The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

About The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker is an FMV game by D'Avekki Studios, released on Steam for Windows, Mac and Linux in May 2017 and brought to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch by Wales Interactive in June 2018. It holds a Guinness World Record for the most full-motion video in a video game, with more than 1,600 full-screen responses.

You are a psychiatrist who takes over the unusual patients of the recently deceased Doctor Dekker, and you are trying to solve his murder at the same time. Instead of picking from a list, you type any question, phrase or keyword, and the patients answer in video from a green leather couch in a dim consulting room hung with inkblot paintings. They have questions for you too, and you must be careful what you say. Six main suspects and five side stories are played by actors, and the murderer is chosen at random at the start of each game, so the answer cannot be spoiled.

The game runs over five therapy sessions. In each one a traffic light beside every patient shows how far you have got: yellow lets you move on, green means you have found all of their answers. The game saves on its own, so nothing you say can be taken back, and some choices carry into later sessions. When the sessions are done you name the killer; pick right and the ending videos play. Answers are found by keyword rather than understood like a chatbot, so many questions get one of a patient's forty or so ways of saying they do not know, and some of those hide clues.

Each patient has a bizarre problem of their own, from time manipulation and re-animated loved ones to horrors under the sea, and the makers describe a shadow reality of paranormal strangeness and horrors that go bump in your head, where all you have to rely on is your own mind. There are no point-and-click puzzles, only questions and evidence. The fear is slow and unsettling rather than sudden: odd confessions, a growing sense that the patients are not well in ways medicine cannot touch. HowLongToBeat puts the main story at about 8 hours.

The store warns of mature themes and psychological horror including sexual themes, violence and suicide, and recommends it for adults only. It suits players who like story-driven FMV such as Harvester, Simulacra or At Dead of Night, and slow, talky mysteries with a cosmic edge. A sequel, The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker 2, has been announced on the makers' site.

How to play The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

1. Buy it on Steam or GOG for PC, Mac or Linux, or on PlayStation 4, Xbox or Switch.
2. Watch the help video, then start a new game; the murderer is chosen at random.
3. Type a question, phrase or keyword to the patient on the couch, or pick a suggested question.
4. Watch their video answers, check the evidence and make notes; work each patient's light to yellow to move on, or to green to find everything.
5. After the fifth session, accuse the killer; choose your words with care along the way, because they decide the endings.

Tips

• Reuse words the patients have just said: answers are found by keyword, so their own words often open new lines.
• Type 'hint' when you are stuck; it works like asking for advice.
• Ask the patients how they are, not only about the murder: helping them is how you find their motives.
• The game saves automatically and you cannot take back what you say, so think before you send a question that could upset a patient.
• You do not need several runs to see most of the story, but finding every video and achievement takes a replay.

Questions