Psychic Detective is an interactive movie video game released in 1995 for MS-DOS and converted to PlayStation and 3DO. It was written by Michael Kaplan and directed by John Sanborn.

The Story Behind Psychic Detective

Before long, Eric is embroiled in a conspiracy involving a powerful religious cult, spies, and family intrigue, and he also has to deal with his growing romantic attachment to Laina. Psychic Detective is an interactive movie video game released in 1995 for MS-DOS and converted to PlayStation and 3DO. It was written by Michael Kaplan and directed by John Sanborn.

Eric also has the ability to pick up objects and take a psychic reading of them, providing more clues to help solve the Pozok murder case. She trains Eric to "hitch hike" into people's minds. The individual segments were edited in Adobe Premiere and authored in a proprietary Electronic Arts software.

How Psychic Detective Plays

He sees what his subject sees, and hears what his subject hears; meanwhile, his body continues to interact with the world around him in an "automatic pilot-like" state. Psychic Detective is generally presented in first person (except during cut scenes), with icons appearing at intervals on the screen signifying people and objects Eric can interact with. The endgame portion of Psychic Detective breaks from the linear narrative and involves Eric playing a surreal board game against the villain.

One night, he is approached by the exotic Laina Pozok (Beata Pozniak), who senses that Eric is more powerful than he imagines. Occasional cut scenes timed to occur at certain points break the storyline into chapters, but which cut scene is viewed depends upon Eric's actions. The game begins when Eric enters the Pozok household, and is given the choice to remain in his body, or hitch hike aboard any one of a number of characters he encounters.

Why Players Still Load It Up

One night, he is approached by the exotic Laina Pozok (Beata Pozniak), who senses that Eric is more powerful than he imagines. He sees what his subject sees, and hears what his subject hears; meanwhile, his body continues to interact with the world around him in an "automatic pilot-like" state. Reviewing the PlayStation version in Maximum, David Hodgson complimented the uniqueness of the "more 'adult' storyline", but contended that full-motion video-based games are not worth playing regardless of gameplay or content.

Laina hires Eric to attend a wake being held in honor of her father, who has died under mysterious circumstances. They concluded "Instead of being like a good movie enhanced by interactivity, Psychic Detective is a more like a movie... clouded with interactive options that eventually detract from the project." GamePro gave the 3DO version a positive review, calling it "an entertaining interactive mystery game with an adult sensibility." They found the game an engaging challenge due to the need to be head-hopping in the right person at the right time and listen carefully to the complex dialogue, and praised the sharpness of the full-motion video graphics. GameSpot gave the PC version a 4.7, calling the game "innovative", but asserting that the overabundance of interaction and storyline branches turns the experience into a confusing mess.

Psychic Detective — Frequently Asked Questions