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Investigation System
As an operative of the Northern Commandery, the protagonist does not just fight and sneak. He investigates. The game includes detective mechanics where the player gathers evidence, interrogates suspects, and uses deductive reasoning to solve cases.
Core Mechanics
Interrogation Questioning suspects and witnesses. How conversations are handled affects information gathered and can open or close branches in the investigation.
Observation Examining environments and crime scenes for physical evidence. The demo included a study/archive room (书房) with destructible account ledgers and scattered documents that could be examined during combat.
Deductive reasoning Piecing together evidence to identify culprits and uncover connections between events.
Precognition Using the protagonist's abilities to foresee possible outcomes, tying into the Heavenly Deduction system.
Heavenly Deduction Synergy
The Heavenly Deduction system creates unique dynamics with investigation. If one line of questioning reaches a dead end, the player can rewind and try a different approach while retaining knowledge from the first attempt. A suspect who reveals partial information in one timeline can be questioned differently in the next, using information they should not know yet. This makes investigation a process of accumulating knowledge across timelines rather than finding the single correct path.
Mission integration
Investigation provides alternative mission completion methods. A mission solvable through combat might also be resolved by finding the right evidence, identifying the real culprit, or leveraging information to avoid a fight.
Trailer-Demonstrated Flow
The January 2026 gameplay trailer worked through the deduction loop end to end. The protagonist enters a study with destructible account ledgers and scattered correspondence, picks up clues by examining specific props, and questions a witness whose response branches the conversation. When the deductive choice at the end of the scene proves wrong, the Heavenly Deduction rewind returns the player to the start of the investigation with all knowledge intact.
This pattern, gather then question then deduce then optionally rewind, is the spine that mission-design coverage has emphasized. The same Jan 2026 trailer is also the source for the demo's branching outcomes in the Deng Yang mission described under Choices and Endings, where success on the deductive choice unlocks options that combat alone cannot reach.
Tooling and UI Cues
Press demonstrations have surfaced a small set of recurring tools the player uses during investigations:
Examine prompts on environmental props (ledgers, letters, hidden cavities, bloodstains) that surface short item descriptions and add facts to the case ledger.
Dialogue branches that gate further questions behind specific evidence; revealing a forged seal, for example, opens a new line of accusation against a suspect.
Map and route markers generated from the case ledger, indicating where witnesses live or where surveillance points overlook the scene.
Stealth integration via the Stealth and Infiltration toolkit, allowing covert observation of suspects before the formal interrogation begins.
Relationship to Combat
Investigations are not separated from combat. The same study where ledgers are examined can become a combat space when guards arrive, with destructible furniture giving way under sword strikes. The Combat System interacts with the investigation layer in two directions: a fight may interrupt evidence gathering, and evidence gathering may produce intel that turns a planned fight into an Undercover Mechanic approach instead.
This dual track is what makes the Mission Structure feel less like a level select and more like a case file. Each mission has a combat solution and an evidence solution, and most have hybrids in between. The Faction System then weighs those choices, with the same case sometimes producing different consequences depending on which group benefits from the truth being made public.