After the Sandy Fabulous case, Baldie was promoted to patrolman, while hard-boiled detective Fedora Spade is still stuck at the special homicide unit. Another day, another hangover, until Daphne Marshall barges in, a transfer from the main department. She is assigned to help him with a new murder, but at the same time she is linked to someone in the Crimson April case, a memory Spade considers best left forgotten.

In the new case, Spade has to investigate the death of boxing champion Sting Likeabee, who died in a fight against the Russian Ivan Molotov. To the outside world, it is described as an unfortunate accident, but it is actually a cover-up because of the political tension between the Soviets and the US. Daphne works together with Spade for the entire game, but cannot be controlled.

Unlike the first game, which was more of a short introduction to the series, The Red Ring has longer gameplay. The game has a menu-driven interface, and now there are many more puzzles, characters, locations and clues. Progress is achieved by examining evidence and clues and then using them appropriately in conversations to lean on suspects. A small amount of the art, which consists entirely of still images, has been reused and most of it is entirely new. Spade can move between different locations using his car. The game also introduces a computer to search the police database for clues and covers two days in game time. Despite the serious theme, the characters have cheesy names and stereotypic personalities and behaviour, along with funny sound effects during the conversations.

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