Mizen Tantei: The Protea Cases

About

Mizen Tantei: The Protea Cases is a visual novel where you play a timid agency employee using a crime-predicting app to stop crimes before they happen. Set in 2023 Shinjuku, the story follows Chiharu Izuki as she teams up with detectives to thwart assaults, thefts, and murders based on artificial intelligence forecasts. Gameplay mixes dialogue choices, clue gathering, and decision-making that affects relationships and case outcomes. The narrative balances procedural mystery with character-driven moments as Chiharu rebuilds her confidence through solving cases. The game stands out for its blend of police procedural pacing and emotional character arcs. With over 10 hours of story across multiple endings, player choices create ripple effects in both investigations and personal connections. Available on Switch and PC since 2022, it’s praised for its tight writing and relatable protagonist. While not graphically flashy, the focus on dialogue and consequence-driven storytelling draws in fans of narrative-driven mystery games.

Storyline

Shinjuku, 2023. The protagonist, Chiharu Izuki, lacks self-confidence due to the trauma of once being kidnapped, and spend her days unable to help anyone at all. One day, while searching for a missing person at her detective agency job, she comes cross the mysterious app “Protea.” It was a crime prediction artificial intelligence developed by the Metropolitan Police Department and currently being tested in the Shinjuku Ward. Guided by Protea’s predictions, Chihari encounters various incidents. She meets a detective who asks for her cooperation, a mysterious boy who for some reason appears at the scene of the crime, and others. Chiharu’s new life of cooperative work to prevent incidents before they occur has begun…!