Detective Butler: Maiden Voyage Murder
Nice detective kinetic novel for one or two afternoons I guess (yeah, there are actually no choices at all) and one that is completely FREE at that. It’s full of overused tropes and it doesn’t take itself seriously at times but I certainly wouldn’t call it bad either as it leaves some food for the thought in the end, so it’s probably somewhere in between.
So yeah - it was enjoyable yet also flawed experience for me. Women characters here are mostly likeable and detailed but all man except captain and protagonist father would benefited from more developement. The pacing was actually pretty good but the mystery was maybe way too easy for me as I guessed the culprit and how everything happend right after the murder happened. Which is good and bad at the same time but thankfully the rest of the story was interesting to follow at least. But the main flaws were probably both main characters - detective Butler and main character (Golder’s son) unfortunately.
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Visual Novel Games.
Excellent! A free murder mystery visual novel. It’s apparently the first part of Misadventures of Detective Butler series. Originally released in 2013 and then got onto Steam in 2017 with some edits and improvements. I liked this a lot. Has a lot of personal moments and mystery itself is fairly interesting. Albeit I really would like to force detective to grow some beard first. You don’t get to choose anything in a game, which is shame, as I think they could at least test us with picking a suspect at the end of a game. But hey, at least it gives enough clues to solve it fairly before the murderer is revealed.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
Skattered Dream
This game is Great! It starts out pretty slow but after a few levels can get pretty hard. 10/10 would recommend. good game for the price! I love the little hats that you get after each level! It would be nice to be told when you get one though. That’s my only problem. Edit: The music is a little boring and gets old after a while. However, the mute button helps. ;)
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D 1990's Games.
Stars received: 0.3/10 _ Note: v.5 [0.0 to 1] = personal impressions
[0.1] Controls & Training & Help
[0] Menu & Settings
[0] Sound & Music
[0.1] Graphics
[0.1] Game Design
[0] Game Story
[0] Game Content
[0] Completion time (level/game)?
[0] is it Enjoyable & Fun?
[0] Could it hold a spot in Favorites? (& if the Game can be repeatedly played again)
[0] BONUS point: Multi-Player related
[0] BONUS point: Review for VR
[N] - if Registration is required with providing PII
Game description key-points: when a child learns how to paint
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Strange Horticulture
Find and identify new plants, pet your cat, speak to a coven, or join a cult. Use your growing collection to influence the story and unravel Undermere’s dark mysteries.
Welcome to Undermere, a quaint town surrounded by hag-infested forests and rugged mountains. You are the Horticulturist, owner of local plant store Strange Horticulture. As a cast of colorful customers come by your shop, you are quickly thrust into an occult mystery stretching back hundreds of years.
Explore the lands beyond your store to find new plants, but be careful! The dark woods and lakes are not always friendly to a simple herbalist. You might discover powers beyond your wildest dreams - or lose your mind completely. Use context clues to determine which places to visit, and which to avoid!
Using your trusty encyclopedia and clues found on your explorations, you learn more about the strange plants you come across. By identifying each plant, you will be able to use their effects to influence the story – from hypnotic hallucinogens to powerful poisons.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574580/Strange_Horticulture
Read More: Best 2D Investigation Games.
The Haunted House of Doom
Fantastic narrative and puzzles. Kind of the dark souls of horror games, you will die and struggle. Great speedrun category PB is 30 seconds flat
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
It is that time of the year again. Not even a full year after the last release, ‘The Amazing Shrinking Giraffe’, master-developer Paul Bird drops yet another AAA title to compete with the likes of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ for the GOTY Awards 2020. Altough the aforementioned Shrinking Giraffe was almost guaranteed to win, with the sudden release of ‘The Haunted House of Doom’, finally a real contestant has arrived.
We all know the roots of Paul Bird. He started not as the hero we want but the hero we so desperately needed, releasing well thought out educational content, teaching our kids how to race safely in this scary, dangerous world. This however, advanced to very complex sport programs rapidly, ultimately reaching the point of defending ourselves againt mighty aliens and defending the multiverse against gigantic flying dragons. I think the message the prophet is sending us now seems to be clearer than ever. The action taking place in present time is a sign, this game has to be the most important social criticism i have ever stumbled upon.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Apparitions: Kotsmine Hills
In the winter of 1929, the town of Kotsmine Hills was snowed in. A mysterious fire broke out and quickly spread through the town. Trapped between a wall of snow and a wall of fire, many people lost their lives. Since that day, those spirits have been restless and seek peace. Join The Peter Wren Paranormal Agency to investigate the town in Apparations – Kotsmine Hills, a ghostly Hidden Object game.
Use ghost hunting tools to find the clues
Challenging mini-games
Ghosts?
ESCAPE
Deep in the dark underground, countless weirdness coveted the world on the ground in secret.
Finally…One day, everything got out of control.
You will be in a uncontrollable research institution which called“收藏品”, and witness the site being disintegrated by 【Data Elimination】.
Seek a gleam of light desperately in the erosion of the darkness, leading you to a closer platform to the road less travelled by.
《ESCAPE》is a platform-adventure game of new weird style, which based on the SCP Foundation. You will approach the truth of each weird collection step by step through contact, exploration, collection, and puzzle solving. Restore the unknown experiments and analysis the asylum’s records. Survive from these supernatural objects by the known information, and even use them to help you escape.
GashiShachiNoSachi
It was really fun the only thing is i had to change my screen resolution but that was it, this game was amazing!
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
It’s a neat little adventure game with a strong Y2K internet aesthetic. The pages are fun to look at and the puzzles are all pretty intuitive. Had a fun time. It’s free so the length is in it’s favor as well. Good job!
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Gothic Murder: Adventure That Changes Destiny
DETECTIVE MAID TO THE RESCUE!
Absolutely adored playing this, it’s the right mix of murder mystery and tropey silliness. I had a ton of fun and am glad I picked this up on a whim.
We play Ellie, an orphan girl in the 1920s who has found a job as a live-in maid in a Victorian mansion, at night she dreams a vision of a terrible murder featuring the lord of the house and he’s far too pretty to die so she must save him somehow! With a shady cast of relatives and strangers showing up for discussion of the late master’s inheritance, who could be behind it?
– Real player with 23.9 hrs in game
A fun, short mystery visual novel i would easily recommend to anyone who likes mystery and/or otome games as a genre. Quite enjoyable and worth the price imo. Since the developers decided to release an english version of this game on steam, i hope they will also consider releasing the DLC content that hasn’t been translated yet. I would love to be able to read it and see more interactions between the characters.
The only criticism i have, regarding something that left me a bit dissatisfied, is that i find the romance a little lacking, and the branching paths a little meaningless, as the only difference between them was one short scene and the epilogue, which changed according to the character you choose to pursue. (especially disappointing for me because i left my favorite boy for last, so i was a bit bummed out to see there was very little interaction with him)
– Real player with 19.1 hrs in game
Legends of Murder Collection
This set of games from 1989 were ahead of their time, and are a delight to play now. Steam DOSBox integration has the games running smoothly with modern resolutions, with few adjustments needed. These games feel like a past retro version of RPG maker, and it’s uncanny how intuitive they are to play today. Highly recommend - just make sure you use the interact key everywhere, because characters and objects are often invisible.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
Misericorde: Volume One
The year is 1482.
The age of exploration and enlightenment is on the distant horizon and the Renaissance is in full swing across Europe; but in England, the War of the Roses is in its final throes. Change is coming, but in one little convent in the north of the kingdom, everyone has seemed blissfully unaware.
Everyone except Sister Catherine, a beloved nun and firebrand thinker who has just been murdered. In an isolated monastery with an already mysterious reputation, any one of the Sisters could be the killer—and Mother Superior is as stumped as anyone else. That’s where you come in.
As an Anchoress, you took an oath to never leave your cell; to devote yourself entirely to God and provide spiritual support to all who came to your door. But as the only Sister who couldn’t possibly have committed the crime, you have a new mission: solve the case, before the bishop shutters the convent and the killer goes unpunished.
The Superior hasn’t told everyone why you’ve suddenly joined the regular congregation, but something tells you most of these women know exactly what’s going on. Who can you trust? Who is being honest, and who has their guard up—and why? Is the convent really haunted? Who killed Sister Catherine? And worst of all… are you next?