Frequently Asked Questions

The Palladian Society is a detective game — one that runs entirely in your browser. You are given a real case: a crime scene to explore, suspects to study, evidence to examine. Your job is to investigate, form a theory, and defend your conclusion.

No controllers. No action sequences. No hand-holding. Just the evidence and your reasoning.

No. Most of our investigators are not. Palladian is built for people who love mysteries, true crime, and detective fiction — not people with gaming backgrounds.

If you have ever finished a thriller and wished you could solve it yourself, that is exactly who this is for. The interface is a case file, not a controller.

A case follows four phases:

• I.Investigate — Walk through a 3D crime scene, examine evidence, watch suspect video monologues, receive timed forensic results.
• II.Organise — Review the observations the case has logged for you. Identify contradictions. Build your hypothesis.
• III.Decide — Select the evidence that supports your accusation, evaluated across five dimensions: Opportunity, Motive, Means, Alibi, and Credibility.
• IV.Conclude — Name the person responsible. Then defend your reasoning in a live interrogation with an AI panel.

At the conclusion of each case, you face a panel that questions your reasoning. Not “is your answer correct?” — but “what proves this claim?” and “how do you account for this contradiction?”

You named a suspect. Now defend it. The interrogation evaluates the quality of your reasoning, not just the answer you chose.

Case #001. A 67-year-old literary translator dies in her locked study in rural Finland. The police call it heart failure. Her brother disagrees — because a manuscript found in the study mirrors the family's darkest secrets, and no one will say who wrote it.

Five suspects. Eight rooms. Over two hundred and fifty pieces of evidence. The flagship Palladian case, currently in final preparation for pilot investigators.

Most investigators spend about two to four hours on Inheritance of Silence. There is no time limit.

Cases can be paused and returned to at any point. Some finish in one long sitting; others return over multiple sessions before submitting a final conclusion.

Both work. Palladian is designed to be satisfying as a solo investigation. It also supports multiplayer — same-room or remote — with a recap system that lets a second investigator join and review the case from their own perspective.

Many investigators report that debating theories with someone else is where the experience becomes memorable.

Yes. Case files can be exported and printed — evidence reports, suspect dossiers, scene photographs. Many investigators prefer to spread physical documents across a table while exploring the digital scene. Both work together.

Before public launch, a limited group of investigators will receive early access to Inheritance of Silence. The pilot is free. It lets us gather feedback, observe how real investigators approach the case, and refine the experience before opening the archive to everyone.

Pilot investigators receive access before the public, at no cost, and contribute directly to how the final experience is shaped.

When the case is ready. We will not release before it is. Investigators on the waitlist will receive notification before any public announcement — typically a week or more in advance.

Request access via the waitlist. There is no obligation and no payment required to join. When the pilot opens, waitlisted investigators will receive an invitation by email.

Any modern browser, on any device. No download, no app store, no console required. The investigation interface is best experienced on a laptop or desktop screen.

A dedicated mobile reading mode is in development for investigators who prefer to work from a phone or tablet.

The pilot programme is free. Cases after the pilot will be available individually or by subscription. Pricing will be confirmed ahead of public launch. Pilot investigators receive advance notice and early-access terms.