What would you do if you came home one day and discovered your parents were simply gone? For 17-year-old Hope Song, waiting for someone else to find the answers isn’t an option. She picks up her sketchbook and becomes the investigator herself in Hope in the City, a narrative mystery game from Toronto-based developer Lofty Sky Entertainment.
The studio has released a demo for Hope in the City as part of the Choice Matters Festival hosted by Telltale on August 10. The game has also been selected for the official Busan Indie Connect Festival in South Korea.
Created by the team behind the 2026 GDC Best in Play winner Sky of Tides and Annie Award-nominated Eternal Spring, Hope in the City puts players in the role of a teenager forced to deal with a personal crisis far beyond her years.
After returning home to discover that her parents have disappeared, Hope refuses to sit around waiting for answers. Instead, she begins investigating their disappearance herself, documenting clues and observations in her notebook as she searches for connections.
Her investigation takes her through the streets of Shenyang, China, a city presented through a colorful, stylized visual identity that contrasts its beauty with the darker secrets hiding beneath the surface. What initially appears to be a calm and familiar environment gradually becomes something much more complicated as Hope uncovers clues surrounding her parents’ disappearance.
The heart of the investigation revolves around Hope’s sketchbook. Players collect clues, record observations, and use sketches to organize what they discover. Those individual observations can then be transformed into thoughts and insights, eventually allowing players to connect them into breakthroughs that push the investigation forward.
The game’s case structure also gives players control over how they pursue the mystery. Leads can be investigated in different orders, allowing players to decide which threads to follow as they attempt to piece together what happened to Hope’s parents.
Exploration plays an equally important role. Rather than simply moving from one investigation scene to another, players will explore Shenyang and search its streets for clues and secrets that may not be immediately obvious. The colorful visual style creates a striking contrast with the increasingly serious nature of Hope’s investigation.
As players make progress, custom cutscenes are triggered by their discoveries, directly connecting the investigation mechanics to the game’s narrative. Each breakthrough brings Hope closer to understanding what happened while revealing more of the story surrounding the city and the people within it.
With its combination of sketchbook-based investigation, exploration, player-driven case progression, and an emotionally focused story, Hope in the City aims to make solving the mystery feel like a personal journey rather than simply checking off clues on a list.
The Hope in the City demo is available as part of the Choice Matters Festival, giving players an early opportunity to step into Hope’s investigation and begin uncovering the secrets surrounding her missing parents.