Note: A Chinese version of this game has not been announced yet. The character names and terms mentioned in this article are provisional translations for reference only.
To put it plainly, DECA POLICE is the LEVEL-5 game I've anticipated most in recent years. I was captivated by it at first sight when it was first announced in 2023. There wasn't any particular reason for this; I can hardly pinpoint what exactly appealed to me. Perhaps it was simply the art style, as official information regarding the game's genre and mechanics was quite limited at that time.
Since then, DECA POLICE entered a prolonged period of infrequent updates. Not only was the release date repeatedly delayed, but new information became scarce, causing discussion around the game to gradually fade over time, nearly reaching the point of being forgotten.
Fortunately, the wait has finally paid off. During Tokyo Game Show 2026, LEVEL-5 presented a wealth of new information and fresh demo content for DECA POLICE—and I certainly didn't miss this opportunity.
DECA POLICE is categorized as a "Crime Mystery RPG." In this demo, the game provides a relatively complete investigative process, including understanding the case, finding clues, organizing information, drawing conclusions, and apprehending the culprit.
First, it's important to note that the game features a unique system called "DECASIM," which allows the protagonist and their team to enter a virtual world to aid in investigations. However, due to anomalies within DECASIM, both the protagonists and other NPCs appear in doll form rather than their original human appearances.
In this demo, players experience a case involving a drone murder. Within "DECASIM," players can investigate the crime scene and interact with NPC characters, who also appear in doll form. Scanning illuminates interactive elements in the environment, making information gathering for the case relatively straightforward.
It's worth noting that some NPCs do not readily provide information. In such cases, players must utilize the unique conversation skills of their squad members to obtain relevant details.
Although DECA POLICE features cute character designs, this does not mean the case styles lean towards lighthearted or cheerful themes.
While searching the crime scene room, the floor is covered in green viscous liquid and doll parts. Given the DECASIM setting, it's easy to understand that these represent the victim's blood and severed limbs. If investigated in the real world, the scene would likely be quite horrifying. Thus, the DECASIM setting not only makes the art style more appealing but also serves as a buffer for the graphic nature of the cases—in other words, the full release might feature even more intense and mature cases.
As the investigation progresses, players accumulate more intelligence. At this point, the game enters an information organization phase, where players must open the event board and connect characters, evidence, and testimonies based on their relationships.
The event board isn't just a place to dump all acquired information; players must judge the connections between different pieces of data and link them together. For instance, determining which character a testimony corresponds to, or what a piece of evidence proves, requires player judgment. Some information even requires secondary analysis to obtain further details before it can be added to the event board.
After compiling the intelligence, the protagonist makes judgments on several key facts of the case. Players simply need to confirm yes or no; selecting all correct answers completes the deduction.
Completing these steps leads to the final culprit revelation segment. Successfully identifying the true culprit ends the exploration within DECASIM. However, strangely, perhaps due to it being a demo, there were no penalties for combining unrelated information or accusing the wrong suspect during the information organization, fact judgment, and culprit revelation phases. All stages could be progressed through brute force. Furthermore, even after multiple incorrect deductions, the game provided no hints, which somewhat negatively impacted the deduction experience.
After revealing the true culprit, players return to the real world to confront the suspect, entering the game's combat phase.
DECA POLICE features a novel combat system. Unlike traditional turn-based battles focused on defeating opponents, this game's combat revolves around "Emotions." Lore-wise, using pure force to suppress suspects would cause various troubles and even affect the police's credibility among citizens. Therefore, combat requires flexibly maneuvering around criminals and calmly completing arrests.
Specifically, enemies have various real-time fluctuating "Emotion" values in addition to their HP. Attacking in different ways causes these "Emotion" values to change. Once emotions shift, the enemy's attributes and behavior logic also change.
Once certain "Emotion" values accumulate to a specific threshold, enemies enter the "ZONE" state. In this state, their emotions become extremely unstable, allowing players to inflict significant damage not through skills, but by engaging in verbal negotiations to further shake their resolve. This cycle forms the core of DECA POLICE's combat system.
After completing the battle and viewing a short cutscene, the demo concludes. According to the story, this case was merely a trivial incident, with the perpetrator being a minor figure controlled by a mastermind. The world built by DECA POLICE may be far larger than I initially imagined.
DECA POLICE is currently scheduled for release in 2027. Although the demo's content volume wasn't extensive, it showcased a complete gameplay loop, and the mechanics are certainly innovative.
After several years, LEVEL-5 has finally released a substantial amount of new information. Let's hope they don't make players wait too long this time.