The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
The first one was really charming and I loved it. This one I can’t recommend. It boring and uninspired.
First of all, it doesn’t have the charm of the first one. Instead of delightful and creative music, I’m two hours in and its looping the same ugly track. The story is bland, the puzzles don’t make sense like they used to, and I find myself bored which never happened with the first. The dialogue has grown exponentially in all the wrong ways, and the jokes just aren’t cheesy funny anymore, they are just… bland.
– Real player with 21.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Mystery Games.
A lot of (sometimes minor) characters from season 1 of The Darkside Detective make return appearances in this second season – it’s cool they keep building out the world like that – and to refresh my memory I started going back and replaying episodes from the first game while going through this one. And I enjoyed them so much again that I ended up replaying all of them in random order. That ended up making me feel as I finished this game up (except the, at this point, unreleased bonus episode) that the second season wasn’t quite as good as the first. But that’s a very high bar to try to reach, since I loved the first season. Main comparative downside for me was that it seemed like they aimed to build out longer episodes with more challenging puzzles, which was a good direction to take a lot of the time, but it was a bit marred by what seemed to me to be some excessively convoluted, directionless puzzles and moon-logicky item combinations that you needed to make and some cases of excessive backtracking through the larger environments trying to find something to interact with.
– Real player with 14.9 hrs in game
The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa: Murder on the Marine Express
An excellent murder mystery visual novel for both young reader and adults alike. Recommended for parents or teachers to give it to their children/students. Educational with a lot of famous historical female figure mentioned. The plot isn’t too disturbing, serious - bringing the mention of murder, revenge, sexual abuse - yet also light and fun with it’s comedy and characters chemistry. The pixel art and the music are sure to delight the reader, and the text are easy to read. Characters are easy to love. The only thing I find lacking, which could be my personal bias, is the lack of rollback features which I find in a lot of visual novel (though this doesn’t mean it’s necessary; I just prefer to be able to see the previous dialog in case I miss click or something) and how small the game box is. Overall as I said in the beginning, an excellent game.
– Real player with 17.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Female Protagonist Games.
A nice and intriguing short story with a memorable, quirky cast, Murder on the Marine Express is a good starting point for a very promising series of mystery novels.
While its main murder plot is indeed interesing, this game really shines at interactions between characters. They’re full of personality and their exchanges make both excellent comic relief and food for thought.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Backbone
A well written experience full of interesting character and setting.
– Real player with 13.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Singleplayer Games.
I loved the demo of this game and was HYPED to play the full version.
Without saying too much, I will say you should take your expectations of what you think the game is and throw them out the window and enjoy the ride! I fully enjoyed this very odd story. You can see the amount of love that went into this.
10 Bi Raccoons out of 10.
– Real player with 11.7 hrs in game
Pecaminosa - A Pixel Noir Game
Do you get value out of the price you pay? Yes and catching it in during a sale is a no brainer to add to your collection. There aren’t many noire themed games after all.
The presentation and the vision for this game is up there. As a backer for this game, I feel satisfied with what the team delivered. You can feel the effort and passion that this small indie team poured into this project.
- Visuals are really good, except for the character portraits present in the dialogue boxes as those could have been touched on a little bit more.
– Real player with 28.2 hrs in game
After following this game’s progress for quite a while and now being able to play it and finish it already
TWICE I can happily say that I had a very fun experience and it was worth the wait
Pecaminosa gives you what they told you were going to have: rich story, Immersive ambient, amazing soundtrack, fun boss battles and some dried humour… which was very welcome. Being able to play as an old detective trying to fix his past mistakes while living in a hopeless city where drugs, sex, violence happens from day to night. Managing to find a little bit of hope just for it to be taken away from you… and still moving on was quite interesting. This game truly shows
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
Star Apprentice: Magical Murder Mystery
Y’all I think someone in the staff likes
! Jojo.
On a more serious note, this was really fun to play! The sprite work is really great and I loved the opening when you start the game. I can very much tell that this game took some inspirations from games like Danganronpa and other murder mystery VN-type games. Along with some inspirations from games like Touhou and Ikaruga. Now, I’m not that good at bullet hells so when I checked the options and saw infinite lives I went “oh thank god”. I still very much enjoyed the gameplay from it and having to dodge the bullets while trying to figure out whether the current statement is contradictory or not (or finding the time to focus on reading it in some cases).
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
I played this game one night with friends and had a blast!
The unique and interesting concept definitely makes this a game to try out if you have some time to kill as the game is quite short in length. Especially appealing to Bullet Hell or Dangan Ronpa fans but can be played by anyone!
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The dynamic soundtrack is awesome and goes lovely along side the detective work. Very befitting of the “Detective” tag!
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Minnie and the other characters have interactions that are sweet and conversation is smooth and feels genuine.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders
Recommended, with some reservations
The case for
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a murder mystery game, so the first, most important question should be: is the mystery engaging? And it is, which is why it earns my thumbs up. The plot is intriguing and the pace is generally good all throughout the game. It tells several short stories, with an overarching plot connecting all of them and ending on a satisfying conclusion.
The case against
When compared with other murder mystery games, like the Gabriel Knight, Sherlock Holmes or Laura Bow series, in Detective Di there’s surprisingly little detectiving to do. There’s a clue board that fills up as you uncover relevant information, but you don’t have to actually figure out what clues are relevant or how they connect, as the game does all of this automatically, and once you reach the end of the chapter and the board is full Magistrate Di will make all the connections himself and explain his conclusions to you. All the actual detective work in the game is done automatically.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders
The best point and click adventure game I have played in a long while. A really gripping story full of twists and turns that will keep you entertained to the end.
Pros:
👍
👍Gripping Story
👍 Wonderful music
👍Great atmosphere
👍 Achievements and Trading Cards
Cons:
👎
👎Sometimes the scene music felt repetitive and annoying
Overview
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a point and click adventure game set in ancient China.
– Real player with 9.3 hrs in game
Inspector Waffles
I’ve been following Inspector Waffles over the past 3 years or so and was extremely happy to have the opportunity to help out in beta testing as well as drawing one of the Woolball cards. The demo version covers the (relatively short) first of five chapters and does a good job of getting you interested in the full game.
Personally, I love the colourful pixel art graphics as well as the hand drawn cutscenes and the quality is consistently good throughout the game, also helped by the atmospheric music and good sound effects. The characters have a lot of personality (not just gruff street smart protagonist Waffles and his adorable partner Spotty, but also the geeky Pixel, the shrewd owner of the antiques store to name but a few) and the story goes surprisingly deep with some intriguing twists, quite a few of which I did not see coming (or at least not very far in advance) but which all made sense given the facts of the case.
– Real player with 32.9 hrs in game
Inspector Waffles is the cat’s meow, hitting the sweet spot for fun in point-and-click adventure games.
I love detective stories; I love point-and-click games, and since Inspector Waffles combines those with cat and dog characters, it was a no-brainer to give it a go. Calling back to genre classics like the Monkey Island franchise, the game hits its comedy notes for a fun adventure in a universe I’d be eager to visit again.
Game Universe
Inspector Waffles takes place in a universe populated by anthropomorphic animals, mostly cats and dogs, with common pet names (e.g., Spotty, Snowball). The player mainly takes on the role of the titular character himself, although there are a couple of scenes where the player acts as Waffles’ supervisor, Patches. Waffles as a character may be intended to be an old school cynical noir detective, but the game’s overall tone is one of humor. The game dialogue is replete with puns and jokes, particularly ones poking fun at cat and dog stereotypes, such as that cats love boxes and that cat booze is strong milk. There are also some humorous fourth wall breaks. The idiosyncrasies of point-and-click games are even sometimes written into the universe, such as the hilarious explanation for limited use magnets.
– Real player with 8.9 hrs in game
Kathy Rain: Director’s Cut
Welcome to crazy town
Kathy Rain Director’s Cut is a re-release of the original game with slight enhancements and bonuses.
The game is great and owners of the original got a good discount but still it would’ve been nice to make this a free upgrade. There’s not enough enhancements or new content to justify the price.
Story and gameplay are things which makes this game awesome.
Kathy is a troubled young woman living with her christian roommate. Kathy’s mother is locked up in a mental institution, she smokes and has a bike. A very lovable character with amazing sense of humor and the whole story about her is just amazing. The game starts with a funeral and since then Kathy embarks on a journey to dig some stuff about her family’s past.
– Real player with 18.0 hrs in game
Kathy Rain is a point n click adventure set in the 90s but with modernized controls over the early classics that we love.
The story, characters and dialogues are very good. The puzzles aren’t too hard but are pretty fun and creative. So if you love point N click but feel rusty over the puzzle solving this game is excellent to come back. The truth is that this game is a must play for every point N click lover or jst anyone who wants to dive into the genre.
This director’s cut edition is the definitive way to play it. Fix everything and adds new content. Also if you have played the original around four years ago like me, you’ll enjoy replaying this edition.
– Real player with 12.2 hrs in game
Kid Detective
ABOUT THIS GAME
Kid Detective is an Open-World Murder Mystery Role-Playing Game where the player can prove any suspect guilty in a Court of Law. Designed to fit the parameters of Game Maker’s Toolkit’s video on “What Makes a Good Detective Game”, Kid Detective aims to make the Story and the Mechanics indistinguishable from one another. Inspired by narrative driven games like “Undertale” and “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney”, detective games like “The Return of the Obra Dinn” and “Outer Wilds”, Kid Detective aims to take discovery, mystery, and that Eureka! feeling to the next level.
Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure
Disclaimer: I know the developer personally, which is why this review can be considered biased.
Still, I honestly had a great time with Lacuna and recommend this to everyone who enjoys games with a focus on narrative and detective-work.
I played through the game once and will likely play it again, since your choices really seem to have an impact on the story.
The game combines pixel art with several effects such as dynamic lighting and fog. Together with the soundtrack and an overall great sound design, it creates a very captivating and moody atmosphere.
– Real player with 16.9 hrs in game
Lacuna doesn’t miss much as the game’s investigation leads you through unfilled spaces and into a deeply compelling sci-fi noir story.
Lacuna - an unfilled space or interval; a gap or missing part - a very intriguing title choice. Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure moves beyond visual novel yet doesn’t really play like a point-and-click game; however, the story and overall feel are sure to please fans of the Blackwell series and similar investigative adventure games.
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game