How to Solve a Homicide Desk Case
Accept the assignment, work every app on the desktop, and only then open Arrest Warrant.
A homicide on this desk is a loop, not a quest log. Shu’la Lab shipped Homicide Desk as a Windows-only, single-player Steam game on September 1, 2026. Nobody highlights the next clue. You accept a file, you work the desktop, and you either close it clean or Internal Affairs starts writing about you. Use this page as the order of operations. Keep Case #001, The Overtime, spoiler-safe: you may know the scene, not the charge.
Accept the assignment and read the file first
Clock in. Check Email before you touch the lab. Captain Morrison and mid-case pressure mail set the clock; the Gazette will print a version of events whether you are ready or not. Open Case Files and treat nested folders as the job. Write names, times, and object IDs in the Notebook so you are not reconstructing the file during interrogation.
Training is the only file this wiki will close by name. Case #000, The Pawnshop Key, ends with Tommy Vale arrested, the Longines returned to Edwin Hollis, and Certification marked field-certified. Finish that robbery before you accept a homicide. It teaches you to present a document. It does not teach a murder charge.
When Case #001 lands, the known setup is this and only this: Vanta Systems HQ, Eastdock, Server Room B, 17 March 2024 at 21:47. The victim is Marcus Reeves, 41, a principal engineer. There is no forced entry. His sister Dana Reeves is in the file. There is a sealed strongbox. There is a voicemail about invoices and proof in his box. Stop there. Do not copy a warrant from a stream. Variants can change the guilty party if you reopen the case.
Lab, board, then talk — in that order
Open the Forensics Lab when the file gives you something you can actually operate: a fingerprint to align, a cipher to break, a chromatograph to calibrate against the clock. Drag the UV light across scene photos instead of staring at the JPEG. Flag CCTV timestamps. Cross-reference phone records with the world clock and weather on the taskbar. Hands-on lab work is covered in the forensics guide; this walkthrough only cares that you finish it before you start accusing people.
Then pin. The evidence board is where people, objects, and places become a theory you can defend. String a connection only when a document supports it. Use City Atlas for districts — Northloop, Eastdock, Westgate, Civic Quarter, Mayfair, Harrow Flats, Ravenport Quays, Dockside — not as a waypoint overlay. The case-chain tracker is how later files remember what this one proved.
Interrogation comes after the board has a shape. Type questions in your own words. Present the document that makes the question expensive for the suspect. Watch the stress meter. Push on nothing and they lawyer up. Offer a Break or Request Dossier only when salary can cover it; those buttons are not free hints. Sealed documents can unlock from a good exchange, so do not burn the interview on day one. Keep the Interrogation Planner beside the interrogation guide as a question list, not a script.
Write the deduction, then decide whether to charge
The game requires a written deduction before Arrest Warrant will take you seriously. That paragraph is the test: can you name the act, the person, and the exhibits without waving at the board? If a sentence only works because you “have a feeling,” you are not ready. Open Personnel File for the person you intend to name. Check Email for a mid-case twist. Then go to Charging and Internal Affairs.
A clean close pays salary and lets the precinct breathe: dispatch, commissary, optional Game Room blackjack with in-game currency. A dirty close opens Internal Affairs. There is no second player to catch a bad warrant. Cases 001 through 003 are the launch homicides after training; future files are promised and still demand this order. If the desktop is the problem, drop back to Getting Started and controls. If the Gazette or Store is eating the shift, use the precinct guide. The Walkthrough Hub is the spoiler fence; this page is the workflow inside it.
Dump the Notebook at the end of a session. Tomorrow you will not remember which Eastdock CCTV timestamp you flagged, and the local model will not remember it either. It only phrases replies. The case and the ending stay hand-written. The only brain that can close The Overtime is yours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers for detectives still on the clock.
What is the first thing I should open on a new homicide?
Email, then Case Files. Read nested folders and note times before you enter the lab or the interrogation room.
Should I interrogate before forensics?
No. Finish lab work, UV photos, CCTV timestamps, and phone records, then pin the board. Talking first burns stress on guesses.
Can this page tell me who to charge in The Overtime?
No. We describe Vanta Systems HQ, Server Room B, Dana Reeves, and the sealed strongbox. We never name who killed Marcus Reeves.
When is a written deduction required?
Before you file in Arrest Warrant. If you cannot cite exhibits in a paragraph, you are not ready to charge.
What do Offer a Break and Request Dossier cost?
Salary. They are paid actions, not free skips. Spend them when a suspect is close to lawyering up or a sealed file is blocking you.