NOTE 1: You don't need to read the whole thing. Just the first paragraphs to get the basic, necessary info. The rest is just a longer explanation.

NOTE 2: English is not my mother language. But I did try my best to sound clear.

NOTE 3: Needless to say, this will contain heavy spoilers.

So, I see that, to this day, some people still struggle to get all the achievements. The hardest seeing to be how to catch the killer. Stick with me and I will help you.

This game is actually easier than the previous title ("The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker") from the same Davekki Studio, in the sense that only 3 characters could potentially be guilty. I don't know if more were initially considered, but ended up being scrapped. You can, however, (wrongly) detain several more characters in the police station by having Chief Dupont arrest them.

The 3 possible correct choices involve Zak, Violet and Rayne.

Are you desperate to have the culprit determined in the first minutes? Then do follow these easy 10 steps:

Actually, only four steps, because the game forces you to do the first six in order.

1-Watch (or skip, assuming you played it already) the intro.
2-Have your first (mandatory) conversation with Violet at her guesthouse.
3-Have your first (mandatory) conversation with Bronwyn as you try to go to your room.
4-Have your first (mandatory) visit to your room. The game still prohibits you from turning into other characters. Leave the guesthouse by taking a cab
5-Have your first (mandatory) conversation with Chief Dupont.
6-Head back to the guesthouse.
7-Visit Lexie and have your first conversation with her.
8-Now, go back to your room, and transform into Lexie.
9-Posing as Lexie, pay a visit to Rayne in his room.
10-Now, here comes the very important part that you need to pay attention to.

If Rayne is innocent, as soon as Lexie arrives, she will have questions available to ask him. If he is guilty, Lexie will only have the option to walk out of the room. No questions available. THERE! YOU'VE DONE IT! FINE JOB!

From now on, it is up to you. Including if you want to continue reading this guide or not. There are other details you may find interesting.

If Rayne is the murderer, and you are happy with that, just keep playing the game, and remember to lock him up when Dupont grants you the choice to make an arrest. You still need to be careful if you want the best possible outcome by doing things like guarding Ellis correctly, and not denouncing yourself as a shapeshifter in front of others. But when it comes to determining who is guilty, you got that covered.

And that's it. You can relax, have fun, concern yourself with other decisions, without worrying about spotting the killer. Technically speaking, this is not a cheat, but it is a cheap way to exploit the mechanics of the game. Enjoy your easy platinum trophy!

If Rayne is not the murderer, you have two options:

I-Reset the game. Exit it, then start the story again. Replay the initial segments again. And again, and again, till you get him as the murderer. You always have around a 33,33% chance of Rayne being guilty. Come on, 1 in 3 is not so hard. After ensuring that it is him, it's a cakewalk. From then on, you are good to go. You can speedrun your way to victory if you want.

II-If Rayne is innocent, and you are okay with it, you can try to keep playing and apply reverse logic. You don't know for a fact who is guilty, but you can at least eliminate Rayne from the list of suspects.

As I mentioned, only 3 characters can be the culprit, and now, you are limited to just 2. If you want to guess, it is 50/50. But there are ways to determine the murderer.

By no means I am claiming that this is a definitive list of changes pertaining to the characters when they are guilty. But it is more than enough to determine who is and get your platinum achievement.

In the case of Rayne, he will be less cool than usual. When speaking with the other 2 tarot card readers who are his close friends (well, actually it's him talking to you, while you impersonate the 2 women), he will appear to be conflicted, deeply concerned, agitated, remorseful. He will also at some point mention that something is wrong with his hands.

In one section of the game, if you are posing as Rayne and ask Lexie to do a reading about you, she will be perplexed, because the cards are telling her that Rayne is not the same person from when they first met. I could be very mistaken, but I only remember getting this scene with Lexie in runs that featured Rayne as the killer. Thanks to user markornikov, this information has been disproved. This scene can also appear in runs with Violet as the killer, and deals with the fact that the "Rayne" in front of Lexie is in reality Sam.

Also, Rayne can inquire in one scene if it is possible that the victim had plans to marry Oscar. More on that later on.

In the case of Violet, if you played the game already, you know that she is always toxic and on the defensive. But if she is the culprit, she will be even more aggressive, menacing, bitter and distrustful. Pay attention to her level of hostility.

In the case of Zak, the easiest route is to do a process of elimination. If you can dismiss Rayne, and then dismiss Violet, then it has to be him.

The best sign to pay attention to is the "Hypothetical Bride living in the closet". Yes, the biggest clue is the wedding dress.

This element is first introduced by Oscar when you first speak to him as Sam. He will mention that he saw a wedding dress inside Dorotas closet when he was hiding inside it as they did their voyeur fantasy.

Chief Dupont (who is not entirely clueless after all) will take notice of it too and constantly remind you about the dress as something very unusual, that not many people would know of. Assuming that the killer had to be hidden inside the closet waiting for the moment to strike, he or she had the chance to see it while standing there. If only the incautious killer would happen to display familiarity with the dress when within earshot of an attentive detective such as you...

As the story progresses, you can question Munro - who is revealed as a very close and *intimate* (AHEM!) friend of Dorota - about the wedding dress. She will explain that it belonged to Dorotas mother, but that she (Dorota) decided to keep it, in case she ever ended up marrying someday.

So, aside from Sam, 3 characters are aware of the dress. 1-Oscar, the naive boyfriend. 2-Dupont, the not so smart and also not so dumb inspector in charge of the case. 3-Ellis Munro, the victim's friend (with more than a few benefits).

The game goes to great lengths to explain that these 3 characters have the best alibis, so you can safely rule them out. 1-Oscar was playing football in front of several witnesses. 2-Dupont was working at the police station, and security footage from multiple cameras will prove it. 3-Ellis Munro is clean too (at least as far as murders go). During the time of the murder, she was very far away from the scene of the crime, broadcasting a live newscast from the radio station.

Who else knows about the dress with no innocent or plausible explanation?

Zak will claim to have been inside of the closet while playing the voyeur fantasy.

Rayne, appearing to be shaken in one scene, if visited by his friends, will at some point raise the question about the possibility that Dorota may have been planning to marry Oscar. He is troubled by the vision of the dress when he was hidden in the closet prior to murdering the lady.

As the story progresses, it is possible to visit Violet while posing as Zak and vice-versa. You can learn a lot about their past while doing it. Very close to the endgame, if you visit Violet as Sam, she will mention that she has important news for Zak and wants to speak to him.

Posing as Zak once again and visiting her will result in a very strong verbal confrontation. She will mention that she followed Zak to Dorota's house. If you were already able to dismiss Rayne as a suspect, here comes the crucial part. During their exchange, an enraged Violet may or may not mention the wedding dress, wrongly assuming that Dorota was intending to marry Zak.

The only way for Violet to know of this is if she was the killer and was hidden in there. Otherwise, in case Violet never mentions the dress, by elimination you have only Zak as suspect.

So, in a nutshell: You can determine or rule out Rayne in chapter one. And then determine between Violet and Zak during their heated exchange, based on her knowing about the dress or not.

So there you have it. A very easy to follow guideline on how to always be able to determine the killer. If you're still here, I appreciate your patience and attention. Hope it wasn't too boring. Have a nice day, and enjoy this marvelous game, "The Shapeshifting Detective".

Please, remember to support the industry. That is the only way to keep it afloat. This is one interactive experience that can only have a happy ending should we, the public, as a whole, decide to make the right choice.

Purchase your games, legally. Spread the word to your friends about the many cool titles that have been released in the recent years.

Her Story; Telling Lies; Press X to Not Die; Simulacra; Morph Girl; The Dark Side of the Moon
; Late Shift; Five Dates; Contradiction; Jessika; Erica; I Saw Black Clouds; The Complex; The Bunker; She Sees Red; Internet Court; Night Book...

So many titles trying to keep the FMV style of videogames alive. It is a fun experience on our end, but it can be a struggling effort for them.

Interactive FMV deserves this chance of a renaissance. This is the genre (together with interactive novels) that works best as bridges between non-gamers who enjoy good stories, and gamers. And the required specs are humble.

If you know of a good game employing the FMV style, spread the word about it. Support the creators. Support the publishers.

And specially remember to support Davekki Studios if you like great games and/or fine storytelling done in unconventional ways. Dr. Dekker, Shapeshifting Detective, Dark Nights with Poe and Munro, and soon other projects, like Pocket Dreadfuls. So many cleverly conceived masterpieces. And hopefully, many more to come.

Support the creators of so many wonderful and unique experiences, in their past, current and future endeavors.

Make your best choice.