• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

An Enjoyable Way to Kill Some Time

  • Act
  • 10/08/2014 09:03 PM
  • 1194 views
This was a nice little murder mystery. It was pretty straightforward and not groundbreaking or anything, but it was a fun, quick play with a good grasp of the elements required to compose a mystery and of story construction in general.

The premise, at its onset, is simple but effective-- at a birthday party for a young girl, she is murdered, and you are the detective. You explore the house searching for clues and answers via interaction with objects and NPCs. As you find new hints, new dialogue options open up, leading to more hints, leading to more dialogue options, etc.

I never felt completely outclassed by the mystery, but it was definitely intriguing enough to hold my attention and force me to think. The game did a good job of doling out clues slowly and in a way that only revealed little bits at a time, so it wasn't possible to be 10 minutes in and have it all figured out, though by the end when it was time to accuse someone I knew pretty unequivocally who it was. Overall, though, I was impressed by both the pacing and the way the narrative blocked you out of certain areas and ideas in a reasonable, organic way that didn't feel contrived.

If you have a half hour or so to kill, this could be a fun way to do it.

Also, as a digression: the graphics reminded me heavily of older handheld Harvest Moon games.

Posts

Pages: 1
Professor_Q
"Life is a riddle I wish I had the answer for..."
3237
Good review. I agree with you on the length - and I wonder if an interface of this sort would work when it came to sustaining a longer mystery or detective story (say, one with more focus on characters, or more puzzles.)
Pages: 1