo of Frog Detective uncovering the hats and, after drawing some Angry Eyebrows on it, claims it's a photo of the Detective covering them up.
- Furry Confusion: In "Cowboy County", the Frog Detective is initially hoping to put on some cowboy boots and ride some horses, and has to be informed that horses are valued members of society just like frogs and lobsters.
- Green-Eyed Monster: In "Cowboy County", Lobster Cop put Mason Mole in position as the town's sheriff and organized Frog Detective's Frame-Up becasue Lobster Cop is a Fake Ultimate Hero worried that Frog Detective would surpass him as the #1 best detective.
- Halfway Plot Switch: In "Cowboy County", Frog Detective and Lobster Cop locate Sheriff Mason Mole immediately upon entering town. However, the sheriff asks them to stay and solve a recent hat theft if they're available. And towards the end of the game, it switches again to clearing Frog Detective's name after he's the victim of a Frame-Up.
- Hero of Another Story: The Frog Detective's neighbor, Lobster Cop, who is assigned to solve actual crimes. They end up working together in the third game, where he turns out to have been the Fake Ultimate Hero of Another Story.
- Perfect Pacifist People: In "Cowboy County", it turns out that actual crime is so rare that Sheriff Mason Mole decides to create a "Bad Room" to punish the hat thief because they have no concept of a jail, and Mystery Monkey outright claims that crime isn't real.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: "Cowboy County" has a trio of townsfolk who are identified in the opening credits as "Bandits", but it turns out they're far more interested in poetry and striking it rich in a gold mine than actually committing banditry. In the Where Are They Now sequence, one's reformed and going to Cowboy School, and another has replaced Mason Mole as the new sheriff.
- Previously on…: "Corruption at Cowboy County" starts with Mary, a rhinoceros girl from "Invisible Wizard", acting out what happened during the To Be Continued of the previous game, playing the roles of both Frog Detective and their Supervisor while also giving a brief tutorial on the game's controls.
- Removed from the Picture: In the final scene of "Cowboy County", Mystery Monkey has moved into Lobster Cop's old office, and all of the pictures of Lobster Cop that were hung on the walls now have Mystery Monkey's face taped over them.
- Rewatch Bonus: In "The Case Of The Invisible Wizard", the titular character can be seen peeking through the blinds of her window occasionally, even before Frog is allowed to venture into her house.
- Shrinking Violet: The "Invisible Wizard" of the second case, hence why they're "invisible".
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax:
- The haunting of the "Haunted Island" turns out to be the echo of someone's radio as they practice for an upcoming dancing competition.
- The vandalization of the welcoming party in "The Invisible Wizard" was caused by the titular wizard, by accident, having already arrived during the night and accidentally stumbled over everything.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The first game has a Steam Achievement for attempting to leave the Haunted Island before solving the mystery.
- Shout-Out: A wall of old black-and-white photos in "Cowboy County" includes one of an unnamed but familiar-looking dog (as Frog Detective made a cameo in their game) that visited one day and brought color to the town.
- Spoof Aesop: At the end of "The Haunted Island", several characters muse on how the whole case was a misunderstanding based on reading too many books about ghosts, and how this proves that books are made up entirely of lies and should never be believed. An Author Avatar even interrupts to make sure that players don't think of taking this Aesop seriously.
- Sprint Shoes: After the Previously on… segment at the start of "Cowboy County", the Frog Detective is given a scooter in order to get from the train station to the titular county, which has its own controls. As soon as the Detective arrives at town, gameplay switches back to the first-person investigation gameplay of the previous games, but he can switch back to the scooter at any time to get around town faster.
- To Be Continued: The first two games both end with the Detective getting a call for their next case, which is the next game in the series. The third game's ending is set up the same way, but it's just so Frog Detective shows up to his surprise birthday party, and there's a clear "THE END" afterwards.
- Transformation Sequence: In the finale of "Cowboy County", Mystery Monkey switching out his labcoat for a detective's uniform is done in an overly flashy manner.
- Turn in Your Badge: In the climax of "Cowboy County", Lobster Cop is asked to turn in his badge and perhaps find a different career after his envy led to him committing a crime. He accepts, and also turns in his gun, which startles everyone because they're Perfect Pacifist People that thought guns weren't real.
- The Wild West: The titular "Cowboy County" in the third game is a wild west-themed town in a desert.
- Where Are They Now: The actual, non-Fake-Out Fade-Out credits sequence of "Cowboy County" includes photographs of what's happened to every major character from the series in the weeks since the Frog Detective's most recent case.
- World of Funny Animals: The main character is an anthropomorphic frog, and the rest of the cast also consists entirely of animal people.
