KGB 1992 detective game

KGB (1992, France)

Original title: Conspiracy: KGB

The year is 1991, the Soviet Union is in decline and as Captain Maksim Rukov, you are assigned to the Department P of KGB. Your first case involves suspected large-scale drug smuggling, so you start your investigation. Keep in mind that in Soviet Union everything in linked to the politics, so of course, you will have to thread lightly. Especially since it turns out that a former KGB agent, now working as a private investigator, was found dead. This puts an extra layer to the mystery.

KGB, created by French company Cryo Interactive, was, at the beginning, a typical point-and-click adventure, although set in the bleak reality of the Soviet Union. You start the investigation, you gather the first evidence, you talk to some people... and then you realize that you are not moving forward. You re-visit the same locations, talk to the same people, everything seems to be going round and round. And that is how you would discover a hidden mechanic in this title - the time.

Of course, the time was invented before, at the beginning of the time, but in KGB the mechanic works in a way that makes your whole assignment even tougher than it looked. The time moves forward even if you do not do anything, which is a first obstacle - you cannot just stop and wait, because the in-game time moves on. The second part of that mechanic is realistic, but a bit more annoying - some events take place in a certain time in a certain place, so you have to be there or miss that event. And if you miss some of the events, you will never solve the case.

KGB was an interesting title, not only because of the setting and the atmosphere, but also due to the unusual mechanics used. On the other hand, without using walkthroughs, it is extremely hard to actually finish the game.

Can you solve a case like this?

GIVE IT A TRY ❱