The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker (2018)
Directed by: Tim Cowles
Written by: Lynda Cowles, Tim Cowles
Starring: Aislinn De'ath, Bianca Beckles-Rose, Dom Lister, Helen Jenkinson, Helga Ragnars, Millin Thomas
D’Avekki Studios – Wales Interactive – Out Now on PC, Playstation 4 (version tested), Switch & Xbox One
Recently, the excellent Wales Interactive have been enjoying a lot of success with one of the latest themes that is touched upon in this game – Necromancy. Resurrecting the dead. And nothing was thought long dead and buried more than the FMV game. The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker, is the is the latest in a line games that were not too long ago, a relic of the Sega CD era. TIMODD sees you step into the role of the titular doctors successor, following his murder. As a psychiatrist, you must interact with your patients, not only trying to help them with their own issues, but try and figure who killed the doctor. The game is presented in acts, and each act tends to cover a couple of days worth of sessions with each patient. You can cycle between each patient, regardless of how far through the session you are with them, and whether you are in the middle of a conversation or not. There’s approximately six or seven patients each day, and depending who you’re talking with, can be quite interesting, or quite a chore.
The further you delve into the minds of your patients, the more sinister and shocking their lives seem to be. From voyeuristic grave diggers, to over entitled murderers, via promiscuous beach nymphs, there’s a rogues gallery of people on the doctors couch, all with seemingly dark experiences and thoughts. The patients and other characters are all played by actors of varying b-movie quality. Some are over the top with their theatricality, while others just about scrape by SyFy movie of the week standard. One particular character, Jaya who plays your assistant, can come across as the over acting annoying kid in the school play. However, the more you get to know her, the more endearing the personality. I guess…
Its visual style isn’t too bad, and once you get familiar with what’s going on, it’s pretty easy to navigate. There’s also the option to free type questions, but they have to be in relation to certain keywords, otherwise you just get a generic “what are you talking about” response. The overall presentation is pretty high quality, but for the most part it does feel like you’re watching a by the numbers BBC drama. The overall feel of the game is telling urban legends around a camp fire. And while it can be quite fun, with some occasionally effective editing, a lot of the characters do grate and become a little much to take. It’s probably one to maybe sit through around an hour at a time. Doctor Dekker may be infectious, and can cause mild irritation.
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