About This Demo

Classic detective thrillers with twisted plots and unpredictable turns will never go out of style. PHANTOM is a noir visual novel that combines complex puzzles based on real encryption methods with a police investigation simulator.

The Idea

When detectives discover six bodies at the city port, it becomes clear that this is only the beginning for a killer who has hit his stride and decided to officially challenge the police through an encrypted manifesto. You play as Barry Dalton — a cynical police crypto-analyst suffering from chronic insomnia, who flawlessly navigates the dark corners of serial killer psychology.

Shape Your Story 

The decisions you make affect not only the development of professional, friendly, or romantic relationships with characters, but also drastically change the course of the investigation and determine how many lives are saved from the killer. Listen to radio broadcasts to learn the consequences of your actions for the city, skillfully extract information during dialogues, and critically analyze every message from the maniac: is it a real clue or just another psychological manipulation?

Decryption Mechanics 

You will have to dive deep into the basics of cryptography. Besides the Phantom's letters, which are encrypted using Enigma machine, you will regularly assist the department with the codes of drug cartels, corrupt officials, and street gangs. Someone uses the classic Caesar cipher, another prefers the Vigenère square, and for some, Morse code is enough — your task is to visually recognize each algorithm and crack it using unique methods.

Demo contains 1 episode out of 10 — dive in and take your first step toward unmasking the elusive killer.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Voiceover and some of the music in the game was generated by AI, it was also used to generate some graphic assets which were edited and integrated into the game as static files.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

Throughout the game's storyline, the theme of crime is explored; the various crimes investigated by the detectives may involve drug trafficking, serial killings, prostitution, and other violent crimes. This theme is primarily conveyed through dialogue and the plot, without any explicit visual depictions.