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!
Los Angeles, 1996. Honor Mizrahi was just an actress on a hit TV detective show. But when her boss ends up dead just minutes after he fires her, she finds herself starring in her own murder mystery. Teaming up with SCOUT, a reconnaissance robot thrown away after a mysterious incident, she sets out to clear her name - and a new detective duo is born!
Very Positive
1,649 Steam reviews
| LANGUAGE | AUDIO | SUBTITLES | INTERFACE |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | — | — | Y |
| Japanese | — | — | Y |
I would only recommend this game to people who are already familiar with Picross and really enjoy it. That being said, I love this game!
The 90s vibe and aDr are fun, and the puzzles become challenging enough for someone who has played a lot of picross.
It’s not a super deep story, but I enjoyed the plot and the characters! I’d love to see them in a sequel of some kind
Puzzles get repetitive but I loved the characters and story!
Ace Attorney meets picross!!!!!!!! Love this combo
有卡 有成就 没中文
数字迷案
解开像素拼图寻找线索。
用这些线索盘问证人。
一步步接近真相……
…… 揭开《数字迷案》的离奇悬案！
1996 年，洛杉矶。
瑞穗・昂娜原本只是一档热门侦探电视剧的演员。可就在她被老板解雇几分钟后，老板离奇身亡，她意外卷入了一场真实的谋杀案。
她与一台在神秘事件后被遗弃的侦察机器人 SCOUT 联手，决心洗清自己的嫌疑 —— 一对全新的侦探搭档就此诞生！
从电视台工作室、华丽的颁奖礼，到变装俱乐部等场所，调查一系列谋杀案。
游戏全程搭配充满活力的原声音乐，由知名作曲家 杉森正和 创作（《逆转裁判》《幽灵诡计》《红侠乔伊》）。
通过盘问形形色色、古怪又有趣的角色，揭开一场黑暗阴谋。角色由《帅鸽男友》创作者、独一无二的 鳰 萌 设计。
90 年代时尚！动感乐曲！犀利吐槽拉满！无厘头笑话！变装皇后！
更多精彩，尽在《数字迷案》！
If you like Picross you'll probably love this game. Cute characters, fun puzzles, and catchy music by Masakazu Sugimori, probably best known for the Phoenix Wright games.
Sorry absolute trash game. At first it was just fine nothing spectacular but it was enjoyable. The story was not engaging one bit, i wants to be a Pheonix Wright kind of game but with Picross as a tool. The mystery side of things is pretty boring and the Picross is decent enough providing a hald decent challenge BUT you get to a point in the story where theres this mandatory hacking section which is a timed mini Picross and the time limit is insanely short, i mean you cant even think ahead short, there is no room for error and even without errors its way too stingent. I literally gave up after attempting multiple times.
Also it forcefully includes LGBT down your throats, pointlessly explaining non important points and adds nothing to the overall story.
Save your time and money and avoid this, there are better mystery games and better puzzle and Picross games.
Si te gustan los sudokus, es tu juego. Pero es lo más atractivo que tiene, la investigación es poca. Para pasar el rato, poco más
This game introduced me to and got me hooked on nonogram puzzles. Also the story is quite fun.
Solid nonogram puzzle game + visual novel, with a good story! The worst problem is that it doesn't have an undo button, which definitely gets annoying, but it's not too bad.
Cute, very reminiscent of Ace Attorney. I think the murders are a little too easy to "figure out" but the puzzles themselves are fun.
It does just enough for its frame story to work as the driving force to make you do more puzzles. If you like picross this is a perfectly fine medium in which to do them. Really any recommendation hinges on whether or not you just want an excuse to play picross; the other elements of this game will not carry you through if you're not interested in the core puzzle loop.
Mózg się stopił, ale gra świetna
uma mistura de visual novel e jogo de picross (nonograma), contendo trilha sonora do mesmo compositor de ace attorney -- como não daria certo???
Fun little game with a good detective story, exactly what I hoped for!
Puzzle wise, I enjoyed the game. The interactions between characters can be charming and funny. Honestly the reason I don't recommend the game despite that is the fact it gives non choices. I understand that for the story, you need me to pick or not pick a certain person; but I want to pick the person I want to pick. Worst part, it is Case 1 so it is kind of spoiling the entire game for me. Why let me be a detective if you won't let me choices mean something?
fun
Tough nonograms, and fun animation and story!
PROS: The nongrams are just really fun and you can get hooked playing for hours just doing the memory puzzles
the cast is generally well liked and fleshed out. Not Ace Attorney good but up there.
Solid mysteries. Ntohing groundbreaking but clever and functional.
CONS:
Nothing stands out
The 90s setting feels mostly pointless and unrelated to the plot or characters stories. It just comes off as sloppy and inexperinced
drama, picross, and sass
ミステリーアドベンチャーとピクロスがそれぞれ大好きなので、それが合体したゲームなら絶対好きだろう！と思ったらそれぞれが足を引っ張ってる感じですね。
パズルゲームに没頭したい！と思ったらストーリーを進めないと新しいものが出来ないし、ストーリーを進めたい！と思ったら一つ数分かかるじっくり系パズルが挟まるので気が削がれます。
基本的にはキャラクターも良く好きなゲームです。
비주얼 노벨과 퍼즐이 결합된 게임
다만, 추리요소는 좀 빈약하며 퍼즐이 중심이라고 봐야하는 게임이다
대화를 스킵할 수 없는 점은 좀 아쉬웠다.
우직하게 힌트 없이 퍼즐 풀다가 엄청난 시간을 투자해버림 ㅋㅋ
퍼즐을 좋아하는 게이머라면 분량도 넉넉하고 만족할 수 있을 듯 하지만,
추리요소를 중요시하는 게이머라면 실망할 수도 있다.
This is a cute little game. I really love picross puzzles and murder mystery, so the combination of the two was perfect for me. I played this game over a few months on my steam deck, and it was fun. Many of the puzzles are genuinely challenging. There is a rating system that encourages you to avoid using hints, as you can unlock extra puzzles if you score high enough. My only problems are there's no way to play through just the puzzles in order to get a better score. You have to go through all of the story in each individual chapter again, and the music during puzzles can be pretty jarring. Other than that, it's a great game.
I recommend this for the writing and characters, not so much the picross. I don't think it meshed with the visual novel aspect well and wasn't strong on its own.
Towards the halfway point the game starts presenting large grids with lots of small numbers, which make for very long solves. It plateaus at that point, not alternating between quick and long puzzles, meaning the puzzles slow down the pacing significantly and start to feel very samey.
They don't make clear images either, it's often angled pixel art that becomes unintelligible in black & white. By trying to make puzzles "hard", everything looks like fingerprints. It feels procedurally-generated instead of handcrafted.
A better approach might have been to introduce ? or * clues which can introduce new, trickier logic even in smaller grids with simpler shapes.
The CUTEST, most addictive game ever. See my hour count. I have played through the story almost three or four times, which is unusual for me, and I've also been plugging away at the enormous log of bonus puzzles. Cute story, fun and moderately challenging puzzle gameplay, and lots of content for its price. Love it to bits!
good solid picross game
Very nice idea, combining Ace Attorney styled evidence gathering with nonograms/picross. I was drawn in by the concept and the art style, and stayed for the nonograms!
Great fun! The story is epically 1990s, and charming. The nonos are pretty technical and hard though, but their hint system was very helpful.
There's a tricky timed nono section during hacking that some may not enjoy.
All in all, super recommend, though perhaps not the easiest first nono game. PiczleCross Adv eases you in with more choices. But this has nice memory nonos outside of the main game story
A mecânica principal do jogo inicialmente parece interessante mas enjoa rápido demais. E não é como se tivesse um esforço para que cada vez tenha uma forma diferente para que se tenha progressão — tudo que você precisa fazer para progredir, você TEM que passar pelo mesmo minigame. Estou ciente que existe maneiras de aliviar, como o jogo concluir o minigame sozinho, porém, não é muito intuitivo comprar um jogo em que metade do seu conteúdo é pulado. Eu realmente queria aproveitar a história, já que mistério é um dos meus gêneros favoritos. O fato de também não ter localização para português também é um ponto negativo, apesar de mais compreensível.
I never watched any trailer for this game. it was gifted to me and i decided to go all blind to play this game.
I was expecting more of an adventure game ala phoenix wright. but this is not it. This game is a puzzle game (nonogram puzzle) at its core. Good thing i also love to do nonograms. The production value is not what i'm expecting for a nonogram game. The story also surpassed my expectation. I love the soundtrack too.
I highly recommend it to gamers who love to do nonogram. but for adventure type of gamers i don't think this is for you.
Right before MediaTonic was heavily focused on Fall Guy's success, they released one unique little game that went under the radar, a visual novel detective game mixed with Picross puzzles!
For what it is, it's cute! It plays more like the Edgeworth Investigations spin off, where your on the go and solving cases on the spot, as your unraveling both the protagonist and her companion's place in the story! Special mention for the soundtrack, it was composed by the same person who did the Phoenix Wright game and it's very enjoyable, especially the opening theme!
However, while I did enjoy the game, I'm more mixed-positive due to a handful of issues after replaying it. For a visual novel/picross type game released in 2020, it's lacking a lot of useful features that would've made the game more enjoyable. There's no log to keep track of missing dialogue or to review, no option to fast forward segments especially on repeats, pacing issues in the second half, some grammar issues, etc.
And as for the puzzles; while this is where you'll get the most fun out of the game, it's also very basic compared to other Picross games. With the exception of the few timed ones in the story, you'll be solving standard 5x5, 10x15, and 15x15 most of the times and there's no special variants like multi-colored lines.
Despite the issues, it's still an enjoyable little game that combines two genres with mostly mixed results. I can only recommend this if your a visual novel enthusiast looking for something more lighthearted, with picross puzzles that will give you a good challenge. Wait for a sale though, as I believe you can find way more fulfilling visual novel games out there before this one.
this game has the best picross bangers ever
never have i felt so good about myself playing picross
that one missable puzzle in case 3 is terrible though
Will forever be sad that we most likely won't get a sequel
Murdered by Numbers is a nonogram/picross game with detective visual novel elements.
The illustrations are lively and fit well with the 90's centric theme of the game. The music is wonderful and catchy and is mostly perfect to listen to when solving puzzles. There are no voice acting in this game, but the dialogue is hilarious albeit filled with puns and dated 90's reference sometimes.
The plot is not too gruesome despite dealing with multiple murders. It also does not take itself too seriously even though some moments could be deep and dark at times. The story can be quite linear, though, even when presented with multiple options.
Overall, I really enjoyed Murdered by Numbers. I do hope that a sequel could be made somehow despite the developers of the game being disbanded.
This is a nice little game, a cross between Picross and Phoenix Wright. I enjoy the puzzles but I find that there is not enough difficulty. The game drags on in the later half, but is still worth playing
解密侦探斯考特，背景设置于20世纪末，zzzq苏醒时期的西方土地，玩家作为长年午间推理剧的侦探役演员Honor，因剧组重组失去工作，还没来得及发愁，现场突发命案，自己成为了最有动机的嫌疑人？意外接踵而至，这次又遇到悬浮的机器人，又是何方神圣？电脑形人天使心，私家侦探Honor Scout组合堂堂出道！
数织搭配上侦探AVG的组合，数织部分流畅智能，通过数织谜题解锁线索，顺藤摸瓜锁定真凶的单线剧情故事，本来是很契合的搭配，但是如同流水般的故事被谜题一坎一坎地切割，我的人机思维和发散思维互相攻击天天宕机，仅四个章节，整整花了两个半星期让我平复心情，怪不得部分剧情游戏会把剧情纯享版单独拿出来卖，原来不是为了赚两倍钱（
从狗头侦探到专业侦探，我们用四个案件打赢这场翻身仗，虽然继承毛利小五郎的做法，先把嫌疑人送进去才能洗清嫌疑，只要所有人都判定为凶手，那么破案率一定能达到100%。在侦探之旅中，我们见识了各种个性明显的人物，有男同，有娘娘腔的男同，有女装的男同，有装成男同的女性男同，有黑手，有有钱找人办事的黑手，有有钱但事情都自己干的黑手，有没钱的黑手，有看上去像黑手的有钱人，还有人畜无害纯洁善良聪明勇敢机智可人的我们俩(∠・ω< )⌒★ 就算邪恶的爪牙贯穿始终，一切罪恶终将绳之以法！
Murder by Numbers is a vibrant and imaginative fusion of visual novel storytelling and puzzle-solving that manages to blend two distinct genres into a cohesive, charming experience. Developed by Mediatonic and published by The Irregular Corporation, it invites players into a whimsical world of 1990s television melodrama, eccentric personalities, and murder mysteries—all while asking them to solve a steady stream of nonogram logic puzzles to uncover the truth. Rather than relying on fast-paced action or complex detective mechanics, the game builds its appeal through atmosphere, wit, and rhythm. It’s a game about deduction as much as it is about discovery, with an eye-catching aesthetic and an abundance of warmth that gives its quirky premise an unmistakable personality.
The story follows Honor Mizrahi, a TV actress whose life takes a sharp turn after the show she stars in, “Murder Miss Terri,” is abruptly canceled—and her boss winds up dead. What begins as an unfortunate career setback quickly spirals into a real-life mystery, forcing Honor to step into the role she once only pretended to play on screen. She is joined by SCOUT, a malfunctioning yet endearing robot who seeks to rediscover his lost memories. Together, the pair stumble into a series of murder cases that stretch beyond their initial misfortune, uncovering conspiracies, secrets, and unexpected friendships. The narrative flows through four main cases, each distinct in setting and tone but tied together by Honor and SCOUT’s developing partnership. The writing walks a fine line between humor and sincerity—there’s a clear sense of affection for its characters, and even the most absurd scenarios are grounded by sharp dialogue and moments of genuine emotional depth.
Where the game stands out mechanically is in how it intertwines its story with its puzzles. Instead of traditional point-and-click deduction, investigation scenes are driven by nonograms, also known as Picross puzzles. Every clue, piece of evidence, or reconstructed memory takes the form of a logic grid where players fill in squares according to numerical hints. Solving one reveals an object or detail relevant to the case, which in turn propels the story forward. It’s a clever and tactile approach that transforms passive investigation into active problem-solving. The puzzles start simple but scale in complexity as the game progresses, offering a gradual challenge curve that welcomes newcomers while satisfying veterans of the genre. Each puzzle feels meaningful within the narrative, turning what could have been an abstract mechanic into an integral storytelling device. The game’s pacing ensures that players are never far from a new puzzle or a new revelation, creating a satisfying loop of logic and narrative discovery.
Visually, Murder by Numbers embraces a cheerful and nostalgic art direction that captures the essence of its 1990s setting. The character artwork by Hato Moa, known for the cult hit *Hatoful Boyfriend*, lends each cast member a memorable personality through expressive poses and vibrant designs. The environments are richly colored and often exaggerated in a way that fits the game’s television-inspired tone. Complementing the visuals is an upbeat, jazzy soundtrack composed by Masakazu Sugimori, whose past work on *Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney* and *Ghost Trick* is immediately recognizable in its energetic flair. The combination of crisp illustrations, catchy music, and a polished interface makes the game feel both retro and fresh—a celebration of an era of storytelling that’s rarely revisited in gaming today.
Narratively, Murder by Numbers is driven less by high-stakes tension and more by character chemistry. Honor and SCOUT form a surprisingly heartfelt duo, their banter laced with humor, warmth, and growth. The supporting cast—ranging from flamboyant actors to stoic detectives—adds texture to each case, ensuring that even side characters have memorable moments. The game’s structure mirrors the episodic nature of a television series, giving players time to explore new scenarios and relationships in each case. The mysteries themselves are well-constructed if not overly intricate; the real focus lies in the charm of the journey rather than the shock of revelation. While the writing occasionally leans on cliché or convenience, its sincerity and comedic timing make it hard not to enjoy. There’s a palpable sense that the developers approached the game not as a parody, but as a loving homage to detective fiction and TV tropes alike.
Still, the game’s commitment to blending genres means it won’t appeal equally to all audiences. Those drawn in by the promise of detective storytelling may find the gameplay repetitive if they’re not fans of nonograms, while puzzle enthusiasts might wish for more mechanical variety beyond the logic grids. The balance between narrative and puzzle-solving tilts heavily toward the latter, and the puzzles themselves can become lengthy and numerous, occasionally slowing down the narrative momentum. Similarly, the story, while delightful, follows a fairly linear progression without major branching choices or moral dilemmas. It’s a tightly guided experience that values clarity over complexity, which may disappoint players hoping for more traditional investigative depth. Yet, these limitations are offset by the game’s confidence in what it does best—delivering a coherent and playful mix of mystery, logic, and character-driven humor.
In the end, Murder by Numbers succeeds because it knows exactly what kind of experience it wants to provide. It’s not about shocking plot twists or groundbreaking puzzle mechanics; it’s about the joy of piecing things together, whether it’s a puzzle grid or a personal mystery. It thrives on charm, personality, and heart, wrapped in an art style and soundtrack that radiate nostalgic appeal. For players who appreciate visual novels, puzzle-solving, and stories that blend humor with warmth, it offers an experience that’s both relaxing and rewarding. Murder by Numbers is ultimately a celebration of logic and empathy, a reminder that solving mysteries isn’t just about finding who’s guilty—it’s about understanding people, one piece at a time.
Rating: 8/10
So, I am saying not recommended, but bear in mind this is from the perspective of someone who was more in it for the story than the puzzles. I actually enjoyed the puzzles at first but the pacing of how and when they are integrated started to really grate on me after a while.
The biggest disappointment is that its first impression is amazing, and it goes downhill the farther along you go. To set expectations, if you have played basically any Ace Attorney game you'll see everything coming a mile away, it's definitely not doing anything groundbreaking. It's nice that it normalizes things like drag but it also feels Very Preachy And Educational About it, which hey, some people need exposure so if this is how someone found out about drag good for them. It took me out of the story though.
Character interactions in the first couple cases made it still super enjoyable despite the mystery writing being mid, but this final case is just an absolute chore if I'm honest. It is focused on Big Plot Payoff which this game is not good at and sacrificed the character focus from the earlier chapters, which it was MUCH better at. It also really wants me to care about its mascot character which is almost always a negative for me.
I have enjoyed this game, but it really overstayed its welcome and at this point I only feel determined to finish it to see if anything in the ending pleasantly surprises me enough to flip this review. I'm not holding my breath. And there's a good chance I can't be bothered to finish it at all. It would be a "recommended" at half the length, but it's unfortunately as long as it is, and suffers greatly from that.
(The character designs and music are great though... although the pacing and placement of the music could use some work.)
Murder by Numbers is a fun mix of visual novel storytelling and picross puzzle-solving that really nails its quirky, detective vibe. The characters and humor make it easy to get invested in the murder mysteries. That said, the pacing drags a bit toward the later chapters, and the number of puzzles feels a little light, plus, most of them are on the easier side. Still, it’s a charming, feel-good mystery game that puzzle fans will enjoy.
I played this game almost a year ago, and of the games I played that year, this was probably the most surprisingly good game. I saw it in my steam library one day, no idea where I got it from, probably a Humble Bundle or something, and decided to give it a try, since I liked the artstyle, and it seemed like something casual I could play on the Steam Deck.
And, yeah, it was very enjoyable. The characters were instantly charming - which has a lot to do with the cool opening theme song - the story was engaging, and the gameplay... well, the gameplay is just nonograms. It's not really the peak of gameplay, but it fit the cozy vibe of the story surprisingly well, and I do like nonograms!
Up until the end of case 3, I was fully engaged, and I really liked case 3 leaning in hard into its queer aesthetic. It was already present throughout the entire game, but straight up having a case set in a drag bar added so much to the game for me.
Case 4, however, is where the gameplay started to drag a little bit. The nonograms were starting to take a little bit too long to solve, causing a bit of a disconnect whenever the gameplay would switch between nonogram and visual novel. In the end, I think the game could've been a few hours shorter if the nonograms in the final case were a bit smaller, and that would have been to its benefit. However, seeing as it was the final case, I was more than willing to stick it through until the end, and I'm glad that I did.
The story isn't too complicated, and I wouldn't say it really goes into unexpected directions, but it doesn't need to. When you have charming characters - and I think this game does - you don't need to reinvent the wheel. I was entertained by just watching these characters do things, even if they weren't the most unique of things.
All in all, considering I didn't know I owned this game before I played it, it feels like I got a great experience for free, which makes it easy to recommend. However, I do realise that, if you're reading this review, it's likely that you [i]don't[/i] own the game, in which case, the price tag is something to consider. And to that I would say that the game is ever so slightly overpriced, but really, not by much. It's currently €12,50 as its base price, and I think I'd say that the experience of the game was worth roughly ~€9-10 for me. So even a 20% sale would already make it worth the price.
Part picross, part visual novel.
I love picross, this has quite a bit of it. It does this competently with wrap around cursor which is convenient, a 'maybe' button, and optional hint/s I never used.
I thought the story was kinda interesting. Your mileage may vary.
A Picross + visual novel, but it fails miserably. You get clues about the events by solving Picross puzzles. However, the resulting pixel images look nothing like the captioned titles. Also, the Picross puzzles are clearly programmatically generated, so solving them feels more like work than fun.
Now onto the story itself: bland and uninspiring. The characters don’t feel like they have any soul.
[quote]Reviewed by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45820397-DetotatedGamer/]Detotated Gamer[/url][/quote]
A lengthy VN / nonogram hybrid, and your experience will depend on much you like either. I found it light and funny -- and the puzzles aren't too difficult if you've played your fair share -- but it is long. Maybe a bit too long, as the VN segments do carry on a bit, but it's a lot of game for the asking price.
NGL, I got kinda bored of the story by about the half way mark but persevered because of the puzzles.
Still enjoyed the game but your mileage will vary based on how much you like doing nonograms.
If you like nonograms, go for it, the game is 2/3 puzzle and 1/3 visual novel. Has a nice interface.
For the VN part, the writing is pretty basic, a little shallow perhaps. LGBT friendly. There is no romance, only investigations (and a little bit of drama).
Buy it on discount.
This is the perfect game if you love a bizarre (but in a good way) mix of Ace Attorney style detective games combined with little puzzles that will turn your brain off for just enough to relax without being mind numbing. While it can be a bit time consuming and some people may struggle with the shifts between moments where you can relax and moments where you need to lock in, for me this is a truly 100/10 game! Definitely underrated!
I went into this expecting 80% picross puzzles and 20% visual novel stuff. This is actually 90% VN and 10% puzzles.
I did not enjoy the VN I saw either.
故事不长，但中后期平均一个题要二十多分钟。立绘挺好看的，剧情比较中规中矩，但总是先抓错再抓对的套路重复太多遍了，不过scout的一千个称呼也太好笑了。数织部分不错，数量也管饱，就是后面变化不大，有点疲劳了，而且看不出来最后图形是个啥。另，没汉语太可惜了，英语口语词和俚语很多，不查词典不太行。
Half nonogram, half detective visual novel, and a whole interesting concept! I like nonogram games on my phone but always get bored eventually. Likewise, I rarely play visual novels because reading can be overwhelming if the story isn't engaging. Thankfully, these two different genres slot together pretty well! Once one started feeling tiresome, the other picked up the slack. Overall it kept me going to finish the game.
I think the story is good enough. Perhaps there were a lot of twists I could see coming, but the overarching narrative was interesting enough. It's no Sanderson, but it doesn't have to be. The characters were enjoyable, and I thought the humor was good.
If I had one critique, I'd say that, while the puzzles on the whole were good, near the end of each chapter they definitely felt like they were interrupting the story more so than helping it. There were a few times when the narrative tension was high, the music intense, the stakes rising...only for the puzzle to start with upbeat music, and then when I'd return to the narrative 5 minutes later the tension was gone. That said, the small, timed puzzles when hacking were exactly what was needed, I wish more of the high-tension parts of the narrative focused on shorter, faster puzzles to match the intensity.
Overall though, I enjoyed my time with the game. I'd love to play a sequel, if only to see the story continue. If you like nonograms with a bit more spice, I'd recommend this game.
Murder by Numbers is a great mix between challenging Picross puzzler and an engaging visual novel, with interesting characters, nice music and a healthy dose of humour throughout.
The game is divided into 4 acts, which each have you solving murder mysteries by scanning the room for clues and speaking to the different characters. This is interesting in itself, however there is also a main overarching story line to follow, which helps to tie the whole game together. Each act has its own general theme, along with its own set of characters, however there are a few staples that we see throughout.
Aside from the visual novel aspects of the game, the actual picross puzzles are also fantastic. I went into this game having never attempted a picross puzzle, however this didn't pose an issue as the game is really good at easing you into them and teaching you some of the core strategies for completing them. I entered the game with no knowledge on them, and left the game feeling pretty confident in my newfound nonogram abilities! Often times visual novels will incorporate game play elements that feel slightly detached from the story, or aren't too relevant to it, however here they feel one in the same as you will uncover story elements as you complete the puzzles.
Murder by Numbers serves as both a fantastic visual novel story, and a fun yet often challenging picross puzzle game.
[h1]Picross + Visual Novel[/h1]
Murder by Numbers nasce da mistura inusitada de um visual novel com picross.
Nele você acompanha a atriz de série de TV investigativo, Honor Mizrahi, que ajuda a resolver assassinatos que acabou se envolvendo por acaso. Para isso, é necessário encontrar pistas no cenário, no estilo point n' click, que exigirão a resolução de uma tela de picross.
O jogo trabalha muito bem com a graduação da dificuldade de picross ao longo dos 4 capítulos e as 2 telas de tutorial te ensina tudo que você precisa saber pra avançar pela história.
Já na parte do VN o jogo deixa a desejar (e muito). Não há dublagem das falas, ficha de personagens e muito menos log dos diálogos; se acabou pescando, se perdeu na explicação em algum momento ou não lembra de algum personagem citado, se deu mal amigo. Isso seria o básico de qualquer VN e facilita muito a vida do jogador.
Além disso, mesmo a história não sendo ruim, a escrita é ocidental e eu prefiro muito mais uma história escrita por japoneses, onde há momentos de seriedade, mas há sempre situações absurdas que acabam surpreendendo demais e deixando a obra mais única.
Murder by Numbers acaba sendo um jogo bom para quem quer curtir um picross sem muita pressão, como ocorre nos jogos especializados nisso, com uma história de fundo para dar sentido aos puzzles resolvidos.
Platinado e recomendado
It's... okay. Maybe pick it up on sale for $5 or so? I originally recommended it, but thought about it more and decided it's hard to recommend when compared to its peers.
As someone who loves visual novels AND Picross, the combination of a visual novel and nonogram puzzles in this way sadly seems like a misstep. The puzzles are hilariously intrusive to the narrative in almost every instance they appear, and one of them had so few boxes filled in that it was freakishly difficult compared to all of the other puzzles.
The writing is shallow, and at times rather heavy-handed (as a LGBT person myself), but not BAD exactly. It's hardly a detective game at all, though. More like a short visual novel with some mild mystery elements.
The game is fun, just not a headliner.
Pretty fun story and a couple of difficult puzzles. *chef's kiss*
二回目のストーリー飛ばせる機能が欲しかった。
the art is really lovely! i enjoy the puzzles quite a bit too. most of the characters are really interesting and full of depth so i greatly enjoyed the missions. also the music is fantastic!
i think the plot of the game is compelling enough to want to play through the end. i didnt find the mystery behind the cases to be too obvious or too obscure, and i was interested enough to want to go through to the end. my tastes are a bit simple tho
there are parts of the game where you dont feel like you get much of a break between the puzzles and cutscenes, so do pace yourself! the timed hacking challenges are a bit annoying imo but i'm familiar enough with 5x5 patterns to quickly go through them, but i can understand someone feeling stressed out by them (especially the last one)
i actually unlocked all of scout's memories (still working on clearing them at the time of writing this review) on the first try in each chapter, but i know it's a pain to have to go back and search for everything if you accidentally miss something...that would be incredibly frustrating. might be a good idea to add checkpoints or areas where you can load directly from, or just use all the slots and layer your saves
the controls mostly work well! i'd love it if you could use your directional keys or wasd to move the camera when youre investigating. i dislike only using the mouse to scan around the scenery. i think this is the biggest change i'd love to see implemented in the game. otherwise i recommend playing the game!
It's been some time since I finished this. What I remember is that it is a fun game, with gorgeous art, and nice but quite overwhelmming story, it bothered me then how it doesn't have the basics of a visual novel, which is the skip button and also I cannot how the main character did not changed her clothes the entire game, which led for some moments that took me out of the narrative.
A fun package for the nonogram puzzles. I was at first a little unsure about "having to sit through the story to do more puzzles", but I ended up really enjoying everything! Learning SCOUT's backstory through the bonus memories is also fun. The only thing I remember negatively is being forced to make a wrong choice when there clearly isn't enough evidence to be sure of anything. But that's a minor quibble.
I'll just start with my biggest gripe and then get on with the recommendation.
Even though this story takes place in Los Angeles and features mostly (as in, all but one) American characters, all of the dialogue is written in a British voice, with British idioms and turns of phrase. This probably doesn't matter to a lot of people, but I find it extremely jarring. There are plenty of reasonably priced American editors who could have fixed all of this, but no one bothered to take that step. Annoying.
The story itself is ... fine. I'm not a fan of fiction where machines are treated as if they are actually sentient, but this is easier to get past than my biggest peeve (above). The murders are reasonably interesting even though some of the procedural decisions are absurd. At least the characters are colorful.
The puzzles, being the only real game element of this title, are the primary factor in my recommendation. Some complain that they are too easy because they are purely logical and require no trial and error. To me, that's a huge plus. In fact, I would not have finished the game or given it a positive review if they did require trial and error. I don't love that the black-and-white solutions rarely look anything like what they are supposed to represent (until color and detail are magically added after the puzzle is solved), but I understand that that is par for the course for picross games these days.
All in all, a marginal recommendation at best, but sure. If you like this type of puzzle, Murder by Numbers offers a ton of them at a reasonable price. The puzzle interface is good, and you are not penalized for incorrect clicks (a huge problem I have with other games of this type).
A fun Ace Attorney-esque visual novel picross adventure! I loved the puzzles, but for sure they got a bit difficult by the final case. I enjoyed solving them! I loved the art and the music. The story was a bit lackluster - the cases are easily solved, and there's (as far as I know) no alternate endings or routes. I loved the characters, but I found myself wanting to learn more about them! This game has a lot of going back and forth between locations, which can feel tedious. The ending is a cliffhanger and it's set up for another sequel. There are bonus puzzles, which is nice, but it's frustrating that the game punishes you for hints! You cannot unlock all of the bonus puzzles unless you get S rank on every puzzle in the main game. I wish that the bonus puzzles were just unlocked as you finished the game, and not by rank. If you do not get S rank, you have to go back and redo the whole case... which is tiresome.
If the devs ever decide to revisit this adventure, I'm looking forward to seeing my favorites characters again more than anything. I still have a lot of extra puzzles to finish to 100% this game, but I think I'll take my time with them. I think if you love picross, it's definitely worth playing, but don't expect much of the story itself from the visual novel. I wouldn't say it's terrible, but I wanted more from it. Regardless, I recommend it, because it was still a great time and I had fun. :)
8/10
This is hovering on the edge between Recommend and Don't Recommend imo, but at the end of the day it's a solid Picross puzzler and I liked it enough to finish it.
- Certain critical UI elements disappear on the Steam Deck when using the D-pad. Bringing up the "Show Evidence" button requires a tap on the touch screen.
- Everyone needed at least one more talk sprite, and it would have been nice if the main characters had 2-3 more.
- The plots for each case somehow got worse as the game went on. The first and second cases were (relatively) compelling and actually felt grounded in the world of the game, the third case was interesting mostly for [spoiler]actually making the drag queen the killer, even if it was an accident[/spoiler], and the fourth case was basically nothing and should have been split into two different cases.
- Locking bonus puzzles behind completing every puzzle sucks when there's no way to skip through completed cases to find unfinished puzzles. There's one SUPER missable puzzle in Case 3 (you have to go back to an area that you don't have any reason to go back to - this is the only time you'd ever want to do that). Thankfully it's not hard to edit your save data to get an S rank, but you shouldn't have to.
[h1]お絵かきロジックがメイン。推理は有って無いような物。[/h1]
推理ゲームの合間にお絵かきロジックがあるのではなく、お絵かきロジックゲームにストーリーを取って付けたゲーム。
なので、逆転裁判の様なゲームをしたくて買うと期待外れなので注意。
ストーリーは可もなく不可もなくといった感じ。自分的には大人びた女性の主人公と無邪気な子供のような相方のロボットの友情にホンワカしたので良しなのだが、いわゆるポリコレに配慮したキャラクターが多数登場するのでそういうのに激しい嫌悪感を表すジャパニーズアニメオタクは引くかもしれない。
お絵かきロジック部分は解法をしっかり頭に入れて、パネルをよく観察すれば必ず解ける絶妙な難易度。
逆に言えば思考はそれほど必要ないので作業感が強い。
Es möchte ein Nonogramm-Spiel sein, und es möchte eine interessante Visual Novel sein - leider scheitert es an beidem. Gähn.
I played the first case as intended but quickly realised the plot was pretty predictable. After that, I started skipping all the dialogue and used a mouse macro to exhaust every dialogue option and speed through the rest of the game. I did this mainly because I really liked the puzzle design, I’m a big fan of nonogram puzzles, and the game offers a nice range from easy to challenging, with good variety.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend this game to people who are just in it for the puzzles. Most of the content revolves around solving cases and interacting with characters, so if you’re not interested in the story, a big chunk of the game will feel like filler.
great story great puzzles great art no notes.
cute little game and i love nonogram puzzles
This game is great for those who love Pixel Puzzles. It is fun, has a great story with a wonderful and vibrant cast of characters, and stays challenging through to the very end. I love murder mystery games and puzzles and this did scratch that itch for me. I would not be doing my due diligence if I did not make note of the following:
- Content Warning: Probably already tell by the title but this deals with Murder, Violence, and other Crimes.
- This is a LGBTQIA+ friendly game. If you cannot handle any representation of that in your game, then please don't play it just to give it a bad review. It does not detract from the game and actually has interesting plot points that only those scenarios can bring up.
This is definitely a nice game to complete with the music, the story, characters, and design. I wish there was a sequel because I would definitely play it. I am happy to have played this game, and this will definitely be one that I recommend.
challenging puzzles and a compelling story! got attached to the little robot ;_;
I loved the characters and the story. I was already a fan of Picross style games, but putting it to a story was great! I had a blast working through the puzzles and solving the murders. The only thing is I wish the game was longer.
Murder by Numbers is a good nonogram puzzle game wrapped in a cool detective visual novel.
You play as a detective duo: Honor, an actress, and SCOUT, a flying robot. The story is pretty well written, as you solve multiple cases while piecing together a bigger plot. The other characters are also pretty good.
It plays mostly as a visual novel, with lots of reading. You investigate scenes to find clues, question people, and present evidence. Despite the detective nature of the game, it’s pretty easy to advance—there are no complicated mechanics where you can fail. Each case has a ranking system, but it’s purely determined by the puzzles.
Solving nonograms is how you find clues and the main gameplay element. You need to use logic to fill the correct squares in a grid. Compared to other nonogram games, this one lacks some quality-of-life features—most notably, the absence of undo/redo functionality. But it’s still pretty solid. Presentation is nice, and all puzzles can be solved without guessing.
Regular puzzles don’t have a timer, so there’s no pressure. There’s also a nice hint system, although to get the best rank, you can’t use it. However, puzzles very rarely go above 15x15 in size. There are also some hacking puzzles, where you solve a series of 5x5 puzzles under a strict timer, and you can’t mark the wrong squares.
You can’t replay individual puzzles at any time, but there are bonus puzzles unlocked by getting high ranks in the cases, and those can be played at will. Dedicated nonogram games usually have more content, but considering the hybrid nature of this title, what’s available here is plenty.
Overall, I enjoyed playing this. It blends a detective narrative and nonograms perfectly, and it's easy to recommend—especially on sale.
The mysteries in this are well thought out and I appreciate that all of them are actually interconnected in the end. The character designs are enjoyable and Scout is extremely endearing. If you like picross puzzles, these are good quality picross puzzles; most if not all of the puzzles are solvable without resorting to guessing and checking. However, if you're only here for the mystery and cannot do puzzles, maybe this isn't your game. There are hints and an easier mode to help you, although I never tried it out.
tl;dr good for mystery/detective genre fans who also have the patience for picross puzzles!
Great Picross puzzles, charming character designs and a real page-turner of a story you WILL want to see through to the end.
Every time I beat a puzzle game, I'm filled with the Mad Max War Boy desire to spray my teeth chrome and shout "Witness Me!". Pictocross puzzles are more tedious counting than deep deduction, but its still nice to finish one of these.
In all seriousness, the game needs a skip option for the dialog. I just don't care that much, and I don't see the point of having me select mandatory dialog options other than to act as a speed bump against mashing through text. The story is alright, though the ending where the villain declares that he'll kill me, fires a shot, hits someone, then seems to panic and run off without also shooting me seems very odd. And come on, why am I searching for clues when the mean looking guy with a scar on his face is right there? Oh, and he talks like a boomer, calling me one of those "Hollyweird types" while he's obsessed with war and money. Just...so dumb...so, so obvious, and so dumb.
I like puzzles though, so this Yes is for the puzzles. The story is a No.
Love this game to death (haha). I originally got it for free from epic games, and have played it through multiple times ,putting in over 50 hours on there. The story is amazing, and the puzzles are just hard enough to be fun but not frustrating. The character designs are beautiful, enough to encourage me to purchase the art book which I haven't done for a lot of games. I would seriously recommend this to anyone who enjoys visual novels.
A good, humourous (and queer) visual novel broken up with some easy-to-middling-difficulty picture logic puzzles. I enjoyed it while it lasted
Great game, especially for those into picross, it's an amazing mix of picross and detective/crime game. Cool characters, nice artwork and stuff.
Going into this, I was unsure how I felt about visual novels... I can confidently say that this solidified my distaste for this genre. To be fair, I wasn't interested in reading tons of dialogue and, instead, wanted the achievements and some nonogram puzzling.
This game almost warranted an auto clicker with how much clicking I had to do just to progress the endless dialogue. I have about 12 hours in this game and that's with completely skipping through the entirety of the story. I can't imagine what the playtime would be if I actually sat through and read everything. This is at no fault to the game, the developers, or the visual novel genre. I've simply realized this isn't the genre for me. That's not why I don't recommend the game though.
There's an issue where the game sort of softlocks during case 2. There's a post in the game's discussions that provides a path to progress, but it's ridiculous this bug still exists 4 years after the game's release.
+1 perfect games though.
[h1] Murder by Numbers: Private Eye Perceives Puzzles With Picross Prototype [/h1]
[h2] -Overview: [/h2]
Murder by Numbers is a puzzle and detective game, with heavy emphasis on the puzzles. You play as the actress Honor Mizrahi, solving various crimes (usually murder) with the help of your robotic buddy SCOUT. To find clues, you must solve various nonograms, which ramp up in difficulty through the cases.
[h2] -The Good: [/h2]
[h3] -The Characters: [/h3]
The character writing in this game is nothing short of PHENOMENAL. The dialogue is written wonderfully, causing me to hate certain characters (in a good way!) and love others. K.C was a favorite of mine, but that might be because of my love for the sassy gay trope. If there's one thing that makes this game shine, It's the characters!
[h3] -The Puzzles: [/h3]
I disliked nonograms before I went into this game, and came out loving them. There are a LOT, but the games does a good job teaching you the skills needed to solve them!
[h2] -The Bad: [/h2]
[h3] -The Detective Game Elements: [/h3]
I really enjoyed my time with this game, but to call it a detective game is a bit misleading. The player never truly has to do any deducing, as the game tells you everything. You are also not punished at all for making incorrect statements, which makes it feel as if your actions don't have any consequences whatsoever. It would be more accurate to say this is a visual novel with detective themes, not a full blown detective game.
[h3] -The Investigation Mechanics: [/h3]
I really disliked how the investigation mechanic was implemented. Rather than looking for something interesting in a scene, you instead play a game of hot and cold to find a plain area of the background. The items you find through investigations are oftentimes not present in the scene itself, so it feels like you are pulling something out of nothing. Another gripe I have is that the game randomly decides when you can find a new clue. certain items can only be found after certain story beats, which leads to certain clues existing in a crime scene that you're not allowed to find until the game says so.
[h2] -The... Confused?: [/h2]
[h3] -The Story: [/h3]
I really enjoyed the story, but it always felt as if it was missing something. The mystery writing could've used a little work, as it feels like they throw things at you randomly. You're never given a lot of time to be unsure of who the culprit is, which I think is a problem. The game likes to point at someone, say "THAT is the killer!" and then have you gather evidence until it points at someone new and says "just kidding, THIS is the real killer!" This repeats until the game decides to point you at the actual killer. If I could compare the story to a cake, I'd say it was missing a bit of decorations and frosting, came out a bit under-baked, but it's still a good cake!
[h3] -The Character Design: [/h3]
I loved many of the character's designs, but some felt rather one-note or a bit overdesigned. For example, there is a character in the fourth case, Erin Kino, who has so many different elements and colors in her design that it ends up feeling a tad cluttered. I still like the design, and clutter does have a place in designs, but in this instance it feels a bit overdone. Another problem is that some characters look obviously evil, which could be toned down a little.
[h2] -Closing Remarks: [/h2]
I really enjoyed my time with Murder by Numbers. The characters were wonderful, the puzzles were fun, and I found myself excited to start each new case. While there are a few flaws here and there, none of them were large enough to leave a sour taste in my mouth. I must stress though, this is primarily a puzzle game, not a detective game. 75 percent of the game is puzzles, so If you are not on board with that, steer clear. If you are okay with that, I wholeheartedly recommend this game!
Ever wondered why in the Ace Attorney series picross wasn't a thing? Or maybe why Maya wasn't a flying robot? Or maybe when any of the cases would happen at a drag bar? Those are certainly questions one can have and Mediatonic before they entered Fall Guys hell decided to answer them.
Murder by Numbers is a detective mystery game that features in its investigation a series of puzzles known as nonograms (or picross) based around filling out squares in a grid. The puzzles themselves are mostly 15x15 with a difficulty curve that starts by going up a step, staying mostly the same and then ramping up a bit by the end. As a result, there isn't much of an attraction on that aspect for the puzzle lover out there but there certainly is for the casual and avid reader.
Indeed, the storytelling surrounding actors, a flying robot and amnesia has its ups and downs, sassy lines, a protagonist the same age as me and an ending that sets the scene for an improbable (at this point) sequel. Maybe the cast isn't as quirky or witty as in other detective series but they aren't far behind either with references to popular movies like Casablanca and the ability to get more lines out of them by presenting everything.
Another thing of note is the presentation. The drawing style of the characters sprites, the simple yet clear background art, and the different expressions make for a spotless art style. More so, the presentation also needs proper sound and that's where the soundtrack comes in. From the funk to the somber piano going from upbeat to tension with a bass and guitar, there are a couple of tracks that will probably still out throughout it. My personal favorite was SCOUT's puzzle theme with Honor's theme as a close second probably thanks to the animated and full of personality presentation you can view every time you boot up the game.
So if you have 15 to 20 hours to spare on a detective story that, to be fair the detective part is mostly done by the characters rather than the player, give this one a shot. Also to Casablanca, that’s quite the flick.
Overall enjoyable. Fun concept, fun story, fun characters, beautiful art and designs - can definitely see the Phoenix Wright influences. Has some of the best everyday character designs that I have ever seen in a game and I often found myself screenshoting sprites to show friends how cool this new character sprite was. I mean, I spent nearly 50 hours playing a VN with Picross - I'd go so far as to call it a hidden gem in my library.
I do have a few gripes though: some of the UI, a few bits of the writing, and the ranking system.
First is the very minor: there are sections that simply don't have a back button. It's not hard to navigate even without, but it just feels like an oversight that makes the experience slightly more annoying.
Second, still pretty minor: it wears its politics on its sleeve for the most part, but in voicing those politics, the writing gets a bit... stilted sometimes? For example, the explanation of drag is written quite stale-ly, and there's a section that pulls the "killing a killer doesn't change the number of killers" type argument, which was just... rough, in my opinion. The writing overall is actually quite charming, but those sections stick out.
Finally, my biggest gripe: without a way to skipped completed puzzles or even seen dialogue, the replay people might need to do to get S rank and have access to all of the Scout's Memories puzzles is an utter SLOG, especially in Case 3 where you can miss puzzles, even if you're very thorough. I played through it twice and managed to miss the puzzle I wasn't doing both times.
I point out the negatives because, otherwise, I very much enjoyed this game, and think other people will too so long as these aren't deal breakers. If you can handle a bit of wonky UI, a smidge of cringy dialogue, and don't care about maybe not getting max rank on all of the cases (without manual override, anyways), go for it!
Puzzle game (nonogram) with a nice mystery plot.
100%'d the game recently! It definitely gave me what i wanted- lots of picross, a cute story, and queer and POC rep! really refreshing and i hope there will be another picross game from this studio sometime. super awesome :3c felt very satisfied getting each puzzle correct
If you enjoy picross, you'll enjoy this game. If you enjoy a good story, this game is not for you.
While this game claims to be a detective game, the gameplay is exclusively picross with no detective work whatsoever done by the player. The story is structured the same as an Ace Attorney game, which is the obvious inspiration here (down to them hiring the original composer for the first AA for the soundtrack). Four cases total with a murder at the center of each and an overarching thread connecting them. However, the game is not really interested in constructing a compelling mystery for the player, instead opting to just throw random evidence at the player via picross puzzles with no real narrative through-line. Just going through the motions.
The main mystery, and the only competent one in my opinion, is that of Scout's origin, which I did find myself intrigued by. However, the conclusion wasn't all that exciting and when compared to the game's inspiration, Ace Attorney, the big finale was lacking to say the least. The individual cases didn't keep my interest for long as it was usually quite obvious who the culprit was and since you don't get to solve the mystery yourself like in AA, where the focus is on the 'how dunnit' over the 'who dunnit' most of the time, the visual novel parts of the game sometimes felt like a waste of time. Filler in between the actual meat of the game, that being the picross puzzles.
My biggest gripe with the writing is the characters. The cast is the biggest nod to AA within the game, with each character boasting an over-the-top quirky personality but they all lack the nuance found within AA's characters. As an example; the main character, Honor, I found to be particularly frustrating as she constantly acts on her (incorrect) conclusions on impulse after finding just a single piece of evidence instead of seeking further information to support her theory. This made her look stupid and naive, and actively disruptive to the investigation as her actions on more than one occasion gets the wrong person incarcerated throughout the game. The player then has to sit through the events knowing that she's wrong and dumb, unable to do anything about it. Honor's actions clash with the way the developers want to portray her, since in casual conversation she is more sarcastic and reserved (à la Phoenix Wright), sporting a history of emotional abuse to boot. As a result, she ends up reading very inconsistent and poorly developed.
Still, as I said, if you like picross you'll like the game, and I happen to like picross so I enjoyed it despite its shortcomings in the story department. The art is good and, even though I found the character writing lacking, the same is not the case for the character designs. I also thoroughly enjoyed the aforementioned soundtrack, with the handful of puzzle tracks that repeat throughout being particular standouts. Despite these three or so tracks playing for about 50% of the game, they never got stale and I found myself nodding along each time they played.
Also important note; investigate the bar in Case 3 at every interval before advancing the story else you might miss a puzzle that locks you out from S rank and forces you to replay the entire case if you want to 100% the game.
Full of nonogram puzzles with a quirky detective story.
confesso que os puzzles me irritaram no começo, mas fui me apegando aos personagens
achei que o KC seria estereotipado, mas o arco das drag queens foi mt bom
e o scout é a melhor parte do jogo
Okay I get why people dig into Law and Order now. Really fun and light balance that gets the right amount of serious. Fun puzzles.
***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED***
I wanted to review this game for months now. I played it on the Epic Store first (free game a week) and this game is great. When I first played it, I had a vague understanding of what a nonogram even was (I just called it picross). This game is a great introduction to nonograms. The grids in this game are fairly small (10x15). I think it was smart to keep the grids small. I once tried a 200x150 - it took me literally DAYS to finish it. So if they went bigger most people would just give up.
Anyways - The story is good, but it does take a hot minute to remember what's going on after a puzzle.
Shoutout to [nonograms . org] community for all the great puzzles.
It's like two different games that don't mesh at all, there's no real sense of connection between the story and the picross gameplay. The story is alright but requires a lot of suspension of disbelief.
Challenging nonogram puzzles tied together with a murder-mystery storyline. I enjoyed the puzzles. The VN aspect was just OK.
Adorable, fun and very relaxing picross game, with fun characters and a cool story
This is why you should never talk to the police without your lawyer present, even if you're innocent.
イラストロジックパズルと逆転裁判風アドベンチャーとの触れ込みで購入しました。
まずアドベンチャーパートが壊滅的に面白くなくて気が滅入る。
ほぼ全ての登場人物の性格が破綻しているので感情移入できなくて気が滅入る。
バックログが読めない為、セリフ途中で他の人物がセリフを被せてきた場合に読み直しができなくて気が滅入る。
リアクション時の点滅に気が滅入る。
終盤になるにつれてパズルが難しくなるのでパズルパートに時間がかかり、テンポが悪くなるので気が滅入る。
以上のことからおすすめできません。
Very solid puzzle game. :) I do wish it was a little more challenging but I've spent a lot of good time in this one. Enjoyable. Uncomplicated. Wish it was longer!
If you're into nonograms then this game is a great amount of story mixed with puzzles, its relaxing and fun. The main characters are likable and cute, the hokey fashion and (seemingly) stereotypical side characters also feel lovable. My only complaint was, originally I felt that the first chapter dragged on and the puzzles were too easy, but I later realized it acts as a long tutorial where puzzles begin simple before getting more and more complex. Would recommend to all nonogram lovers and anyone wanting an interesting but low key puzzle game
I really wish there was a more neutral rating to give this game. As a visual novel, it's okay I guess. I bought this moreso for the picross rather than novel aspects.
The picross puzzles are all solvable by logic and most are not on a timer. There are a few easy rapid fire 5x5 ones that must be completed within a time limit to progress. The puzzles do not go larger than a 15x15, which is a little disappointing.
What turns this into a thumbs down game for me (and where I have stopped playing) is case 3. There are puzzles and evidence you can apparently miss if you go through the case too quickly. I finished case 3 with an "A" rank. Having talked to everyone and presented all evidence I didn't think I had missed anything. I had solved all puzzles I had come across without the use of any hints. I personally don't find replaying through a chapter entirely to get "S" rank to unlock the last two of Scout's Memories to be a fun experience. It should be more clearly indicated if there are missable pieces of evidence/puzzles to look out for. After checking forums I can see I'm not the only one that encountered this.
This game took me by surprise at how good it was and how much I got into it. Slightly slow start and then gets deep in there.
The story is good, not complex, but just nice and keeps you interested. The individual cases are good, again, simple stories, but interesting enough.
Several characters I absolutely wanted to slap so hard. So, very well written!
I loved that I could take my time with it, relax and listen to other things whilst doing the puzzles, take breaks and things. Very much became a chill, calm game for me.
The artwork is brilliant, the progression of difficulty is well paced and levelled. Very satisfying.
This game really is Ace Attourney meets Picross. It's super chaming and the story is great. I love the characters. Go play it.
⭐️⭐️💫
SteamDeck✅️
When the game starts you up with an animated opening song you know you are in for a treat! Honestly, as long as you are a fan of nonograms and/or visual novels this is a fantastic game.
This game probably single handedly made me never want to do another nonogram. I mean the good? Story is nice, artstyle is good and I enjoyed solving the riddles - even if the detective part was pretty obvious/easy as long as you read the story.
Although I gotta be honest - too many nonograms. I like them but each case had aready a lot of them but then they got even longer. First two cases were fine, third I was strugging and during last one I literally switched to easy half way through and started skipping the grams to make it to the end. I probably could have split the last case into two sessions instead but I didnt want to leave the case unsolved.
I recommend it but probably only if you really really like doing like 50 nonograms in one sitting since thats the main downside of the game.
woke picross i like it :)) even if the plot was predictable i still liked the picrosses
