Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders
Who this game may appeal to –
-New P&C gamers
-Agatha Christie fans or those who love a good story
-HOG gamers who like puzzles as the puzzles here are just a bit harder than most HOGs (note this isn’t a HOG like some past Christie games were).
-People who find Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes games too hard or need a good bit of help with them.
Those who are seasoned P&C gamers who are expecting the same length and complexities as the cheaper priced ($20) new Nancy Drew games may be disappointed which is why I am only recommending it if you can get it at half price. But then I always found Agatha Christie games to be easier than ND and SH games (although this is a completely different style as to the other AC adventure games). Trying to be thorough going for max points and working out achievements, first gameplay was 6-7hrs, with no hints.
– Real player with 16.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Singleplayer Games.
There are many things this game did wonderfully, such as the fantastic voice acting, the art style, and how the interviews adapt depending on what you chose to say. I really appreciate the achievements as it could have been realy easy for the developers to put in achievements based on ego points the game awards, but instead have them based on the story or investigating people, places, and objects.
While the puzzles do seem easy, I found that the game does seem to weigh it based on which part of the game it is located in, such as in chapter one you have puzzles you can easily figure out (as a way to introduce looking around for clues) and the last puzzles you do (in chapter three) involve investigating outside of the puzzle.
– Real player with 12.9 hrs in game
Guard of Wonderland
I used to play in the VR version of Guard and now I am impressed with the progress that guys have made. The combat system has been changed - now we are going to receive items and choose the right one for an enemy type attack. In addition, we can now use the allies and weapons of each hero. In addition - I like the main menu of the game (now it is iteractive and has a storm (you will find out why there are no spoilers), corrected errors of the VR version - Great job, WG team! Will be waiting for the next part of this game!
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Indie Games.
First of I love Alice in Wonderland universe. No matter original, McGee interpretation or this one. There is something in between McGee’s variant and original, mature dialogues with fairy tale flair. I have a dissonance between hand-painted characters and background, but it’s okay, I guess. The main purpose, tell a story, this game performs one hundred percent.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
AT A GLANCE
(Full review follows below)
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Game Name: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
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Original Release: 2012
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Genre Tags: Adventure; Point & Click; Puzzle; Detective; Casual
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My Overall Grade: A-
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Estimated Playtime (Campaign): 10-18 hours
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Multiplayer Aspect: None
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Recommended To: Established fans of the genre; Those intrigued by the genre; Casual gamers
REVIEW
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is a very pleasantly surprising puzzle game, with a high standard of quality and a humorous undertone. Any fans of the puzzler-adventure genre should easily find this game enjoyable. Once you start playing you will likely find yourself engrossed by the experience.
– Real player with 25.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Singleplayer Games.
‘The Testament of Sherlock Holmes’ is based on an entirely fictional plot not borrowed from any of Arthur Conan Doyle’s works. The length of the game is a good 25 hours, and one gets to solve lots of puzzles and search every nook and corner for clues. Dr. Watson acts as a valuable accomplice for Holmes and often one will control Watson rather than Holmes.
One feature that I really liked about the game is the graphics. They are very good, although not as good as some of the Tomb Raider games. The game takes place in some very odd yet beautiful settings. Another feature that is praiseworthy is the variety and ingenuity of the puzzles that the developers have created. The ‘Deduction Menu’ can be extremely challenging because one must reach the correct conclusion for each of the clues to reach the correct final conclusion. The music is for the most part dark and spooky, but fits well into the game.
– Real player with 25.1 hrs in game
Guard of Wonderland VR
Before I started playing, I had some doubts about the VR and how it’s gonna looks like here. Honestly, I have never encountered such games, because I don’t really understand, how’s possible make strong hard-oriented story games for VR.
Nevertheless, the game just dragged on and made me went through and through - yes, it certainly is not an “experience”, not a shooter or a shooting range.. This is more of a brave experiment, which, as for me - success.
There is still something to strive for and seek for other decisions (may be new ideas, how to optimize interface?), but the work which’s done is impressive!
– Real player with 13.4 hrs in game
After 9+ hours spent in Guard - what can i say.. It’s for sure dark story, based on Wonderland lore. If you’ve read zenescope comics, played AMR or watched 1st Burton movie, prefer such kind of twisted surrealism - you’ll enjoy this game. All story is made in a verse, what is very seldom in games even now - I can remember only Child of Light from Ubisoft, also fairytale, but about Aurora (- Sleeping Beauty), but not so dark and twisted. Guard offers to find out, how the things are going on it’s real way, behind the adventure, that you see in front of you. All is much more complicated - but I passed thruogh the whole story and beat up true ending. Guys, i’m impressed, don’t regret your time - it’s worth it.
– Real player with 12.6 hrs in game
Nancy Drew®: Midnight in Salem
TLDR: Rocky release start, which did nothing to help the game. Long loading screen times. Graphics are terrible. Story is bad and doesn’t make sense a lot of the time. Mostly talking, low puzzles and bad puzzle quality. HER Interactive’s response is horrid. This game is not part of the ND universe previously build, so it feels like a separate game. If you want to play Nancy Drew, play other/older games as they are better.
I’ve been playing Nancy Drew since the early 2000’s, like 2001 or 2002. I own all of the games and was so excited for this game. The original preview, in the Sea of Darkness game, made this game look INCREDIBLE! As the years went by, I eventually gave up on the idea of the game ever coming out, until they announced the new release date and a new trailer. It still looked good and I set an alarm to pre-order. As the day came and went, the game was not available for pre-order. They announced that evening that the pre-order was pushed back by over a month to fix some things in the game. I was disappointed, but excited since this game was finally released.
– Real player with 119.3 hrs in game
I will preface this review with the disclaimer that I am an avid Nancy Drew fan. I own all of the books and every game in this series is on my shelf as a hard copy and in my steam library for instant play. Long story short, I love Nancy Drew wholeheartedly and I believe in Her Interactive and their mission. I rabidly defended them on fan forums when this game was delayed numerous times and despite any of the criticisms I am about to make, I would still recommend this game if you are a fan of this series or point and click adventure and mystery games.
– Real player with 41.2 hrs in game
Nordlicht
More reviews on our Curator Page
Nordlicht is a project from a small team in Germany, and the result of their final thesis. The game, however, is a full commitment, adventure, portraying incredible hand-made art, with an emotional story.
Players take the role of Aurora and her father Rupert, on an emotional journey across nostalgia under the Nordic bright sky. Aurora packs everything she needs to see her mother, while her father prepares the boat for the journey ahead. Together, they sail over large waves and thunderstorms, but nothing can stop them from reaching their goal.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
Short and sweet point&click adventure with a heartwarming ending. You can finish the story in about 2 hours, assuming you don’t get stuck on a few tricky puzzles. There are 3 different locations to explore, a couple of nice cutscenes, and one timing mini-game. The artwork is really good considering the price, the stylized aesthetic gives it a unique look, not to mention its enjoyable soundtrack. I should note that the narrative is kid-friendly, you not going to find any hidden jokes in this one, even though the story has a sad undertone. The puzzles were reasonable for the most part, just keep in mind that you can occasionally solve the riddle by interacting with another character. As expected with a cheaper game, it’s not as responsive as it could be, but it still has a decent interface that allows you to highlight items using ‘tab’ or magnifying glass in the corner. However, you could potentially run into saving issues; I did not lose any progress, but the game required some fiddling with input to remove the black screen upon loading (only one save slot).
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
The Metamorphosis
I dont usually play games ,but I quite liked this concept of book adaptation, drewings & sound desing is really well done. :)
– Real player with 22.4 hrs in game
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weird main menu behavior
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steam screenshots don’t work
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inconsistent text display:
___narrative text displayed on whole screen most of the time but also on lower thirds
___main character gregor appears in lower thirds dialog box even though he has no dialogue
- art and animation are ok during chapter 1
- art in chapters 2 & 3 was lackluster and didn’t match the text
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read the novel for free on project gutenberg
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listen to the audiobook for free on librivox
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
Nancy Drew®: The Final Scene
ah, the theater! the stars! an audience’s anticipation! set designs! lights! positions! murder…? having only fully played 6 Nancy Drew games at ‘press time’ (quite fitting since Nancy’s friend is a reporter in “The Final Scene”), this one is among my top 2 favorites. (*note: i foresee the 7th i’m currently engaged in becoming my #1, although i’m not here to jump the gun… unless someone points it at me as Nancy, bwuahaha!) all jokes aside, the story line is immediately compelling, unlike any i have yet encountered in this game series. while each player’s preference differs, i found the puzzles less frustrating than in other releases. the characters/ suspects were most engaging, regardless of loving/ hating them. as a critic/ player, i extend rave reviews!
– Real player with 24.4 hrs in game
Wow this one is a shining star among the early Nancy Drew games. You are thrown right into the action; no introductory dialogue that bores you to sleep, no obnoxiously long cut-scenes or menial tasks. Instead, the most exciting missing persons case in any Nancy Drew game I’ve played begins and from the first second to the final moments you are viciously tracking a kidnapper that always seems one step ahead, always taunting you with their stupid, low voice. The game is short but I will take a short and intuitive Nancy game over a long, frustrating and drawn-out one any day. There is a three-day time limit that puts the game nicely into a three-act structure. As you uncover new clues and puzzles, the time is always running out. The last day even has an actual timer that counts down to destruction ominously. I liked the characters, they weren’t the strongest I’ve encountered but how can you beat Henrik am I right? The thing that sets a good Nancy game apart from the rabble for me is whether or not you need a game guide to find your way around it. This is a classic example of a game that doesn’t require one, and is honestly a lot more fun because of it. 9/10
– Real player with 9.1 hrs in game
Nancy Drew®: Secret of the Old Clock
Afaik, this is the only Nancy Drew game that takes place in the past (1930, to be exact). The subtitle of this game was the title of the first Nancy Drew book, which was released that year. As Nancy Drew, you stay at the Lilac Inn in Illinois at the beginning of the Great Depression.
It’s not one of my favorite Nancy Drew games. While one puzzle referred to Shakespeare, it wasn’t all that educational like most other games in the series are. One of the main things about this game is driving around the roads on a world map. You can run out of gas or get a flat tire, so you have to attend to those. You can make money by delivering telegrams. You’re told you get a flat rate for each letter plus tips, but HER Interactive played a funny Depression joke because no one ever tips.
– Real player with 13.7 hrs in game
I have been a very regular player of mystery games most of my life. The Nancy Drew Franchise certainly are not at the top of mystery games I’ve played in my life, but i always enjoy them regardless of the quality compared to mystery games that are slightly more evolved when lookin at things like characters and exploration opportunities throughout the world.
Nancy drew is basic point and click with occasional typing needed.
The story is great, the puzzles are hard enough to make you spend some time trying to figure them out and they certainly push you to think out of the box sometimes.
– Real player with 9.7 hrs in game
The Last Express Gold Edition
I think this may well be the greatest game ever made. Yes, the controls are clunky as all get out. Yes, for people used to today’s games the ultra-high-tech-for-1997-digital-rotoscoping technique looks extremely antiquated. Yes, you’re dropped into the game with no idea what to do, and you’re going to fail. A lot. But at the same time “The Last Express” includes:
- Probably the best-developed characters in any adventure game I’ve yet played (the weakest is arguably Robert Cath, who the player controls, but even he has an intriguing and irritatingly-largely-unrevealed-due-to-lack-of-a-sequel backstory). By the end of the game you know what they want and what makes most of them tick, and since certain bad things are more or less guaranteed to happen to a number of them the result is the equivalent of an emotional shovel to the face.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
Ahead of its time but stuck in the past
First read about this game way back when it came out, in a magazine I still have, where the reviewer was left in complete awe because of unique design for an adventure game. Ever since it occupied a small cluster of neurons in the back of my head, waiting for me to play it and its moment to shine. I should say I never played the original so my review will only address this 2013 port, with some inferior exceptions others have noticed.
It plays like Myst, from 1st person perspective with static scenes as you move around, but is set in realistic environment of an vintage luxury passenger train called Orient Express. The whole game takes place in the same 4-5 vagon carts with beautifully rendered backgrounds. You move by clicking edges of screen with mouse cursor that contextually changes functions to forward, backward and left or right turn, with interaction prompts for opening doors and object/NPC interaction.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game