“Staffer Case” – Every Case Ranked

“Staffer Case” is one of the most underrated detective games on Steam. It’s a story about magical crimes, and the gameplay involves finding contradictions between multiple documents. Even on a second playthrough I found the storytelling really impressive!

I want to rank all five cases in the game, but be warned – there will be SPOILERS ahead. It’s hard to talk about why I like these cases so much without delving in their big twists.

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

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Mistborn – Every Metal Ranked

EVERY Game I Played In 2024 – Ranked

Good

5 – Case 1 “Backstage”

The first case of “Staffer Case” is definitely its weakest. “Backstage” is a low stakes crime set in a cramped office, so it doesn’t exactly spark the imagination. How that crime is presented, however, is much more impressive.

A circus ringleader is killed at Trump Tower (yes, that name made me groan too) and it serves as a simple yet intriguing tutorial. I liked how the obvious solution would have been ice boxes leaving impressions on the carpet, but actually it was an invisible box. A clever subversion.

This opening case didn’t wow me, but it was surprisingly solid. The fact this is the “worst” case is a testament to the writing’s consistency.

4 – Case 2 “Pet Shop”

“Pet Shop” could’ve been a fantastic murder mystery case … if it wasn’t for the glaringly obvious twist taking me out of it.

It takes place in a “creecher” breeding facility – a place where magical animals are kept and, as it turns out, experimented on. The ending in particular where the cast realised how deranged this facility’s practices were is the clear highlight – their anger and disgust is palpable.

The major problem holding this case back is how it frames the big twist. One of the staffer employees has the power to “command mammals” … so if you paid attention in biology class, you’ll know that means humans as well. The writers play off this human-control twist as if it’s a huge deal, and it ends up falling hilariously flat.

Great

3 – Case 3 “The Wizard’s Room”

In “The Wizard’s Room”, Note and the gang investigate a staff collector’s death – he was sliced vertically in half somehow, and one of the staff in his shed is to blame. Already we’re off to a flying start.

I’m a sucker for any sort of magical categorization, so it was a lot of fun piecing together how the staff worked and what their trigger conditions were. This also leads to an excellent twist about the fourth, secret staff at the scene.

For context, I replayed this game after playing “Staffer Retro” … and I completely forgot that Zad Vering played a role in this case. Out of all the characters to bring back for the sequel, I can’t believe the writers chose her.

2 – Case 5 “Beyond”

The first thing that “Beyond”, the finale chapter, does brilliantly is how it shows the consequences of the player’s actions. All of the previous four cases have led to huge changes in this world, and it was fascinating to see Note having an existential crisis because of it.

The other things I love about this final case is its beginning and middle. The premise of the Chief’s murder is a great one, as that means anyone in the Pheno-mana Bureau could be the culprit (they all threatened to kill him multiple times, after all). It’s fun to clear them one by one and “unlock” their investigative aids.

I also really liked how they tied this case to the flashbacks. It’s quite upsetting and shocking to see this up-and-coming detective find out the truth of this world and then end his own life because of it … and it muddies the waters for the present day case nicely.

The ending, however … I’m a bit mixed on it. I won’t spoil who the culprit is for those who haven’t played it (even though I’ve warned of spoilers multiple times now) but it felt a bit cheap. I guess I wanted the case to evolve beyond the Chief’s office and implicate the rest of the Bureau, which it never did.

The case, and the game, ends with lots of teasing about “Project Tetrapod”. Good for sequel baiting, bad for actually tying off this first game in a satisfying way. Oh well. At least the first 75% of this case was excellent.

Amazing

1 – Case 4 “Mistletoe”

Across the story you’ll come across staffers with various “threat levels”, ranging from Unarmed to Estienne – the latter meaning the staffer’s power is equivalent to a tank. But what if there was a threat level above Estienne? How would this world cope with such destructive abilities?

We get the disturbing answer to that question in “Mistletoe”. It takes place in an “Oppenheimer” containment facility beneath the Bureau, and Note and the gang have to solve the murder of an unkillable staffer. This premise is already golden, but the writers take that setup and run with it.

The suspects are a woman who can influence minds, a man who can jump through time and a boy who can rewrite the world itself … so yeah. Note really has his work cut out for him.

Like “Beyond” I won’t spoil the ending for those who haven’t played the game yet (go and play it, for goodness sake!), but it has one of the greatest, most mind-bending twists I’ve ever experienced in a Detective game. If that doesn’t encourage you to play “Staffer Case” I don’t know what will.

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