10 Yrs♥✓#
knalb
10 Yrs♥✓#
Solve Pixel Puzzles to find clues. Use those clues to interrogate witnesses. Work your way to the truth... ...and uncover the mystery of Murder by Numbers!
How long is Murder by Numbers?
When focusing on the main objectives, Murder by Numbers is about 20½ Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 34 Hours to obtain 100% completion.
4 Yrs♥$✓#
churros
4 Yrs♥$✓#
Note that the game was free on Epic not too long ago, you might have it and not realize it!
5 Yrs♥✓#
Illusera
5 Yrs♥✓#
To date, I have attempted 1 picross game, in which I found that I don’t do picross. I’m curious to see if this game will change that.
10 Yrs♥✓#
knalb10 Yrs♥✓#
So had my first play session and not sure about it. It's basically a detective phoenix wright game but I currently don't feel that much charm with it. There is also alot of missing features which hamper my enjoyment. For one there is no back button anywhere so don't go into the load screen if you don't plan to load a save. You also can't save wherever or exit whenever only in the investigation part of the game.
10 Yrs✓
Antixesis
10 Yrs✓
Wow, seems really long for a game centered mostly around picross. Maybe there's more to it than just the picross? Surely it's not just the story that takes up the majority of the length, right? I'm a fan of picross though and put a fair amount of time into the Mario Picross GameBoy game back in the day. I'll give it a go.
5 Yrs♥✓#
Illusera5 Yrs♥✓#
Still figuring this out, but after getting a tad stuck with the tutorial puzzles (yes, the tutorial puzzles) I've played some more of it and am getting a better feel for things. Not a fan of how certain dialogues get repeated after loading or doing Scout puzzles, but for now the other quirks are keeping me going. This game's at least more beginner friendly for this kind of puzzle.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE
6 Yrs♥$✓#
I've played Murder by Numbers for half an hour now. I just wanted to check it out and be a part of a GOTM discussion thread again ;)
I have never played a picross game before, didn't even know what that meant and I generally don't enjoy puzzle games but out of all possible puzzles I actually do like Sudoku and Regex-based crosswords (https://regexcrossword.com) which are kind of the same thing.
So yeah the first half an hour seemed fun enough, story-wise and in terms of the puzzles, but I don't see myself beating the game while I have Baldur's Gate 3 going on. I might continue playing a bit here and there when I'm too exhausted to start up Baldur's Gate though.
One thing I really dislike about the game so far is that you mark empty spots with a red cross and turn "hits" (or however they are called) black. That's the complete opposite of how my mind wants to do it.
I have never played a picross game before, didn't even know what that meant and I generally don't enjoy puzzle games but out of all possible puzzles I actually do like Sudoku and Regex-based crosswords (https://regexcrossword.com) which are kind of the same thing.
So yeah the first half an hour seemed fun enough, story-wise and in terms of the puzzles, but I don't see myself beating the game while I have Baldur's Gate 3 going on. I might continue playing a bit here and there when I'm too exhausted to start up Baldur's Gate though.
One thing I really dislike about the game so far is that you mark empty spots with a red cross and turn "hits" (or however they are called) black. That's the complete opposite of how my mind wants to do it.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE6 Yrs♥$✓#
I wonder about that too.
20 to 30h filled with this type of puzzle plus story? That seems a lot.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE6 Yrs♥$✓#
(double post)
10 Yrs♥✓#
knalb10 Yrs♥✓#
— 09/02/2023 11:05 PM
Okay still playing:
Reached the second case. Dick has just been strangled and I'm investigating the back stage
Okay so I feel the main detective quest and story line is relatively bland and uninteresting but I can admit I've gotten into the puzzles and enjoying doing them. Again not sure how it'll hold up for the purposed 27 hour game but we'll see
— 09/03/2023 10:07 PM
Currently following the trial of whisky and it is pointing to Dicks replacement but feels very red herring especially now that I have found Dicks handkerchief smelling of whisky. Sounds like Dick feel back into bad habits
Okay still playing:
Reached the second case. Dick has just been strangled and I'm investigating the back stage
Okay so I feel the main detective quest and story line is relatively bland and uninteresting but I can admit I've gotten into the puzzles and enjoying doing them. Again not sure how it'll hold up for the purposed 27 hour game but we'll see
— 09/03/2023 10:07 PM
Currently following the trial of whisky and it is pointing to Dicks replacement but feels very red herring especially now that I have found Dicks handkerchief smelling of whisky. Sounds like Dick feel back into bad habits
5 Yrs✓#
FakeEntity
5 Yrs✓#
cant wait to see young Ryan Gosling agin
4 Yrs✓#
GemminiDrodson
4 Yrs✓#
I'm three hours in and just finished the first case. It's really good! The humour hits the spot for me, and I love the characters. SCOUT is soooo cute. It's a very lighthearted game. The OST is lovely as well, love solving Puzzles with chill music and SCOUT next to the grid. Very curious to see where the story is going to go, as there was clearly something afoot at the end of the first case.
At first I was worried that it was going to be too easy, and it would stay on a 5x5 or even a 10x10 grid too long, but it's actually quite varied. I've done a bunch of 15x15s so far on normal difficulty, and while I haven't encountered a puzzle where I got stuck yet, I'm glad it's not incredibly easy. I'm hoping the difficulty will continue to increase as well.
I'm very glad it has a function where it can show you your mistakes though, because that can be an enormous mess once you're close to finishing a picross, but mistakes crept in and nothing makes sense anymore.
The only thing that concerns me is whether or not it can keep the momentum going over 20+ hours, as that seems to be quite excessive. I might get bored once it hits the 8-10 hour mark, but we'll see.
I had never heard of this game before it was nominated, so I'm happy to get a chance to play it now.
At first I was worried that it was going to be too easy, and it would stay on a 5x5 or even a 10x10 grid too long, but it's actually quite varied. I've done a bunch of 15x15s so far on normal difficulty, and while I haven't encountered a puzzle where I got stuck yet, I'm glad it's not incredibly easy. I'm hoping the difficulty will continue to increase as well.
I'm very glad it has a function where it can show you your mistakes though, because that can be an enormous mess once you're close to finishing a picross, but mistakes crept in and nothing makes sense anymore.
The only thing that concerns me is whether or not it can keep the momentum going over 20+ hours, as that seems to be quite excessive. I might get bored once it hits the 8-10 hour mark, but we'll see.
I had never heard of this game before it was nominated, so I'm happy to get a chance to play it now.
5 Yrs♥✓#
Illusera5 Yrs♥✓#
I've finished chapter 1 and can safely say I've gotten the hang of things. I could probably work on solving puzzles faster since that timed section messed me up a few times before I cleared it, but other than that I've been doing things at a good pace. It looks like playing without the "beginner mode" on is needed to get the rest of the bonus puzzles? I didn't have any points deducted but still didn't get past rank A unless I missed a puzzle somewhere. All in all, I had expected I would be retiring this but it's been a good experience; a pretty good beginner's picross game. It does feel a bit grindy at times when I'm doing the bonus puzzles, but it's picross after all. This still isn't my kind of puzzle so I won't be getting into the picross genre.
10 Yrs♥✓#
knalb10 Yrs♥✓#
— 09/04/2023 10:06 PM
Seems that dick was poisoned and someone paid for our show to be disqualified from the awards and his replacement tried to strangle him but he was already dead
— 09/05/2023 10:08 PM
So we found a makeup kit which has been poisoned It seems it was given to our co actress by Bobby price and now we are pointing the fingers at him... again. Pretty poor detective work imo from the main character. Still someone started a fire which escaped and not sure that was the recommended way of dealing with a fire
— 09/06/2023 10:04 PM
Case 2 done - Kathleen did it by poisoning the bouquet
— 09/07/2023 10:06 PM
Onto case 3 - Looks like someone purposely ran into a gay bar. Ryan is trying to manipulate me. Seems desperate to control the main character but charismatic about it does seem like he's trying to isolate her. I think he's likely the main antagonist ultimately
09/08/2023 10:08 PM
So got Ryan to confess to his actions in the first case. Not sure that would lead to an arrest but he's been taking into questioning. A shady guys showed up at the bar. I suspect he has something to do with the incident. I suspect he loaned money to the owner and caused the crash to scare them. He didn't expect the victim there thus causing the death
— 09/09/2023 11:15 PM
So went out today so didn't get much progress - I confronted crispin and he pulled a gun on me. Now don't think he did it as the parade float was stolen from his apartment. Still honour keeps thinking he did it which makes me think she's stupid
— 09/10/2023 10:15 PM
Okay so case 3 done - turned out to be insurance fraud gone wrong and onto case 4 - Looks like an employee of the Lethe security has been shot on the yacht
So played the game for a week it's not compelling me that much. The picross puzzles are relaxing and I enjoy doing them but they are overloaded in the game and repeat ad infinitum. Every item needs a picross and later levels they all on a 15x15 grid. It needs more variety imo in the game
The detective side is not great either and I find the main character just jumps from one assumption to another and only learns an important lesson in detective work about 3/4s way through when it's something she should've picked alot earlier imo. There are a lot of crimes which she does with little repercussions (she keeps breaking into the polices computer for example)
Ultimately I can't say I'm fully impressed with the game but the sunken cost fallacy will prob keep me going especially now I'm on the last case
Seems that dick was poisoned and someone paid for our show to be disqualified from the awards and his replacement tried to strangle him but he was already dead
— 09/05/2023 10:08 PM
So we found a makeup kit which has been poisoned It seems it was given to our co actress by Bobby price and now we are pointing the fingers at him... again. Pretty poor detective work imo from the main character. Still someone started a fire which escaped and not sure that was the recommended way of dealing with a fire
— 09/06/2023 10:04 PM
Case 2 done - Kathleen did it by poisoning the bouquet
— 09/07/2023 10:06 PM
Onto case 3 - Looks like someone purposely ran into a gay bar. Ryan is trying to manipulate me. Seems desperate to control the main character but charismatic about it does seem like he's trying to isolate her. I think he's likely the main antagonist ultimately
09/08/2023 10:08 PM
So got Ryan to confess to his actions in the first case. Not sure that would lead to an arrest but he's been taking into questioning. A shady guys showed up at the bar. I suspect he has something to do with the incident. I suspect he loaned money to the owner and caused the crash to scare them. He didn't expect the victim there thus causing the death
— 09/09/2023 11:15 PM
So went out today so didn't get much progress - I confronted crispin and he pulled a gun on me. Now don't think he did it as the parade float was stolen from his apartment. Still honour keeps thinking he did it which makes me think she's stupid
— 09/10/2023 10:15 PM
Okay so case 3 done - turned out to be insurance fraud gone wrong and onto case 4 - Looks like an employee of the Lethe security has been shot on the yacht
So played the game for a week it's not compelling me that much. The picross puzzles are relaxing and I enjoy doing them but they are overloaded in the game and repeat ad infinitum. Every item needs a picross and later levels they all on a 15x15 grid. It needs more variety imo in the game
The detective side is not great either and I find the main character just jumps from one assumption to another and only learns an important lesson in detective work about 3/4s way through when it's something she should've picked alot earlier imo. There are a lot of crimes which she does with little repercussions (she keeps breaking into the polices computer for example)
Ultimately I can't say I'm fully impressed with the game but the sunken cost fallacy will prob keep me going especially now I'm on the last case
6 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE6 Yrs♥$✓#
I've been playing this much more often than I thought I would. I really enjoy the puzzles and the story too.
I'm close to the end of case 2 I would assume and I'm doing all optional puzzles as well.
There's very little variety in the puzzles, so the game might become repetitive at some point. But so far it's a good time, especially for whenever I don't have the energy to start up a more complex game.
I really do wish someone would build this game but with regular expressions. It would be a similar experience but instead of dozens of the same puzzle with the exact same ways of solving them you'd have so many variations. It would be awesome.
I'm close to the end of case 2 I would assume and I'm doing all optional puzzles as well.
There's very little variety in the puzzles, so the game might become repetitive at some point. But so far it's a good time, especially for whenever I don't have the energy to start up a more complex game.
I really do wish someone would build this game but with regular expressions. It would be a similar experience but instead of dozens of the same puzzle with the exact same ways of solving them you'd have so many variations. It would be awesome.
5 Yrs♥✓#
Illusera5 Yrs♥✓#
On the last case. It can feel a bit repetitive at times but overall I’m still invested to see where it goes. The cases themselves have a certain pattern to them for the plot. It’s not something that bothers me though; I wouldn’t say that it was trying to do something overly complex so it’s fine with me. Unless there’s a spike somewhere I think the difficulty has peaked? I don’t think I’ve seen something larger than 15x15. For the main puzzles at least, as I haven’t done any bonus puzzles since the first case.
4 Yrs✓#
GemminiDrodson4 Yrs✓#
Yeah I'm enjoying it as well. I did get a bit burned out by the Picross puzzles halfway through Case 3, and started cheesing some of them. There's two ways I discovered to do it. One is to just spam the helper function that fills in 5 fields, the other is to put the game on easy and just hold down the mark button to mark everything. Takes less than 20 seconds to cheese a 15x15 that way. It will automatically mark any fields that shouldn't be marked as crosses.
Anyway, the music gets ultra repetitive while solving Picross puzzles, and there's just too many in a row in the last two cases, and they take too long once they become 15x15s, which really hurts the pacing between puzzles and story.
I'm really enjoying the story/detective side of things. SCOUTs little puns are funny, and the game makes me giggle a lot. It's just a wholesome affair, even if the writing is a bit silly with regards to the main character jumping to conclusions too quickly. I'm also curious to see how the overarching plot will pan out, although I imagine it's fairly predictable. But I don't mind, it's a fun time solving crimes with SCOUT, Honor and Detective Cross.
Anyway, the music gets ultra repetitive while solving Picross puzzles, and there's just too many in a row in the last two cases, and they take too long once they become 15x15s, which really hurts the pacing between puzzles and story.
I'm really enjoying the story/detective side of things. SCOUTs little puns are funny, and the game makes me giggle a lot. It's just a wholesome affair, even if the writing is a bit silly with regards to the main character jumping to conclusions too quickly. I'm also curious to see how the overarching plot will pan out, although I imagine it's fairly predictable. But I don't mind, it's a fun time solving crimes with SCOUT, Honor and Detective Cross.
10 Yrs♥✓#
knalb10 Yrs♥✓#
09/11/2023 10:01 PM
Seems like the previous captain in the prime suspect but the "temp" one clyde is acting suspicious
09/13/2023 10:01 PM
So the captain has been found locked in the hold. Still alive now investigating the area
09/14/2023 10:01 PM
Seems someone is smuggling diamonds on the ship. I very much doubt it's the film director but she's been arrested
09/15/2023 10:09 PM
well suspected this but it was Clyde who killed the other person. Now in the old SSI lab finding evidence
09/16/2023 10:55 PM
And I'm done with the game. I'm prob the most unimpressed with the game out of everyone in this thread but I find the game to be relatively meh. It was far to repetitive for it's own good. I didn't really gell with any of the characters although I did think it did an abusive relationship well. I also felt that the character jumped more conclusion to conclusion without through thinking. The graphics were decent and I have no issues with controls or the help it gave but the game just felt hollow to me. I'll write a full review at some point
Seems like the previous captain in the prime suspect but the "temp" one clyde is acting suspicious
09/13/2023 10:01 PM
So the captain has been found locked in the hold. Still alive now investigating the area
09/14/2023 10:01 PM
Seems someone is smuggling diamonds on the ship. I very much doubt it's the film director but she's been arrested
09/15/2023 10:09 PM
well suspected this but it was Clyde who killed the other person. Now in the old SSI lab finding evidence
09/16/2023 10:55 PM
And I'm done with the game. I'm prob the most unimpressed with the game out of everyone in this thread but I find the game to be relatively meh. It was far to repetitive for it's own good. I didn't really gell with any of the characters although I did think it did an abusive relationship well. I also felt that the character jumped more conclusion to conclusion without through thinking. The graphics were decent and I have no issues with controls or the help it gave but the game just felt hollow to me. I'll write a full review at some point
10 Yrs♥✓#
knalb10 Yrs♥✓#
Murder By Numbers
Completion September 16, 2023
Main+Extras 30h 19m 57s
Notes Easy - A, A, B, A. All unlocked puzzles completed
Review
+Some nice colourful graphics used
+Hint system in easy mode is great way of allowing people not use to picross to get used to the puzzles
+Steady increases the size of the picross in the game
-Bloated with only picross style puzzles and little variety
-Weak detective story and opportunity to build a case
-Main character jumps from conclusion to conclusion with little critical thinking
Overview:
Murder by numbers is a rather bloated picross game masquerading as a detective game but with some weak deduction elements added to justify it. While the picross elements are well handled and the easy difficulty has some really useful elements which help solve the puzzle without holding your hand it doesn’t help remove the bloat that this game is constantly giving only picross puzzles with little variety has it’s biggest challenge. It is not helped by a main character who jumps between conclusions without any critical thinking and no major repucussions for these actions. Overall while I feel the main picross sections were well handled it lacked enough variety for a game of this length and the story meant to justify it wasn’t good enough for the experience given.
4/10
Completion September 16, 2023
Main+Extras 30h 19m 57s
Notes Easy - A, A, B, A. All unlocked puzzles completed
Review
+Some nice colourful graphics used
+Hint system in easy mode is great way of allowing people not use to picross to get used to the puzzles
+Steady increases the size of the picross in the game
-Bloated with only picross style puzzles and little variety
-Weak detective story and opportunity to build a case
-Main character jumps from conclusion to conclusion with little critical thinking
Overview:
Murder by numbers is a rather bloated picross game masquerading as a detective game but with some weak deduction elements added to justify it. While the picross elements are well handled and the easy difficulty has some really useful elements which help solve the puzzle without holding your hand it doesn’t help remove the bloat that this game is constantly giving only picross puzzles with little variety has it’s biggest challenge. It is not helped by a main character who jumps between conclusions without any critical thinking and no major repucussions for these actions. Overall while I feel the main picross sections were well handled it lacked enough variety for a game of this length and the story meant to justify it wasn’t good enough for the experience given.
4/10
5 Yrs♥✓#
Illusera5 Yrs♥✓#
And I'm done! That last puzzle surprised me at the end but that 0 row helped. Toward the end it got a little puzzle constant as the pacing picked up. All in all, a pretty good experience for my "first" picross game. I thought it was a light story to get into. Interesting character design and I didn't have any functionality problems. The accessibility features were very welcome. Never thought I would play this until it was an Epic freebie, and even then I almost passed it by due to the genre. Still don't think I'll take to picross but I'm still glad I played this.
4 Yrs✓#
gardenappl
4 Yrs✓#
Just finished Act 1, I've never played Picross before but I'm enjoying it. Got S Rank on Act 1 and did all the bonus puzzles for that chapter - the S Rank bonus puzzle was pretty hard for me so I hope the difficulty does not increase too much on later stages.
(also I'm really glad that the ranking is not influenced by time, and that I can just chill)
The story is okay, not amazing but I still want to see where it goes.
(also I'm really glad that the ranking is not influenced by time, and that I can just chill)
The story is okay, not amazing but I still want to see where it goes.
10 Yrs✓
Antixesis10 Yrs✓
Was working on this but I decided to retire it after finishing Case 3. I S-Ranked Case 1 and 2 but for some reason I didn't get the S-Rank for Case 3 and I have no idea why. I suspect maybe it had something to do with the fact I started playing on my Steam Deck and I may have accidentally hit a hint button because I think they default it to the shoulder buttons but I have no recollection of doing that. The game does not offer any tools to re-do specific puzzles nor does it tell you what puzzles you didn't get full points for. Maybe I could have reloaded a save if the game gave me any sort of indication that I'd messed up a puzzle. The only option I'd have is to literally replay the entire case again but I don't see the point. They should definitely have an option to just re-do certain puzzles as the cases do not have any replay value at all. For now, I'm just gonna leave my review.
This game is really only for people that like picross/paint by numbers (I'm gonna call it picross). It's certainly colorful and the characters have a lot of personality but the story leaves a lot to be desired. It's supposedly a marriage between picross and a sort of murder mystery detective game but the latter is basically a complete farce as the story is completely on rails and the player has no agency over actually solving the mystery.
Gameplay consists of searching a room with a sensor until it beeps, solving a picross puzzle to get an item and then taking said item to specific character to progress the story. And you might think the mysteries themselves might be fun to at least make your own theories about whodunnit outside the game but it's not even really good for that. Each mystery starts with a few suspects, at most like 3 or 4, but the evidence you find always points overwhelmingly towards 1 suspect. Weirdly though the first suspect is always a red herring and then you start finding evidence that overwhelmingly points to a 2nd suspect who is always the one who did it. They repeated this for all 3 cases I played. Keep in mind, I didn't play Case 4, so that one could be different. At certain points the game gives you options to "solve" the mystery. But you can't actually get this wrong as, if you select the wrong answer, someone will always say "nah that can't be right, try again" until you select the correct answer.
For that reason, I'd only really recommend the game to people that like picross since it offers plenty of puzzles that ramp up in difficulty over time helping you to learn more and get better at solving them. I'd say by the end of case 2 the puzzles start getting pretty difficult for a beginner and by case 3 you have to start using some more advanced picross techniques. By the end of Case 3, there were puzzles that could not be solved without using the guess marker tool. I'm glad they include the ability to mark purple squares as guesses but I kind of wish they'd also include a tool to mark spaces as "guess x's" since you can only just mark with a normal x which can lead to a lot of unnecessary confusion.
I also don't recommend playing on mouse and keyboard because you have to click a toggle to change to guess marking but then you can't remove x's unless you switch back to regular guessing; it's all very clunky. This was much better on Steam Deck since they implement the system much better for a controller. Weirdly though, I found you had to use the touch screen to present evidence, as the option just disappears if you are using controller inputs :/ Of course, I can't speak for the Nintendo Switch experience.
All that said, it was a fun time waster. Getting an up to an S-Rank on each case unlocks new puzzles as part of "Scout's Memories" and if you solve all of these you unlock a special cutscene diving more into Scout's back story which is a pretty decent reward. I was mildly invested in this and Honor's story overall but in all honesty just not enough to just finish the final case especially since I'd miss out on Scout's 3rd secret memory.
In conclusion, I think the concept of the game sounds interesting but picross and mystery game just don't really seem to add anything to each other. And I think the mystery elements could be vastly improved upon. Overall, I did generally like the characters, I'd say, despite them being a bit on the tropey side.
This game is really only for people that like picross/paint by numbers (I'm gonna call it picross). It's certainly colorful and the characters have a lot of personality but the story leaves a lot to be desired. It's supposedly a marriage between picross and a sort of murder mystery detective game but the latter is basically a complete farce as the story is completely on rails and the player has no agency over actually solving the mystery.
Gameplay consists of searching a room with a sensor until it beeps, solving a picross puzzle to get an item and then taking said item to specific character to progress the story. And you might think the mysteries themselves might be fun to at least make your own theories about whodunnit outside the game but it's not even really good for that. Each mystery starts with a few suspects, at most like 3 or 4, but the evidence you find always points overwhelmingly towards 1 suspect. Weirdly though the first suspect is always a red herring and then you start finding evidence that overwhelmingly points to a 2nd suspect who is always the one who did it. They repeated this for all 3 cases I played. Keep in mind, I didn't play Case 4, so that one could be different. At certain points the game gives you options to "solve" the mystery. But you can't actually get this wrong as, if you select the wrong answer, someone will always say "nah that can't be right, try again" until you select the correct answer.
For that reason, I'd only really recommend the game to people that like picross since it offers plenty of puzzles that ramp up in difficulty over time helping you to learn more and get better at solving them. I'd say by the end of case 2 the puzzles start getting pretty difficult for a beginner and by case 3 you have to start using some more advanced picross techniques. By the end of Case 3, there were puzzles that could not be solved without using the guess marker tool. I'm glad they include the ability to mark purple squares as guesses but I kind of wish they'd also include a tool to mark spaces as "guess x's" since you can only just mark with a normal x which can lead to a lot of unnecessary confusion.
I also don't recommend playing on mouse and keyboard because you have to click a toggle to change to guess marking but then you can't remove x's unless you switch back to regular guessing; it's all very clunky. This was much better on Steam Deck since they implement the system much better for a controller. Weirdly though, I found you had to use the touch screen to present evidence, as the option just disappears if you are using controller inputs :/ Of course, I can't speak for the Nintendo Switch experience.
All that said, it was a fun time waster. Getting an up to an S-Rank on each case unlocks new puzzles as part of "Scout's Memories" and if you solve all of these you unlock a special cutscene diving more into Scout's back story which is a pretty decent reward. I was mildly invested in this and Honor's story overall but in all honesty just not enough to just finish the final case especially since I'd miss out on Scout's 3rd secret memory.
In conclusion, I think the concept of the game sounds interesting but picross and mystery game just don't really seem to add anything to each other. And I think the mystery elements could be vastly improved upon. Overall, I did generally like the characters, I'd say, despite them being a bit on the tropey side.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE6 Yrs♥$✓#
I'm now on case 4 and still enjoying it quite a bit. I guess I'm seeing this through to the end.
Funnily enough, like serveral other users here I only reached rank A on case 3 without noticing that I missed something along the way. That sucks. I'm locked out of two optional S-rank puzzles. So far, I have solved all puzzles, including all optional ones. But there's no way I repeat ALL of case 3 just to miss the unknown switch one more time.
Am I the only one that experienced a few glitches? Like maybe 5 times I couldn't press buttons, buttons where behind the rest of the UI, stuff like that. Nothing major but I had to ALT-F4 out of the game a few times.
I enjoy the story and the puzzles. The only thing I don't like (besides glitches and getting locked-out of puzzles) are the timed puzzles. Puzzles should, in my opinion, be done in peace, not hurrying through 4 puzzles with time ticking down from 1 minute to zero. I manage to solve these puzzles in time more often than not - but with like 2 seconds left! - and there have been 1 or 2 that I needed a second try. Once even needed a third try (and then finishing with 3-4 seconds left of the clock)
Funnily enough, like serveral other users here I only reached rank A on case 3 without noticing that I missed something along the way. That sucks. I'm locked out of two optional S-rank puzzles. So far, I have solved all puzzles, including all optional ones. But there's no way I repeat ALL of case 3 just to miss the unknown switch one more time.
Am I the only one that experienced a few glitches? Like maybe 5 times I couldn't press buttons, buttons where behind the rest of the UI, stuff like that. Nothing major but I had to ALT-F4 out of the game a few times.
I enjoy the story and the puzzles. The only thing I don't like (besides glitches and getting locked-out of puzzles) are the timed puzzles. Puzzles should, in my opinion, be done in peace, not hurrying through 4 puzzles with time ticking down from 1 minute to zero. I manage to solve these puzzles in time more often than not - but with like 2 seconds left! - and there have been 1 or 2 that I needed a second try. Once even needed a third try (and then finishing with 3-4 seconds left of the clock)
4 Yrs✓#
GemminiDrodson4 Yrs✓#
Originally Posted by: ThomasE
I had a couple of bugs on the Switch version, though not the same as you! For me, sometimes the rows and columns bugged out where a line would be done, but all the numbers still show up black. Had to untick and tick a box again to make sure the game marked the row/column as complete.
Am I the only one that experienced a few glitches?
I had a couple of bugs on the Switch version, though not the same as you! For me, sometimes the rows and columns bugged out where a line would be done, but all the numbers still show up black. Had to untick and tick a box again to make sure the game marked the row/column as complete.
4 Yrs✓#
gardenappl4 Yrs✓#
Case 4 does sorta follow the same formula as the previous 3 cases, but does take things up a notch, and ties up SCOUT's storyline while having its own mystery. I'd say if you finished cases 1 through 3 already then 4 is worth doing.
FWIW I did not experience any glitches like what others said, but I agree that the UI is clunky when playing with mouse
(oh, and I just remembered that the game doesn't actually the keyboard at all, the only way to advance dialogue is by clicking, so that's also a bit annoying)