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Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing News

Land in sight: We'll release Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing on 07.04.2025!

Moin!

Some things always remain exciting as an indie studio: We're finally announcing the release date for Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing AND publishing a completely new demo today! With two hours of playtime you can play the first quest of the main game and get to know (almost) all gameplay mechanics - and of course the story.

We would be very happy if you played it and left us a review. We can fix and improve everything you report until the release on April 7, 2025. Thank you!

Tonight, Flom and Corviskiddo will be playing the demo on Twitch. We will watch the streams together on our Discord server from around 18:00 CET and mingle in the stream chat - you are very welcome to join us!


[h2]What's new in The Ebbing?[/h2]

In the tradition of other detective games, you will now find exciting number, picture, search and combination puzzles to crack in The Ebbing. The first puzzles can already be played in the demo.

The first part, A Bavarian Tale, was already mysterious, dark and sometimes bloody. In The Ebbing, a whole mystery storyline awaits the main character Valentin Schmidt, complete with creepy moor and nameless horror. We have completely overhauled the stealth mechanics for this.

Apart from that, we've kept the tried and tested features from its predecessor: Exciting dialog, weird and funny situations with quirky NPCs, a branching, complex plot with different endings, a voice and text output in (Northern) German and English as well as a strong historical reference to the 19th century, which significantly influences the setting of the plot.

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]

Explore the open world: Move freely around a coastal town in 1870 and search for clues.

Lead exciting dialogues: Use the dialogue mechanic to question the residents, gather compelling information and find out who is hiding something.

Start a confrontation:
Question the suspects and catch the perpetrators

Search for clues: Use your detective sense to find hidden evidence.

Crack exciting puzzles:
Use hidden clues and, above all, your wits to find important information.

Evade detection: Slip into forbidden areas and survive the dangers of the moor – getting caught is not an option!

Pass the skill checks: Use your abilities in classic pen and paper skill checks (dice rolls).

Level up: Develop your character and decide which skills you want to improve.

Craft useful items: Gather resources and build items and consumables to improve your skills.

Make difficult decisions: Your actions affect the course of the story. Decide for yourself how you want to succeed: Through charisma, diplomacy, ... the mission is clear: crack the case!

[h2]Story[/h2]

In detective-RPG Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing, you untangle a thick web of intrigues, lies, and secrets that surround a mysterious death. Find the origin of eerie telegraph signals, question the villagers, decipher the strange symbols that are suddenly appearing all over town - and hide from the danger lurking in the moor.

The sudden death of Bente Hansen shakes the picturesque seaside town of Havstedt. The townspeople are in turmoil: Who murdered him? What is the story behind the mysterious symbols in the town and - is there really a brutal beast lurking in the moor?

Uncover the truth behind the sea of lies and reveal the dark secrets of the inhabitants of Havstedt - without being targeted yourself.

Get the character handbook ‘The Residents of Havstedt’!

Moin moin, you landlubbers!

Happy New Year - off to a good start, because we've landed a shipload of presents for you! If you sign up for our regular bottle mail at this link, you'll receive three treasures from Havstedt:

Free character handbook - With space for all your secret notes! So you can keep track of even the craziest Havstedt intrigues.

Historical facts - We take you into the exciting world of the 19th century and give you historical context to the fates of our NPCs.

Extremely accurate personality test - Find out which of the three NPC archetypes you correspond to. Are you an overly-correct general, a completely over-educated scholar or a clueless juggler?

... what are you waiting for, sailors? Subscribe, but quickly!

Your Active Fungus crew

We're taking our demo offline!

Moin moin, dear community!

On December 6, 2024, we’ll be taking our current demo offline. If you’ve already installed it, it will remain in your library. If not, NOW is the time to grab it before it’s gone.

[h3]Wait, why are you taking the demo offline?[/h3]

As you might have noticed, we’re deep into the hot development phase of Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing. This also means we’re thinking about our release date and the marketing activities ahead. To ensure our game reaches as many people as possible, we want to take full advantage of the tools Steam offers. One of these involves the demo — but we don’t want to spoil anything, so we’ll keep our cards close to our chest for now.

If you’d like to stay updated on The Ebbing, we’d love for you to join our Discord server or subscribe to our newsletter! Of course, we’ll also continue to post updates here on Steam when there’s news to share.

Until next time!

The Active Fungus Team

Beta testers wanted for Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing!

Hello, dear hardcore detective gamers!

We are nearly finished with the story and with most of the gameplay mechanics - and now we’re looking for people who would like to test it all. Meticulously.

We are especially interested in testers who have played a lot of detective games. You know the genre well, you know what excites and frustrates you and you have an opinion on games and always wanted to share it with people making them? Then you're hired!

If you want to help, we’d love you to sign up for the Beta: https://activefungus-studios.de/afs-beta-sign-up/

Feature Request: What would you like to see in Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing?

Hello, dear community!

Today, we are reaching out to you because we need your support. We are slowly entering the final phase of development for ⚓ Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing⚓. To ensure we deliver a game that you'll be truly excited to play, we’d love to know from you:

In which detective games did you feel particularly engaged? What contributed to that feeling?
Are there any game mechanics or features that frustrated you in other detective games? How would you improve them?

What do you feel is currently missing in the demo? Was there anything you missed in A Bavarian Tale?
Are there features from other games that you would like to see in ours?

Are there any games that come to mind when you think of an Inspector Schmidt game? What are the similarities or differences?

We would greatly appreciate your input – your feedback could influence our game development over the next few months. Leave us a comment or contact us on Discord!

⚓ Thank you so much! ⚓