Case Files: Mystery 1 drawn as a notebook graph

About this game

Developer: KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. · Publisher: KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. · Platform: PC (Steam) · Art style: Cel-shaded & anime · Screen type: Focus / Tech Trees

More The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother screens in the Gallery

What to study

The investigation half of the game gets a board that works like a detective's notebook because it is one: each mystery is a page where clues (magnifier tiles) and people (silhouette tiles) are linked by drawn lines into portrait medallions and scene photographs, so the player's theory is a visible, rearrangeable object. The red Review seal at the foot of the graph is the telling detail, tidying the board is a named verb in the system, the moment scattered facts become a case. It borrows the shape of a tech tree and turns it into an argument: nodes are evidence, edges are reasoning. The announcement trailer's 'Investigate' ribbon crosses the lower-left of the frame (disclosed, as with the compounding screens); the board itself is complete behind it. Frame at about 0:53 in the Announcement Trailer video (Steam), a pipeline scene-change survivor (candidates/v0_0024.png at 53.3s).

Patterns

How the screen is arranged.

map-nodes detail-panel diegetic-document

Components

Parts on screen.

Menu Photograph Chart Portrait

Screen inventory

• the case as a hand-drawn graph on notebook paper: columns of clue icons (magnifier tiles) and person icons linking rightward into circular portrait medallions, a worker, Maomao, and a photograph of the ruined estate, the lines converging like an argument
• top-left: CASE FILES and the case name as a file header, [MYSTERY 1] Investigate the Estate Attack; a teal seal at top-right stamps the mystery number in kanji
• a red Review seal (整理) anchors the bottom of the graph, organising the board is itself a step in the system; L2/R2 Switch Notebook hints the player keeps several of these
• the screen is a physical notebook page held over a blurred second board behind it, deduction presented as paperwork, not a menu

Top 3 colors

#3f3d39 24%#90978d 17%#181b1d 16%

Top three palette colors by share. The remaining colors make up the rest.

Source and credit

© KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD., The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother screenshot: The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother - Announcement Trailer video (Steam), shown for design study and commentary. PlayCraft is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD..

Source tier 2 (publisher-released) · screenshot: Steam store page · Steam page

Source details

Fetched 2026-10-21. verified 2026-10-21: pipeline scene-change frame (candidates/v0_0024.png, 53.3s) inspected visually at full resolution (1920x1080 native), settled notebook screen, node graph, portraits and header text sharp; the trailer's burned-in 'Investigate' ribbon at lower-left is disclosed in the study note

no published policy found (checked 2026-10-21); fair-use study use, takedown honored within 48h

Rights holders: see Copyright & takedown.