I’m going for a mix of both. Environmental details will slowly reveal clues, while dialogue will make players question what they’ve already seen. I want the suspense to build naturally, with small details that make more sense on a second playthrough.
The environment drops the first clues, the dialogue makes you second-guess what you just saw, and then a second playthrough ties all the details together—that kind of suspense hits the spot haha.
While we're at it, would you be up for trying a quick, free web demo of ISECAI? I'm helping test an AI anime academy RPG driven by free-text input, and I'd love to get your gut reaction to the character responses and narrative clues. If you're interested, I'll drop the link and a personal invite code right here for you. 🎮