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 Point & Click Exploration 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
Lord Winklebottom Investigates
Lord Winklebottom Investigates is a 1920s murder mystery, point and click adventure featuring a dashing giraffe detective coming to Steam this year!
Inspired by Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes, the game is a classic British murder mystery!
It’s the 1920s and the world’s foremost detective is about to embark on his most challenging case yet. A mysterious invitation to an isolated island results in a grisly murder and a race against time to track down the killer. Thankfully, in this world that’s not quite like our own, there’s nobody better to crack the case than the great detective and gentleman giraffe, Lord Winklebottom.
Join Lord Winklebottom and his steadfast companion Dr Frumple as they investigate the murder of their old friend. Uncover clues, interview suspects and solve puzzles to crack the case, capture the killer and uncover the horrifying dark secret at the heart of the Isle of Barghest!
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Animals of all shapes and sizes!
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Unique 2D hand painted artwork.
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Streamlined point and click interface.
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Collection of bizarre characters to interrogate!
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Play as a gentleman giraffe!
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Dozens of puzzles to solve!
Read More: Best Point & Click Narrative Games.
The Darkside Detective
The Darkside Detective revolves around Detective McQueen and his slightly thick-headed sidekick Officer Dooley, who together form the Darkside Division of the Twin Lakes Police Department. Twin Lakes is a city which has a long history with cults, monsters and other spooky things but thanks to McQueen and Dooley its citizens have nothing to worry about, most of the time at least.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes.
Now, tell me about the game.
It’s a pretty simplistic point-and-click comedy adventure game, simplistic in graphics as well as interface and gameplay but more on that later.
– Real player with 9.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Point & Click Pixel Graphics Games.
The Darkside Detective is an enjoyable point-and-click game which has it all - humour, toilet humour, wise references, interesting characters, sound research and a lovely attitude towards life as a whole.
Disclaimer: I will say “Yes, recommended”, but be warned that there is lots to improve in this project.
However, I did find it too easy. Obviously, by the humour and topics discussed in the game, it’s not made for 13 y.o. people, however, most of the puzzles were so easy! As soon as you’re done with each, you’d feel as though you’re yet to start. It’s classic puzzles in a traditional setup. We’ve been going at them for at least 25 years (happy birthday, Myst!!), and I am bored of having to solve the same-ol-same-ol.
– Real player with 7.4 hrs in game
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
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
Art of Murder - Cards of Destiny
I wasn’t really sure how to rate this, but overall, I don’t think I’d recommend it, for only one reason.
Gameplay was fine, graphics were good, puzzles were a little unbalanced (some too easy, some only solvable with save-scumming), which made the pacing a little awkward.
My one true problem with the story was the main character was a… something I’m not going to say where children might read it. I think they were going for strong-capable/lone-wolf or something… but it came off more of a total-mother-of-puppies. She was rude to her partner, even cussing him out at one point (he wasn’t exactly congenial, but at least he could keep his temper), condescending to… basically everyone, openly belligerent on multiple occasions in the game, and seemed to have no problem breaking laws herself, all in the name of “I’ve got work to do”.
– Real player with 18.9 hrs in game
The most fun I had playing this game was trashing it with my sisters. It’s nearly impossible to get through with out a walkthrough, unless you take the time to try out every possible item combination. And even then she makes a comment each time you guess wrong and you have to be holding a specific object to use on the other one. The dialogue is bad, but I assume they just directly translated it, which may explain the poor voice acting, but doesn’t excuse it. The plot is pretty interesting leading up to the end, but the ending leaves many plot holes and the clunky dialogue doesn’t help to clear things up really. Luckily, I bought it and the rest of the games in the series on sale, but I wouldn’t pay full price for it. That said, I did really like the background music, I thought it helped set the tone and gave the game a sense of danger, particularly in the swamp. The background music also tends to drown out the dialogue, but that’s a plus in my opinion.
– Real player with 11.3 hrs in game
Art of Murder - Hunt for the Puppeteer
Stop this annoying slider puzzles! Espacialy if they are that big! I spend over 1.5 hours on that and I was nothing than frustrated at that point!!! This is the big thing, why u get a negative feedback. The other things are a really boring story, I couldn’t really see a plausible connection…
And I was also one of the persons, who needed a walkthrough some times, because lot of things had be done in a specific row and you didn’t get enough informations for that.
And sometimes you need to run to diffrent places to pick an item, which she didn’t want to take with earlier in the game… Ok, maybe this should be a kind of a realistic touch, but that’s not really an expectation to P+C games, and there is so much more what isn’t realistic in all of that kind of games.
– Real player with 8.3 hrs in game
The second installment to the Art of Murder series following FBI investigator Nicole Bonnet.
Although the summary implies following the trace of a serial killer, the plot itself gravitates towards a different direction. For someone like me who enjoys a darker sort of mystery, it did leave me disappointed. That’s not to say that the story is by any means terrible, it just wasn’t what I hoped for.
Gameplay-wise, it works much like the first game. Definitely less confusing although you would find yourself stuck sometimes thanks to the lack of prompts/hints from Nicole. The hint button helps immensely and I encourage people to use it when they can. Don’t bother with the phone unless you just want to hear extra fluff pieces.
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
Detective Boiled-Hard / Case File - Death of the Space Dino Hunter
when I started uploading screenshots of this game, I realized there’ll be screenshots of every f****** minute of it. And I want more, honestly. Buy, giggle & enjoy!
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
I really enjoyed Trials and Traces: The Tomb of Thomas Tew, an earlier game by this developer, Because Because. It’s not available on Steam as of the writing of this review, but it is available over on itch.io. It was a nice little gem within a collection of other independent adventure games, with turned out to be a great purchase, because it put games like Death Has a Million Stomping Boots and Beard in the Mirror on my radar.
When Because Because released Detective Boiled-Hard, I jumped on it right away. This game is a bit on the shorter side, clocking in at about 90 minutes of play – but it’s a solid and enjoyable (and fully voice-acted!) 90 minutes. Detective Boiled-Hard never once pretends to be a serious game of any sort. It fully embraces bad jokes, self-referential humor, so-bad-they’re-amazing celebrity impersonations, and insane situations.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Fateful End: True Case Files
Nice game! Good suspenseful atmosphere with just a few splashes of light horror. I thought the story was really well done. All the characters have a reason to hate you so it keeps you guessing till the end who wants you dead. The one thing I might say is that there are a few parts that play uncomfortably like a dating sim, but maybe that’s just me. Beyond that I would definitely recommend this game.
– Real player with 9.9 hrs in game
Recently, I gave a few Chinese visual novels a try and I managed to absolutely enjoy one or another title, and thus, I decided to give Fateful End: True Case Files a try as well. Obviously, I was already biased after playing through Detective Kobayashi that was from the same developer: Genuine. Admittedly, I never heard of them before, however, what could go wrong after I already made some experience with one of their games, right? Anyway, what stood out immediately to me was the stunning artwork, and the plot that seemed very mysterious. Unfortunately, despite me enjoying Fateful End: True Case Files, I feel like I simply expected too much of the plot.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Greyhat - A Digital Detective Adventure
This game ties if not usurps The Return of the Obra Dinn as my favorite game of all time. I’ve played hundreds of games on Steam and PS4, nearly all of them critical darlings, of all genres and scopes. Alphabetically in my library, it sits between Gorogoa and Guacamelee, and after this, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is next in my queue.
While not trying to spoil anything, I recommend this game to pretty much anybody without reservation, worth every penny of its asking price - but most especially those that actively seek out games of this genre like Obra Dinn and to a lesser extent like Unheard that tickle the brain a little they way a detective or point-and-click adventure game might. Hell even if you like the Ace Attorney series of games, there’s something in here for you too. Far from perfect and I have my critiques, but to be honest my library is full of these faux hacker puzzle/detective games but none are as creative, polished, or fleshed-out or quite frankly as affecting as Greyhat. The “a-ha” moments here are the most rewarding and feel most earned here and for example chatting and “tunneling” elements are two examples of how the devs going out of their way to nail the feeling of being a clandestine keyboard warrior furiously typing messages or lines of code. Were I to say more I’d worry about revealing spoilers.
– Real player with 25.5 hrs in game
My playtime: 19.2h (based on steam, 100% achievement)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (5 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Greyhat - A Digital Detective Adventure is a game where you have to find clues and solve minigames. The game has ~19 levels in total.
Pros:
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~19 levels
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Minigames
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Hints
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Some levels have different solutions when you replay it
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Collectibles
Cons:
- You need to manually type some clues to your notes
– Real player with 19.2 hrs in game
Guilty Parade
I continued to become more and more invested. It surprised me how in-depth some of the characters were written and as I played, I witnessed some really nice character development along with it. I can tell a lot of love was put into this game and if you’re looking for a compelling character-driven story, this would be it. Visual Novels are not normally to this level of detail and intrigue and I believe this game could really rise in popularity. It’s a new game that is still ongoing, so there’s more to anticipate as you play it through. Very fun game to play with friends; there’s a lot of different route choices. I highly recommend it!
– Real player with 37.7 hrs in game
Guilty Parade easily became one of my favorite visual novel games I’ve ever played so far. I immediately 100% the game (as of episode 2) in terms of achievements since I couldn’t stop playing it (to the point that I played the current episodes twice now lol). I’m so glad that I accidentally stumbled on this game’s demo on gamejolt or itch.io and quickly followed the developers for future updates.
Quick review:
As of the release of episode 2 (+ episode 1, the demo), Guilty Parade has a lot of potential to become an outstanding and memorable mystery visual novel game. Episode 2 greatly exceeded my expectations, and I’m excited to play the next episodes. The characters are all unique and lovable in their own ways and I love seeing their interactions with one another and/or with Nemo or Lien. I’d watch them discuss something meaningless and I would still enjoy it. (I love all of the characters, but my personal favorite is definitely Yakov, top tier best boy. His chaotic personality and inability to trust others just makes me want to befriend him and gain his trust even more lol. {Spoiler near the end of episode 2}
! And when he started to trust Nemo a bit more if you choose to tell him the truth about Nemo’s reason on investigating the murder case, he looked genuine and sincere T-T or maybe it’s just me feeling soft for him). The world of Guilty Parade has so many secrets and mysteries in which you and Nemo need to discover and find out yourself. But, what I’m more curious about is Nemo’s identity and which side he’ll choose after finding out about his past.
– Real player with 29.4 hrs in game