The Ratline

I came into The Ratline expecting a cozy detective experience and left with my brain pleasantly exhausted. Owlskip Games have built their reputation on tightly wound deduction puzzles, and here they dial that up to an international scale: 1971, a murdered priest, and a list that points to fugitives hidden by the titular Ratline network. If you like the slow-burn satisfaction of Golden Idol or The Roottrees are Dead, The Ratline hands you the same kind of cerebral candy but wrapped in noir jazz and archival dust. It’s equal parts methodical paperwork and thrilling revelations, and I loved the way it makes you feel like a proper sleuth—flaws and all.

Tracing Threads in Cold Paperwork

The Ratline’s core loop is gloriously analog: you read documents, zoom photos, flip through newspapers, and scribble mental connections until a face or a name clicks into place. You’ll spend hours cross-referencing rolodex entries, library archives, police reports and the odd photograph, and the game rewards patience — a tiny overlooked clue early on can blossom into a major breakthrough much later. Interaction is tactile: calling numbers, playing short radio clips, or using a listening device feels deliberate and satisfying, and the UI nudges you toward investigation rather than holding your hand. Cases are structured so you start with almost nothing and slowly assemble identities, aliases and travel routes; it’s a detective crossword that occasionally makes you swear in delight. I liked that you have to be proactive: you don’t get an obvious checklist, you manufacture the answers from evidence and intuition.

The Joy of Slow, Relentless Deduction

What sets The Ratline apart is how it weaves small, local clues into a global narrative about post-war justice. Cases loop back on themselves: solved files become resources for future leads, and a detail from Buenos Aires might unlock a Paris office or a Rio contact. The game nudges you toward creative methods of verification — calling a company to confirm an employee, triangulating travel manifests, or noticing the right insignia in a blurry photo — and those real-world investigative beats make every ‘aha’ moment taste more earned. There’s also a layered hint system so you can check an uncertain deduction without losing the thrill of discovery, which makes the difficulty feel fair rather than punishing. Storywise, the stakes — hunting Nazi fugitives hidden by the Ratline network — give your detective work weight and moral texture, which turns routine paperwork into a meaningful hunt.

Ink, Jazz and Retro Screens

Visually the game leans into a warm, stylized aesthetic that fits the era: grainy photos, typewritten reports, and spare, evocative character portraits. The soundtrack — a selection of jazz and period-appropriate tunes on an in-game radio — is quietly charming (and yes, the dog snores and that snoring even has its own volume slider, which delighted me). Performance on Windows and Mac is solid, but note the devs’ warning: it’s not optimized for Steam Deck, so mouse and keyboard are recommended for the best experience. The UI can get crowded when you hoard evidence — a small gripe that sometimes made me rearrange windows mid-case — but accessibility options and the clean iconography keep things usable. All told, the presentation leans into tactile realism and noir mood rather than flashy visuals, and that tonal choice pays off in atmosphere.

The Ratline is a mature, careful detective game that rewards patience and rewards thinking like a human investigator rather than a checklist machine. It’s best for players who enjoy slow-burn mysteries, tactile evidence work, and moral stakes that linger after the credits. If you’re a fan of deduction-heavy indie titles, this one is a must-play — just don’t expect a quick pick-up on a handheld.