Remember the beloved Ace Attorney games, or the joy of visual novel mysteries that always kept you on your toes? What about the thrills of playing sudoku, or nonograms, or any other number logic puzzles? What if I told you that there's a game that combines both of those aspects, in a clever and overall entertaining way?
Murder By Numbers combines the storytelling of Ace Attorney with the charm of Picross for an altogether delightfully entertaining murder mystery game.
I'm A Detective! Well, I Play One On TV...
Murder By Numbers follows the story of Honor Mizrahi, an actress known for her starring role as Detective Oates in the mystery TV show Murder Miss Terri. Unfortunately, her TV stint has come to a close when her showrunner fires her from the program. Not soon after that, Honor is hit with another shock - Murder Miss Terri's showrunner has been murdered, and now Honor is the prime suspect.
Desperate to clear her name and uncover the true means behind the showrunner's death, Honor teams up with the talking investigative robot SCOUT - a cute and friendly robot suffering from amnesia who has mistaken Honor's TV character with real-life - to solve the mystery of who killed her boss.
Rather than relying on cliche, Murder By Numbers subverts viewers' expectations with a refreshing, engaging, and, frankly, lighthearted story featuring two partners with really no legitimate skill as homicide detectives. Honor's well-meaning intentions, but lack of real background as a detective, make her an engaging and honest protagonist that viewers feel real sympathy towards, plus SCOUT is nothing but adorable in his design. The game includes four cases in total, each with their own twists and turns, with the perfect mix of unpredictability.
A Picross Palooza!
In a genius Ace Attorney-meets-Picross format, Murder By Numbers follows a linear, visual novel gameplay. Beyond watching the action play onscreen, players can travel to different areas, question other characters, and present evidence to trigger dialogue. Additionally, players can investigate certain areas using SCOUT's scanning technology, which prompts different picross puzzles (picture logic puzzles that use a series to numbers to reveal a picture) to be solved. Upon solving each puzzle, a new clue is unlocked.
Puzzles increase in difficulty as the game progresses; some are even timed. At the end of each puzzle, players receive a score based on how well they solved the puzzle.
Those who are inexperienced with picross puzzles can rely on the game's exceptionally clear and helpful tutorial at the beginning. Additionally, players can decide whether to play on "Easy" or "Normal" mode regarding the picross puzzles, with the ability to change the difficulty during the game. No matter which you pick, there are other in-game mechanics to help players with each puzzle, such as revealing or correcting five random squares on each board. Note, though, that using assists can lower your final score at the end of each puzzle.
Puzzles Meet Murder?
Murder By Numbers may be the first game to combine visual novel mechanics with picross, but boy did the game developers' ingenuity pay off. The result is the perfect mix of brain puzzles and storytelling. The standard visual novel formula can get a little boring and repetitive, but each new picross serves as a break in what could be hours upon hours of text-reading. Each completed picross reveals an image of an item that can be used as evidence in solving each mystery, which makes things exciting for the player when trying to complete each puzzle.
Be warned that if number logic puzzles aren't really your thing - there's no escaping them in Murder By Numbers, as they're incredibly fundamental to the game. But if you're a puzzle-loving fiend, like yours truly, each new puzzle feels like a new brain teaser ready to tickle your smart bones.
One thing players may find frustrating, however, when solving puzzles is the inability to clear the board at once. Several times during my playthrough, I reached the end of a puzzle, only to realize I had made an error somewhere down the line. This meant I had to go back through and clear each individual square (in a 15x15 board, that meant 225 squares!) to start over from the beginning. I imagine other players could run into this problem too.
Bring On The 90s Nostalgia
A game set in the 90s has the potential to create a fun atmosphere, and this game certainly doesn't disappoint. Firstly, the music: Murder By Numbers shares the same composer as the beloved Ace Attorney series, Masakazu Sugimori, and just like his work in his last detective game, Sugimori has done magic again with this one. The game is filled with an enjoyable and catchy score of 90s pop music-inspired hits, creating a jaunty and positive atmosphere in the game.
Secondly, the character design. Hato Moa, known for her work on dating simulator Hatoful Boyfriend, created each of the characters' unique designs. Each character has their own vivid outfit and even more colorful personality. But don't let the ostentatiously printed jackets and fun hairstyles fool you - they're more than just caricatures. Each character is layered, with their own secrets and vulnerabilities; and as players progress throughout the game, they'll see just how fascinating each of these characters really are.
If you want to train your brain in more ways than one, enjoy a murder mystery that'll keep you on your toes until the very end, and view some pretty wild 90s fashion designs, Murder By Numbers is the game for you.
A Nintendo Switch copy of Murder By Numbers was purchased by TheGamer for this review. Murder By Numbers is available now for the Nintendo Switch and PC.
Murder by numbers