Murder by Numbers
As soon as I started playing this game, I was incredibly hooked on the detective puzzle format. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing to not have to worry about getting choices wrong and just take my own pace at solving the puzzles. I do have quite a few nitpicks and grievances but this game is well worth the price if you love picross and cute stories.
Story
Overall, it’s a super cute story and I love S.C.O.U.T., Honor, Jena, and Cross, as well as everyone else. The supporting cast were fun to see, but I wish I had gotten more details about them. If you like complete realism in your stories, though, be warned that there’s a lot of points that just don’t make sense. For example, a civilian getting involved with a murder investigation and not being arrested for interfering with evidence, hacking police files, etc.
– Real player with 103.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Investigation Comic Book Games.
I’m at the start of chapter 4 of this game, but want to review it at this point.
Overall, I give this game a thumbs up. But it is a game that I like and enjoy very much, but I also want to say that I found its implementation deeply annoying.
I love picross, and as a collection of picross puzzles, it’s a good game. The completed puzzles don’t try to “look like things” in the way most picross games do - they look like fragments of things. And that’s fine. It gives them freedom to create some really interesting puzzles and you aren’t really tempted to ignore logic and just guess what looks like it fits. The puzzles are challenging and satisfying. I really like that part of the game. I also like that there are a good selection of bonus puzzles. I played all the puzzles (up to chapter 4, including bonus puzzles) on hard mode and can confirm they can be solved with pure logic, which I really appreciate.
– Real player with 76.7 hrs in game
Rivals
I’ve played a couple of Owl_Skip’s games and this one also shows his talents as a writer and musician much like his previous title ‘Family.’ The interweaving timeline is unraveled as you progress while you can anticipate what’s to come from the chapter titles and descriptions.
It took a while for me to get the hang of things because I didn’t notice the dates at first. Once I did, I felt proud when I finally figured out how to get past the parts I was stuck on. It was fun putting the events in order by scanning the notes and replaying the audio tapes and music.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Investigation Story Rich Games.
Rivals is a detective-like game, where your objective is to sort through recording tapes, songs and texts to piece together the story of two musicians and their relationship through the years. It’s a short but really sweet game, and the story holds up well. One thing that I need to point out: The songs are AMAZING, really really good. I would listen to them while reading the texts and found myself wanting more.
Clearly there was a lot of passion from the developers while creating this gem of a game. I bought it at full price and have no regrets. If you enjoy detective/puzzle games, don’t think twice, this is an awesome game.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
10mg: Sealed Estate
So many nice little details packed together into this micro game, that conveys an excellent and cohesive experience.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Investigation Experimental Games.
Very weird, creepy, and disturbing. As soon as I got used to what was going on, something new appeared to feel uneasy. Simple yet effective.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Lilith Was Dead
First off. I would like to share my experiences with prior visual novels. Such as Doki-Doki Literature club, Hoonie Pop, and the fate series which while I have not played, I am a huge fan of the story line and overall game play format. Regardless, you do not need experience with visual novels to enjoy this game. Very quick and enjoyable game and the music fits extremely well with the overall atmosphere increasing the impact of moments in the story. The story itself has a very…exciting twist and for the first project Heat Waves Games has developed I am excited to see what the next and the route they take and hopefully add some black people in their next game. I really enjoyed the voice acting as well and cant wait for what comes next.
– Real player with 9.2 hrs in game
A short about one hourish visual novel murder mystery. It was simple but I liked it. It entertained me while I played.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
Murder On The Island
This game is reviewed for [url]TentacleBunny's Cozy Cottage [/url] who generously offered the steam-key for [i]Murder on the Island[/i] that was provided to the Curator
Background
This is the first Visual Novel by the renamed Forever Young Games which previously released Global Soccer Manager simulations under the same name. It is written by Márk Kovács as an experimental foray into this genre and it’s purely a Kinetic visual novel where an holiday island owner interviews the remaining 13 holiday-makers after 1 is discovered murdered on the 1st day of a week’s stay on the Island.
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
Murder on The Island is pretty much a Detective Kinetic Novel were you try to find the Murderer. Sadly you can only try to solve it by reading the Story. You dont get any Choices or get to decide on who did it in the end. Nevertheless just for the Case and the Infos you get while playing i found it quite interesting. It took me axactly 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete which would have been faster but you have to wait for the text to completely pop up and you cant set it to instantly.
So just the Story is quite good, however there are also a lot of things I didnt like about it. The Art is just average and the Translation has a few Grammer mistakes that are pretty obvious. The Game also feels laggy as it is completely in 30fps and the Menu is very minimal. You also dont get a Skip feature or any of the other feature you normally expect of a VN.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
SHINRAI - Broken Beyond Despair
“What had transpired here tonight was a rather complex chain of events, but I was going to explain everything as best as I could… So that they, too, would be able to understand the tragic truth behind it all. “
-Raiko Shinpuku
–——————
SHINRAI ~ Broken Beyond Despair is a murder mystery visual novel and first in the SHINRAI series, as well as the first game developed by indie German video game developer “Gosatsu”, a duo consisting of core members Gospel and Natsu. As a visual novel, gameplay in SHINRAI ~ Broken Beyond Despair consists primarily of reading, with interactivity delegated to segments wherein the player is prompted to present evidence in order to prove or disprove character deductions. Through a series of just such segments, the player progressively pieces together the identity of an anonymous killer and reveals the truth behind an otherwise seemingly straightforward death.
– Real player with 90.8 hrs in game
Shinrai provides a thrilling substitute for mystery fans, providing that itch of content when the well of other mystery titles dries up.
Despite a small team of about two people, Shinrai is a rare example of an indie mystery novel delivering a surprisingly good mystery. Shinrai isn’t without its flaws, but given its budget constraints, its a testament that a little passion can go a long way!
The game takes place at a secluded mountain resort, as a group of anime schoolmates convene for a Halloween party. Needless to say things go horribly wrong as murder and mayhem ensues. Piece together the clues, and discern who’s truly responsible, otherwise you may wrongly send an innocent character to jail!
– Real player with 18.1 hrs in game
Unmemory
Unusual game - reminiscent of the old text-based games we used to play. A little frustrating at times, trying to work out how to move forward. Worthwhile if you like adventure games and fancy something with a different interface.
– Real player with 10.2 hrs in game
Fun puzzle game with a nice multisensory story telling emphasis. I have to say though that the process of garnering the “materials” for the puzzle can be somewhat frustrating; for example the KLF puzzle requires something that is fairly obscure to find just to get started. The puzzles themselves, once you have all the materials needed, are alright at straightforward difficulty (hints are really optional), although I am particularly impressed by the last puzzle, the Dancers Numbers, the solution of which (the only I looked up online) really blew my mind for the cleverness. (as aside, I was too taken up with the thought that the dancers might be instructing a sequence about how the button ought to be pressed; which is quite tempting, but this is not nearly as clever as the official solution). Overall it is a great game
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game
Love Mystery Club
Intro
Does it have Love? Yes. Does it have elements of mystery? very loosely yes. Is it a club? No, but one of the girl is in a club room, so i guess the name suit the game then.
Pros
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Cheap
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Easy to paly
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Very easy to solve
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Easy achievements
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Multiple languages (English translation is fine, I’ve seen worst)
Cons
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Don’t really like how they downplay the Umineko thingy
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Knowing chinese and good with tones, the girls' voice when they are angry are too mild
– Real player with 9.1 hrs in game
Despite its low price point Love Mystery Club doesn’t have enough content to be worth even that. Two very short stories with average writing quality and terrible English translation is all you get out of this. If you have a buck or two and really want another visual novel to fill out your Steam library (which may or may not be why I bought it) then go ahead, but I can’t promise you won’t regret the purchase.
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game
The Terrible Persistence of Memory
As always, PixelsandPins delivers a visual novel with great storytelling. A thought provoking and well written tale- The Terrible Persistence of Memory is a great short game to sink your teeth into if you’re looking to finish a game in a single (or maybe two) sittings. It’ll have you thinking about the choices you make (they actually do matter), and who you choose to spend your time with. Would recommend checking this game out, one of my favorites for sure!
(PS: Don’t mind my short play time, I already played it once before!)
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
The Zodiac Trial
If you like murder mystery or death game visual novels, this is absolutely worth your time. I would go as far as to say it is deceptively good, I tried the demo and had mixed feelings but figured “hey, I love death games, I want to see this one through”. And you know what? Basically as soon as I left the demo content and got to the real game, the game made me very glad I did purchase it.
Quite a few characters during the intro feel… annoying. Kidnapped and in a terrifying situation, nearly half of the group seem to be way too optimistic in various ways. Having an optimistic character is one thing, but half the cast felt like idiots, basically. Then leaving the demo and getting to the routes, you see how these characters act when the stakes are there, and as you start learning more about these characters past their initial impressions, and realize the intro is pretty seriously flanderizing them, probably partly so you instantly get each character’s gimmicks. Eventually you get to the point where you start realizing that some of these optimists are really already scheming through how they present themselves to the others at the start, and most characters come off as far more interesting and unique once you get to see more depth to them.
– Real player with 43.8 hrs in game
10/10. Lane Hawkins, the writer/director/producer of this game (saw it in the end credits), is all kinds of clever and passionate, and has blessed us with this gem of a game. The rest of his team have done great work as well, obviously, as aspects of this game aside from the writing also elevate it to a level of greatness it otherwise would not achieve. I do not personally deem many games to be a 10/10 lightly, either, being a pretty darn snooty elitist of a gamer who only holds games in such high regard that delight me virtually the entire time I’m playing them and leave me brimming with joy for hours afterward. It just makes me sad that Steam only allows for “Recommended” and “Not Recommended” ratings, because merely giving The Zodiac Trial a thumbs up is a travesty.
– Real player with 28.5 hrs in game