Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division ▶ Trailer
Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division screenshot 1Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division screenshot 2
IndieProgrammingPuzzleEducationLogicDetective

21 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 49

Peak in the last 7 days: 75

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division Steam store

Game description

Solve criminal cases through the power of SQL queries! Help out the city of Los Zorangeles by becoming a Database Detective in this new (unpaid) work from home opportunity.

Basic info

DeveloperThomas Hsu
PublisherThomas Hsu
PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateJul 17, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10
ProcessorAnything from the past 20 years
Memory4 GB
GraphicsYes
Storage2 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 400 reviews from the past 1 year

90.8/ 100
Top 10%

Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (97%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 16, 2026)

Real SQL queries solve the cases in Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division, and 156 reviews enjoy it enough to keep playing after work; it scores 90.8, top 10% of games we analyzed.

👍 Strengths

Gameplay appears in 85% of analyzed reviews and ranks 92nd of 1396. 156 reviews say they enjoy it, and the most upvoted wants to play outside work hours and praises an excellent manual. 54 describe a tutorial that guides SQL beginners through practical scenarios, and 44 enjoy clever dialogue and writing. Others say coding constraints make the puzzles a genuine challenge, and some love the moment a final query returns exactly one answer. Story & World ranks 212th of 1096, and Visuals & Sound ranks 432nd of 1249.

👎 Where it falls short

40 reviews find the guided tasks too restrictive, the most upvoted unable to rename a column. 31 say difficulty rises sharply in later cases with tedious deduction, and 13 find the window controls frustrating as the game goes on. Others want more cases, and a few say too much time goes to searching websites instead of writing queries. Content Volume ranks 399th of 1351, and Pricing & Fairness ranks 284th of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“makes me want to play outside of work time, excellent manual” · 156 reviews
“excellent tutorial hand-holds SQL beginners through engaging practical scenarios” · 54 reviews
“clever dialogue and engaging writing” · 44 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 85% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Onboarding +2.54 · How easy it is to learn — tutorials and the first hours
Positive “excellent tutorial hand-holds SQL beginners through engaging practical scenarios” · 54 reviews
Negative “couldn't rename a column, felt restricted” · 40 reviews

Progression 8% · Difficulty 39% · Freedom 2% · Strategy 29% · Controls & feel 6%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 46% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Story +3.58 · Plot, quests, writing, and the ending
Positive “clever dialogue and engaging writing” · 44 reviews

Characters 3% · World 21%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 16% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +1.20 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “sheer amount of content packed into this game is impressive” · 2 reviews
Negative “not enough cases to experience” · 12 reviews

Variety 6% · Replayability 1%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 22% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.43 · Graphics, art style, and animation

Audio 13%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 2% of reviews mention this.

Playing together +4.40 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 2% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.05 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 0% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 6% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support +0.05 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Positive “post-launch support with helpful quality-of-life changes” · 2 reviews
Negative “missing CTE feature requested by player” · 1 review

Stability 2% · Performance 1%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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