The hidden game society
Wonderfull, I absolutly loved this, it’s just a shame that it is so short..
I loved the subtlety of the clues, the 3d rendering, the little touches that make it truly enjoyable..
Only downside is that it is too dark and very very short….
– Real player with 12.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Puzzle Games.
Pleasant Though Fast
A little bit of interesting history, art and great classical music. A few hours if you take your time. Beautiful Room. Very pleasant.
More than I expected for a couple of dollars.
Looking forward to more games from them.
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
Tangle Tower
What a charming little game Tangle Tower is!
I feel like describing it as a puzzle or detective game is too narrow, it’s definitely more of an adventure game with lots of dialogue and lots of clicking on everything you want to click on, without any cursor prompting you (I loved this, as well as the fact you get unique flavour text for pretty much every little detail you interact with). There is a lot of creative freedom at work here, and as an aside, this is a game that has massively improved upon literally every aspect from its predecessor (not mandatory to understand what goes on in Tangle Tower at all, but nice if you want to get more lore), Detective Grimoire.
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Funny Games.
While point-and-click adventures normally aren’t really my thing (with a few exceptions here and there), the accessible Tangle Tower managed to grab my attention almost immediately. Unfortunately it took me a while to actually start it. Tangle Tower mixes a murder story with some amazing graphics and good comedic moments.
As detective Grimoire and his assistant Sally you’re tasked to solve a weird murder. Along the way you’ll meet the people living and working in Tangle Tower and each one of them has their own agenda.
– Real player with 13.3 hrs in game
D.W. Dagger: Chapter One
A noir first-person murder mystery set in a gloomy 1947 Pacific Northwest city. Play as the renowned Detective D.W. Dagger to help solve his latest case. A violent murder, a possible suicide, and a handful of suspects.
Can you deduce what happened?
––
As the first case in the upcoming series, test your deductive reasoning skills to piece together the truth of a new violent crime.
Taking inspiration from video games like “Gone Home” and “What Remains of Edith Finch,” as well as the board game classic “Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective,” you follow the narrative told through evidence found within the crime scene. As the lead detective, you must find suspects, determine which evidence helps your case and which hurts it, and ultimately, determine who committed the gruesome act.
This is a small, first case to give players an idea of what the larger series entails. It takes around 30-45 minutes to finish, depending on your detective skills! There is no randomized evidence or alternate paths, so once you complete it, that’s it.
Original Soundtrack by Corey Teply
Read More: Best Detective Noir Games.
The Painscreek Killings
Summary
Fantastic adventure game with only minor flaws. Play time for me was around 15 hours or so plus another couple of hours for finding the last few items that I had missed originally.
You are playing a journalist who investigates a series of murders that happened a few years back and were never solved. The majority of the game consists of searching through various locations for letters, notes and other clues that allow you to piece together the events that led to the murders and identify the killer. The game is fairly non-linear, most locations are available right from the start although there are quite a few rooms and a handful of areas that you first have to unlock (literally, i.e. you need to find a key/code).
– Real player with 17.7 hrs in game
Walking simulator that quickly evolves from liesurely exploration of an abandoned gated community into a full-blown murder mystery adventure game.
Every place has its secrets. Every suspect is hiding something. Look through drawers, cupboards, the homes and belongings of the persons you are investigating to lead you closer to truth.
You play as an investigative reporter with one simple objective: Solve a cold case file by determining who killed wealthy socialite philanthropist Vivian Roberts and provide a front page photo. Can you find the murder weapon? Can you learn the whole truth about what happened in the now vacant Painscreek?
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
The Silver Case
The Silver Case is a great debut from Goichi Suda featuring a hard-boiled detective story, which also somewhat an unpolished experience with too many ideas which didn’t exactly follow through with interesting conclusions.
The presentation of this VN is a departure from “NVL” or “ADV” formats we’ve known from other contemporaries such as Enix, 07th-Expansion, Key and other developers. It’s a mixture of not only text, background and limited 2D character animation, but also live-action sequences, 3D exploration(although the scope is very limited – it’s pretty much on-rail), and full-motion video shot in documentary-style. Not to mention the highly stylistic character designs.
– Real player with 40.0 hrs in game
The Silver Case would be very difficult (nigh impossible most likely) to review in a standard fashion. I will note upfront that this is my first experience with SUDA51’s work so I won’t be able to make comparisons there.
This VN is very unconventional. It has fantastic music but the typewriter effects sound more like a jackhammer (you will eventually acclimate to this I hope – I did – and I recommend having the effects volume around half the music volume). The visual layout consists of panels everywhere, all the time — sometimes 2d, sometimes 3d, and sometimes FMV. Sometimes all 3 at once. Scene, time and location transitions happen frequently with 3d model illustrations and sometimes a brief exploration sequence suddenly appears – with an old school gaming clunky-but-completely-serviceable interface.
– Real player with 36.4 hrs in game
Crime Scene Technician
When the world awakens to life, it discovers the terrible deeds of the night. As a criminal department technician, you will find yourself a regular visitor to scenes of crime, gathering evidence for analysis and skillfully combining the facts - necessary steps for apprehending a suspect.
While the task at hand might seem overwhelming, do not fret - you’re not alone, accompanied by plenty of companions in the form of various tools.
Thanks to the ultraviolet lamp, you will see what’s hidden in the light of day. Test the collected samples in a well-equipped laboratory and recover damaged files or identify fingerprints with the help of advanced software.
Keep in mind, however, that the specialized equipment will be worthless without the most important tool - you! Be perceptive and inquisitive, spotting clues overlooked by others, finding patterns and similarities. Then, once gathered, connect the dots with a line that will lead you towards the truth.
Finish the job by putting the right person behind bars, but that’s not the end! Each day streets are filled with a sordid cast of characters, just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Clear the city of criminals and become a legend in your trade thanks to Crime Scene Technician!
The Case Book of Arne
Speaking as someone who has a really hard time deciding on what RPG games are worth and not worth buying, this game immediately had me intrigued. The story is uniquely crafted and enjoyable, characters are charming with a healthy mix of humorous dialogue with many deep and emotional story beats tied into them as well. The Soundtrack is also one of the best I’ve heard for an RPG game in a long while! Only issue i had with it is the run-time of 6 hours. Can’t wait for the next installment when it comes!
– Real player with 17.0 hrs in game
Very fun game! Great characters, art, and the comedy and story is also top notch. I’m happy Playism got vgperson on as the translator as she did great justice on the translation! It was a very fun game to playthrough and I never wanted to put it down and stop! There was one bug I noticed with the timer not changing if you reload a save near the end of the game but it was easily remedied with a quit to title reload. Other than that one thing, I noticed no bugs, and I’ve played through the entire game.
– Real player with 13.9 hrs in game
Who’s Lila?
“_It’s difficult for me to express emotions.
I envy other people. They make faces naturally, but I have to make a conscious decision each time I move a muscle.
Every morning I go to the bathroom to rehearse what my face is going to show today._ "
Who’s Lila? is a reverse-detective point-and-click adventure. It is an AI-powered choice-driven game, where instead of choosing dialogue options, you have full control over the character’s face.
Will you solve the enigmatic mystery? Will you be able to tackle your own emotions in pursuit of your mysterious goals?
And finally, will you find the answer to the ultimate question -
Who is Lila?
Features:
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Neural network driven emotion detection
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Multiple endings and choice-driven gameplay
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Ditherpunk visual style
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19 unique soundtrack pieces written specifically for the game
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A functioning save system
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And more…
Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The First Cases
As a Poiort fan of nearly two decades I must say I’m extremely disappointed. If this is a game that has absolutely nothing to do with Poirot I would be fine with it; but since “Poirot” was what was advertised I must judge this game on that merit, and I must say it failed spectacularly.
First, the mystery itself was pretty bad; the blackmail plot was highly implausible and had set a certain admirable group back a thousand years (Why? What was the writer trying to accomplish?). The murder plot was…nothing at all like Christie’s, because it was not clever, or surprising, or even well-planned. Even a third-rate Golden Age writer would have been embarrassed to find their name attached to this drivel, let alone Christie’s.
– Real player with 36.1 hrs in game
I’ll cut to the chase - if you like either Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments or Blacksad, or both, then you will like this game too. If you are a fan of the Agatha Christie films that have been adapted for the big screen, such as Death on the Nile (the original one with Peter Ustinov of course), for example, or the TV series that starred David Suchet, you will love this game too.
The developers of the game have weaved a convoluted tale that is true to the spirit of the original Agatha Christie novels. It is so great that I am actually wondering if it is based on an unpublished work, or the idea for a novel that she never wrote.
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
Area 86
An excellent and innovative game.
You can smash glass in this game- what else can you ask from the developer? The controls are a bit hard to get used to, but with some practices you’ll get it.
Bugs do exist, but the devs listen to bug reports on Discord and do make attempts to fix them.
– Real player with 23.6 hrs in game
This stupid clumsy robot won’t let me sleep… the game is so addictive :-)
The robot controls kind of sluggish and shattered objects on the ground make things more wonky. But this was done in a way that makes the game challenging and not frustrating … ok, I was lying, it is frustrating at times … in a good way.
The graphics are crisp and charming and I love the music, although there seems to be only one song. The developer is doing a great job at fixing bugs too :-)
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game