The Last Case of Benedict Fox is a Metroidvania indie game developed by Plot Twist. You take on the role of Benedict Fox, a detective who has a demon companion within him. You can travel through limbo, exploring memories for clues to solve the murder and disappearance of a child. It has an engrossing story and a Burton-esque art style that can be quite immersive while playing the game.
It may be too overwhelming for beginners as there are quite a lot of mechanics in the game, and it has plenty of puzzles to solve. Hence, we have created this guide to help you get on your way and start solving the mystery of this game.
Practice the Combat System
The gameplay mechanics in The Last Case of Benedict Fox are simple but challenging. You have a melee weapon and a long-range weapon. You can only shoot one bullet at the start of the game, and to get another, you must perform melee combos to refill the bar and use it again.
If you’re fighting multiple enemies or bosses, use the gun right away so you can refill the bullet as you fight the enemies. As you progress through the game, you can upgrade your gun with the weaponsmith. This will require certain key items before you can do so.
Furthermore, you can dodge attacks by pressing the right analogue stick (controller) or pressing ctrl + A/D (keyboard), which will come in handy during fights because your health is limited. Some enemies can stun-lock you to death, which is why you must master these moves.
Finally, there’s Parry. It is an important component in battle because it gives you an advantage by stunning your opponent when you perfectly time the block on an enemy’s attack. Enemies have patterns, so it’s best to learn them so you can easily parry their attacks, whether they’re close-range or long-range.
Defeat Every Enemy You See
Fighting enemies for the first time has merit because there is a reward for defeating them. You can obtain ink, which is used to improve yourself. Use it to gain more skills so that you can explore more locations and fight enemies more effectively.
Every enemy you defeat for the first time earns you a set of ink. You can lose this if you die, and the enemy who gets your ink will become slightly stronger. You can fight this enemy again to reclaim what you lost. To secure the ink travel to an anchor, a location in the game where you can use fast travel. In the anchor, you can also replenish your items and heal yourself.
Enemies respawn whenever you fast-travel, die, or enter a loading screen. You do not get any more ink on defeated enemies, and they are actually weaker than before, making fights easier the next time.
Explore Every Nook and Cranny
Exploring limbo can be perplexing and dangerous. However, in order to advance in the game, you must explore every nook and cranny of each limbo you visit. By pressing the pause button, you can use the map to show where you need to go or see places you haven’t been able to visit.
It’s also important to explore because you might find important items that help advance the plot or fight enemies to get their ink for upgrades. This means there may be a lot of backtracking in order to fully explore the limbo. As previously stated, you can simply pause, open the anchor option, and fast-travel to another location.
Exploring is enjoyable and necessary for completing the story.
Related: The Last Case Of Benedict Fox – Abilities and Upgrades
Keep Upgrading Your Items and Demon
Key items found while exploring the limbo which will serve as the catalyst for upgrading your weapons. It is also required to repair some puzzle items in order to progress in the story, so make sure to visit the weaponsmith once you unlock him.
When it comes to upgrading your demon, fighting enemies for ink is almost mandatory because there are key skills that you need to advance in the game. One example is the triple jump, which you can obtain after upgrading for a few tiers. This allows you to explore areas that you couldn’t before.
Upgrades are also relatively inexpensive, so once you reach a hundred ink, you can return to the tattooist for better demon skills.
Read Your Notes and Examine Items
The core gameplay of The Last Case of Benedict Fox is puzzle solving, which requires you to take notes or be observant in order to solve puzzles. Some of the puzzles can be challenging, especially at first, but once you get into the groove, you can easily solve the majority of them.
Items found in limbo can be examined, and it can sometimes help you learn more about the lore or expand key items for further use, which can help you solve puzzles.
Notes are useful for going back and reading previous dialogues, seeing symbols for solving puzzles, and other things. It aids in-game progression because if you get lost, you can read your notes or quest lines to figure out where you need to go.
Change the Difficulty to Your Liking
Finally, if you’re having trouble progressing in the game, I strongly advise you to lower the difficulty.
Combat, Puzzles, and Exploration all have different difficulty settings.
Combat can be set to “Relaxing” or “Challenging”. The former will reduce combat difficulty, and if you don’t want the combat system, you can actually make yourself immortal. Challenging, on the other hand, will make fights more difficult, and you can even go a step further by making enemies one hit you.
When it comes to puzzles, the other option is to simply put it in “Not Interested in Solving Puzzles,” which is useful if you are stuck or do not want to deal with puzzles any longer. However, I would not recommend it unless it frustrates you, as one of the game’s charms is its puzzles.
Finally, there are two options for exploration: “I Hate Exploring” and “I Love Exploring.” The former displays more legends on the map, which aids you in your exploration of the limbo. The latter, on the other hand, will eliminate the majority of the legends.
These options are not fixed and can be changed at any time.
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
The Last Case of Benedict Fox is a fascinating Metroidvania game that combines platforming, combat, and puzzles. The art style is charming and the puzzles are engaging enough to keep you going. Difficulty can also be changed as you play the game, especially if you get stuck, so there is definitely accessibility for all players out there.
The Last Case of Benedict Fox is out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC – Steam.
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