An eccentric FMV murder mystery with a twist: someone has poisoned Uncle Marcus. Uncover the truth in the yearly family quiz and try to save him before it is too late.
Mixed
1,157 Steam reviews
| LANGUAGE | AUDIO | SUBTITLES | INTERFACE |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Y | Y | Y |
| Chinese (Simplified) | — | Y | Y |
| French | — | Y | Y |
| German | — | Y | Y |
| Russian | — | Y | Y |
| Turkish | — | Y | Y |
It's terrible. The story goes nowhere and seems like a bad comedy, every character is unlikeable.
It froze 3 times during my play through and had to quit and reload each time. I have no desire to keep playing to see the other endings.
Salutation !
Hmmmmm, un jeu trèèèès court, dans un style FMV qui fait sourire, le jeu d'acteur est passable, l'histoire... passable, mais je ne saurais dire pourquoi j'ai était jusqu'au 100%.
J'ai eu le jeu à l'époque dans un humble bundle, pour 2heures de jeux... je sais pas, je conseil le jeu à moins d'un euros, c'est plus une éxperience qu'un véritable jeu à ce stade selon moi.
Mais pas une éxperience désagréable, donc je le conseil quand même à très petit prix !
Possibly the greatest game of all time.
8/10 Absolute Creamer!
只是好奇老外的脑回路……这个剧情我不太理解……不过多剧透，还是得自己慢慢玩，慢慢看。道理我懂，就是单纯地不能理解外国人的行为方式。
[b]My Playtime:[/b] 6.5h (100% achievement, finished the game 7+)
[b]My First Playthrough:[/b] 0.8h (bad ending)
[b]Grindy Achievement(s):[/b] No.
[b]Optional Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (15 achievements).
[b]Difficult Achievement(s):[/b] No.
[h1]Intro[/h1]
[i]Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?[/i] is an FMV game where you need to find out who poisoned your uncle Marcus in a family quiz. Interrogate every person or just play along with the quiz—the choice is up to you.
[b]Pros:[/b]
- 7+1 endings
- Evidence is retained in the next playthroughs
[b]Cons:[/b]
- Sometimes the game only has slightly different dialogues, and the skip option won't skip until that point in the game
[b]Specs[/b]
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 16GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT
[h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1]
[i]If you enjoy FMV games, this game actually is a good short one that can be enjoyed in the evening.[/i]
[hr][/hr]
[h1]In-Depth Review[/h1]
[h3]Story[/h3]
[i]Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?[/i] is an FMV game that happens during a family quiz. Shot during COVID, the quiz was done online through video calls, even for families who are supposed to be living under the same roof. The catch? Your uncle, Marcus, was poisoned during the previous family gathering. You must figure out who did it and what poison was used during the whole quiz.
The game depicts what is supposed to be a family gathering well, except that it was worse than how it normally is. It depicts a toxic family where family members always pick up fights one after another, where normal people supposedly do not exist. Your aunt is a helpless drunk, your little cousin is creepy since he likes death-related stuff, your big cousin is a self-centered guy who just boasts about being selfless—even people that appear normal are not.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3401197961
What's strange in this game is that the family seems to be technologically adept. Your mom and aunt can operate the video camera well, and even your grandma, who was actually relatable at first with her showing the camera off-center, eventually got it right after, like... the third try? That seems way too fast. I also find your big cousin, Toby, to be ridiculous. He stands out at the beginning since you can see that he's not in his room. He was supposed to be in a vehicle to somewhere else, so the actor sometimes just moved up and down to simulate the rough terrain. It's hilarious, and the actor's flat face just makes it funny.
I found the ending to be lackluster. There are 6 different endings, which differ based on who you accused. The family members seem to be quick to admit whether they did it or not—even the killer just reveals the motive and how they did it by themselves. However, I liked how the game shows the family's thinking process at the end and why they were suspicious, to the point that you can accuse them. It also reveals that they were worse than how they appear during the quiz, including you. Yes, you might not be able to accuse yourself, but your real nature shows after you choose the murderer. Let's just say that I didn't like how she behaves—sure, the other family members might be toxic, and you might be fed up with them, but what she did just makes her no better than any of them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3401949567
[h3]The Game[/h3]
[b]Gameplay[/b]
The quiz was held in pairs, in which one family member would ask questions to the pairs. No, you don't have to have any knowledge to answer it. You and your pair will figure it out, and then you can choose whether to answer the question or ignore it and talk about the family gathering instead. Your choice might or might not lead to evidence that increases your suspicions about other family members. And yes, you can gather enough evidence to accuse everyone in the quiz, excluding you.
The game encourages you to play it multiple times. It's impossible to find all the evidence in one playthrough, and the evidence that you gathered in the first playthrough will remain in the next playthrough. Since you can choose who you need to be paired up with every round of the quiz, you can gather different evidence if you pair with other people.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3401947876
You can skip the cutscene that you have already seen. However, I found that the skip option was lacking. There is no option to skip until the scene that you haven't seen, so if the scene only has a minor change, you will need to watch the whole movie since the skip option will skip everything until the next branching point.
[b]Length and Difficulty[/b]
The game itself is very short, though. It was divided into four rounds, and you can finish one round faster than usual, depending on your choice. I finished it at 0.8h in my first playthrough, but I got the bad ending since I didn't have enough evidence to accuse anyone. I played the game more than 6 times afterwards to sweep the other evidence and achievements.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
[i]Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?[/i] does a clever take on game-making during COVID. Being unable to do the casting together due to COVID, the game just does it as if casting separately is the normal thing to do. This doesn't retract the conversation between the casts—you can clearly see their expression and enjoy the overall plot. It doesn't feel any different from playing other FMV games, and the plot was nice enough to watch. If you enjoy FMV games, especially those where you try to do an investigation, buy it on sale.
Holy ♥♥♥♥ how do you code a game this bad that is basically just a VN. First time playing crashed my entire PC after like 20mins in when I assume it was doing some sort of story check. Upon reboot it didn't save any progress despite saying resume.
Second time playing I kept task manager open and it would constantly spike to 60-80% of my cpu. Then once again after a little over an hour it crashed my pc again.
I run a Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2GHHz cpu, with 64GB of DDR5 ram and a RX 7900 XTX 24GB GPU. There is nothing about this genre of game that should be causing these issues. Seriously wtf.
The story is far too short. I sense an unnecessary complacency, given the lack of serious competition in this genre. It's as if they thought, "No matter what we do, the target audience will buy it anyway."
The plot is flawed, and the progression is nonsensical. I played it for a long time just to finish it.
If I weren't a fan of this genre, I would have returned it after the first playthrough.
This game is funny as hell!
Ugh.. I couldn't get into this one at all.
谢谢时少赞助
八卦家庭伦理剧，要打多周目，奈何自己太懒了，其实已经猜到了，b站看看剧情得了
A quick, quirky FMV mystery that leans into its chaotic family drama in the best way. The acting is fun, the humor lands, and the setup is just the right amount of ridiculous.
The real hook is how the game expects you to piece things together across multiple runs. You’re constantly tracking what you learned last time, what choices opened new clues, and which family member you want to corner next. It’s short, but that loop of replaying and connecting the dots makes it fun.
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus may just be the single-handedly greatest story game of all time.
This game had me gripping the edge of my seat with each twist and turn. The way Uncle Marcus suffocated as I was answering challenging and though-provoking questions just had me in awe.
This game had me think long and hard about the course of events that led to this moment, all of the traitors, all of the allies, and all of my beautiful and wonderous memories.
I kneeled before Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus, and praised it for such a wonderful tell tale story.
*Absolute Marcus*
A small and nice FMV-game with funny dialogues and good actors. For FMV-lovers I highly recommend this game. It does not have the greatest complexity, but makes up for it with how the characters are acting.
If its on sale, it's a no-brainer to buy. Full price is debatable and only recommended for real FMV-lovers.
👍
Знаете, я не люблю писать обзоры, но данный проект действительно заслуживает этого. Для меня интерактивные фильмы, это разряд что то нового. И так-как, я давно хотел поиграть в нечто похоже, я купил ее по скидке. Итак, с первого раза пройти эту игру навряд-ли возможно, но реально. Поиграл на все ачивки, с чего-то я в шоке. с чего-то было предсказуемо. Но игра стоит того чтобы ее пройти и не один раз.
Chouette FMV de réunion de famille.
On va devoir faire plusieurs runs pour voir le dénouement mais l'histoire est courte.
Le hic : Impossible de savoir en dehors du run qui a encore des choses à nous dire.
J'ai du faire appel à un guide pour avoir les indices qui me manquaient sur deux des suspects. Evidemment le tueur était dans le lot.
Peut-être que vous aurez plus de chance que moi.
Это не квест, где ты бегаешь и ищешь предметы. Это интерактивное кино. Ты сидишь и смотришь видео, а в ключевые моменты выбираешь, что сказать или спросить.
机制单一，玩过几次后就没意思，早就知道凶手是谁，就是一直走流程，浪费时间。
It's short but fun!
Looping through the dialogue can get repetitive, but luckily you can skip each scene between choices, and it even tells you if there's something new in the scene when you try to skip it, so you can choose when to pay attention. The twist wasn't a big shock, but it was fun getting the know the different characters & their quirks along the way.
I need to rant about poisons for a sec before I can get into the meat of this. Why do I know some of this ♥♥♥♥? That is a discussion for never with you. :P
The poison had to have been Clerici solution (had to look the proper term up because I knew the concoction but not the name and now you know too :P) which has Thallium in it. Thallium by itself is a heavy metal. Good luck poisoning someone via dressing wound with a hunk of that. :P
Dimethylmercury is in fact a liquid and if the vile you get to see (depending on the story route you took) was said to be such, I would have been like, yep! That checks out. But it was Polonium-20 which isn't even one of the monikers given to any solutions that are out there (That I know of and from the brief search I did. Could be a typo for Polonium-210 and if so, that is an... isotope(?) of Polonium so like...) and it needs to be a solution for this storyline to work because, aside from the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mess it is to classify, it's not organically a liquid and the liquid is colored. As you have guessed, the vile contained a colorless liquid. Also most of these, with how they do their poison thing and who the ♥♥♥♥ used it to poison, both parties would be affected, bare minimum.
Also with all of these, they are "cured" via injections or capsules but for Thallium, I'll give them points for the bottle being blue, (You use Prussian Blue for that one.) but you do not just drink something, especially with no doctor present and hope for the best. Absolutely hated all of this part of the plot.
Ok. Now that I'm done nitpicking... :P Believe it or not, I did manage to suspend my disbelief. This ♥♥♥♥ is gamedev meets film festival ideas. Definitely not a bad thing as you can tell how cheesily fun everything else about this was. The family is mostly full of unlikable wankers (all but one are British so seems approps to pull that one out) and that just makes them so damn fun to watch as the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ unfolds. Truly the dynamic of a dysfunctional family when almost everyone is the worst version of themselves was just so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good! The wit. The sass. The toxicity. It almost made me not hate the format of replayability. Almost. I love when writing doesn't tire itself out and you can immediately pick it back up after you've finished. I'm not saying this entire game is that way, but the pockets of it that are there are spaced enough to make the slog fest of seeing all the pieces fit together again and again more bearable especially when you get to re-read ♥♥♥♥ like how the biggest problems frogs have are the French and how we supposedly left that type of racism for dead in the 90's. :P
Also if you don't have the stamina to go through the story again and again just to see all the endings, you mostly miss flavour text rather than pieces of evidence so just skip despite the warnings especially at points where you've seen it before. You can also check the Main Menu screen for evidence collected. I would have preferred a skip to function rather than skip completely but alas!
All in all, I enjoyed my time with this FMV and maybe you do too. :) And if you never bother with it, you now know a little bit more about poison than you did before! Maybe. I literally have no idea who the ♥♥♥♥ you are and am making assumptions so here's some salt. Take it. :P
🕵️ Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? | 👎 Mixed (leaning No) | ⏱ ~6h played
=== TL;DR ===
🧠 A clever FMV setup with strong set-pieces and an interesting family-quiz framing — but the actual murder investigation is far too shallow, making the mystery feel more like passive information gathering than real detective work.
=== What this game is ===
📖 Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? is an FMV murder mystery set during an annual family quiz, held to celebrate your mother’s birthday. Behind the forced smiles and awkward trivia lies a deeply broken family — and the knowledge that someone is trying to kill someone else.
During the quiz, you quietly act as an undercover investigator: teaming up with different family members, extracting information between rounds, and slowly uncovering long-buried family secrets. The premise is genuinely strong and immediately sets it apart from other FMV games.
=== Gameplay ===
🎮 Core loop: play quiz rounds → talk to family members → collect information → accuse a suspect (if enough evidence is gathered).
The quiz itself follows a linear structure, but you can choose who to team up with, which determines which family members you get to question. Over multiple runs, this allows you to uncover more secrets and eventually solve the murder.
Player freedom exists — but mostly in who you talk to, not how you investigate. There is no active deduction, no logic puzzles, and no real interrogation mechanics beyond selecting dialogue options.
=== What it does well ===
✨ Unique setting: The combination of a family quiz and a murder mystery is genuinely fresh and memorable.
🎬 FMV production: Set-pieces, pacing, and overall presentation are solid and engaging.
🧩 Family drama: Uncovering personal secrets and hidden tensions is often more interesting than the murder itself.
=== Where it falls short ===
⚠ Extremely shallow investigation:
You never confront characters with evidence, spot contradictions, or catch someone in a lie. You simply collect information until the game allows you to accuse someone.
⚠ Disappointing accusation system:
When accused, characters either:
🔻Confess (if guilty), or
🔻Calmly deny it (if innocent)
In both cases, they always tell the truth. There is no second layer, no deception, and no logical challenge.
⚠ Limited choice & branching:
Most conversations offer only two options, and outcomes rarely feel meaningfully different.
⚠ Acting inconsistency:
While the cast is generally good, some performances are noticeably over-the-top, which may break immersion for players expecting a more grounded tone.
=== Replayability ===
🔁 Low to moderate.
Multiple playthroughs are required to:
🔻Fully solve the murder
🔻Uncover all family secrets
🔻Complete achievements
However, replaying is mostly mechanical, not engaging — once you understand how the system works, there’s little incentive beyond completionism.
=== Who should play ===
✅ Fans of FMV games
✅ Players looking for a short, lighthearted murder mystery
✅ Those more interested in family drama than detective mechanics
🚫 Players wanting real deduction, contradictions, or evidence-based interrogation
🚫 Anyone expecting something akin to Knives Out–style investigative depth
🚫 Players looking for challenge or complex branching narratives
=== Technical & value ===
🛠 Performance: Stable throughout; no bugs or crashes encountered.
💰 Length: ~1–6 hours depending on completion. Only recommended on sale.
=== Final verdict ===
🏁 Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? has a strong idea and good presentation, but the lack of meaningful detective mechanics makes the mystery feel toothless. A clear missed opportunity — enjoyable for FMV fans on sale, but disappointing if you’re looking to actually solve a murder.
Legitimate garbage.
Dieses Spiel ist echt gut, im Gegensatz zu anderen hier fand ich es nicht vorhersehbar. Ich habe bis zum Ende, bzw. bis ich alle einmal beschuldigt hatte, keine wirkliche Ahnung wer der Mörder sein könnte, doch desto mehr andere Antworten ich ausprobiert habe, auch welche wo ich dachte sie führen mich ins Leere, kam dann immer ein neuer Plottwist und ich war so wow, ich sage nur das Ende bei Bradley... Die Abrechnung am Ende mit allen Familienmitgliedern fand ich sehr inspirierend und es zeigt das es irgendwann auch reicht und man auch mal auf den "Tisch" hauen kann und mal den Leuten seine Meinung geigen kann, egal ob sie zur Familie gehören oder nicht. ;)
Wer mehr über den Inhalt des Spieles wissen möchte oder sich beschweren möchte das das Spiel langweilig oder nicht so gut wie die 2 "Dates" Teile ist, kann das gerne an anderer Stelle tun aber bei mir gibt's so was nicht. Also sucht woanders (lach).
Cheeky entertaining characters in a fun mystery. It is quite enjoyable although you do need to go back and replay it a bunch until you can get the full story unveiled.
浪费了我人生中的四个小时和一块人民币体验了这个无聊又毫无逻辑的游戏。
I've enjoyed multiple other Wales Interactive games but I just couldn't get into this one. The cast of characters is very unlikeable and it doesn't come across as comedic, it's just tiresome. The quiz mechanics just aren't as engaging as making decisions to navigate a map or choosing story paths through a more exciting movie. I don't want to be thnking of other games I prefer while playing this game, you know?
It's very well done and pretty replayable. Excellent ending(s).
theres a ring at the door. this game comes round to see me. it alludes to a great mystery including death and clues and stuuuff! It tells me that 1 of these people is a murderer, it says i should question them on the DL, It starts singing at me, I now understand why thoughts of murder are hanging over this families portrait, it continues to unpack its intrigue slowly, methodically socks, pants, soap, poison, toothbrush, dumass novelty egg timer..hmmm?
I have no doubt, iam ready to lock the music betrayer away in a purgatory of pain and disharmony but I cant do that (I guess disneylands closed) no whaaaa??? ive not gathered enough evidence to continue ..you expect me to sit through that again...
.. wait you dont do you??..
Theres a ring at the door. this game comes in again like nothing ever happens right from the bat it starts having A "NICE OLD SING SONG" ..The cultivation of thoughts of murder change direction in my head evolving into murderous thoughts ..but it is a game so i cant murder it i mean what am I the ceo of wizards of the coast
I uninstall the game knowing that I am the murderer
第一次玩，需要多周目才能指认凶手，感觉还不错
Ich fand es leider total uninteressant bzw. nicht Spannend genug, obwohl mich solche Spiele eigentlich reizen. Wir veranstalten ein Quiz, um rauszufinden, wer unseren Onkel ermorden will. Warum spielen wir nicht gleich Monopoly oder ziehen Strohhalme...
Aber immerhin leichtes 100% Spiel mit Guide und ab der 2. Runde kann man alles überspringen. Leider ist der Skip-Button gleichzeitig auch ein Antwortgeber, so dass man bei zu schnelles drücken die erste Antwort automatisch klickt. Wenn es die richtige war, dann Glück gehabt, ansonsten kann man gleich beenden oder neue Runde starten.
Uncle marcus shafted my nan then pressed mute on me instead honestly disrepectful 10/10
A fun murder mystery! I never even suspected the butler.
Spielzeit: 3 Stunden
Bewertung: ★★★☆☆ / Durchschnittlich
🎉 Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?
Charmant, modern & clever - aber nicht ganz konsequent. „Who pressed mute on uncle Marcus?“ ist ein interaktives FMV-Krimispiel, das mit Humor, zeitgemäßer Präsentation und einer ungewöhnlichen Erzählweise punktet. Die Grundidee ist originell: Ein toxisches Familienessen via Zoom endet mit einem Mord - und du sollst herausfinden, wer dahintersteckt. Das funktioniert erstaunlich gut, verliert aber auf Dauer etwas an Schärfe.
🎮 Gameplay:
Einfach, zugänglich & stark auf Wiederholungen ausgelegt. Das Gameplay besteht aus Entscheidungen, Dialogauswahl und dem Durchforsten von Videoaufnahmen. Klassisches Rätsel- oder Erkundungsspiel gibt es kaum - stattdessen liegt der Fokus klar auf Beobachtung und Kombinationsgabe. Durch die Struktur mit vielen kurzen Clips lädt das Spiel zu mehreren Durchgängen ein, fühlt sich spielerisch aber recht dünn an.
🎬 Story & Charaktere:
Unterhaltsam, aber ungleichmäßig. Die Story lebt von ihrer Prämisse und den vielen möglichen Wendungen. Besonders die schrulligen Familienmitglieder sorgen für Humor und Spannung. Allerdings sind nicht alle Charaktere gleich gut geschrieben, manche Entwicklungen wirken konstruiert oder wiederholen sich. Die Auflösung hängt stark von den getroffenen Entscheidungen ab - nicht jede davon fühlt sich narrativ befriedigend an.
📺 Atmosphäre & Präsentation:
Modernes FMV mit Social-Media-Vibe. Die Präsentation ist eines der Highlights: Zoom-Calls, Smartphone-Aufnahmen und Überwachungsvideos sorgen für eine glaubwürdige, zeitgemäße Atmosphäre. Schauspielerisch ist das Ganze solide bis gut, auch wenn nicht jede Performance überzeugt. Die Inszenierung trägt viel zur Immersion bei.
🔊 Musik & Sounddesign:
Funktional, aber unauffällig. Musik und Soundeffekte erfüllen ihren Zweck, bleiben aber kaum im Gedächtnis. Positiv fällt auf, dass die Audioqualität der Dialoge durchgehend sauber ist - gerade bei FMV keine Selbstverständlichkeit.
👥 Wiederspielwert:
Starkes Kernargument. Durch die Vielzahl an Enden und alternativen Szenen ergibt sich ein hoher Wiederspielwert. Wer wirklich alles sehen will, muss mehrere Durchgänge investieren. Allerdings nutzt sich der Überraschungseffekt mit der Zeit ab, da sich viele Abläufe ähneln.
🔍 Technik:
Stabil, mit kleinen Brüchen. Technisch läuft das Spiel größtenteils problemlos. Die Navigation durch Menüs und Clips ist intuitiv, gelegentlich aber etwas träge. Größere Bugs sind selten, doch der Produktionswert schwankt sichtbar zwischen einzelnen Szenen.
✅ Fazit:
„Who pressed mute on uncle Marcus?“ ist ein clever gemachtes FMV-Spiel mit frischer Idee und mäßigem Wiederspielwert. Humor, Präsentation und Struktur funktionieren gut, doch spielerische Tiefe und narrative Konsequenz bleiben hinter dem starken Konzept zurück. Unterhaltsam, aber kein Highlight des Genres.
👍 Empfohlen für:
Fans von FMV- und interaktiven Filmen
Spieler*innen, die kurze Sessions und Entscheidungen mögen
Alle, die Lust auf eine ungewöhnliche Krimi-Prämisse haben
👎 Nicht empfohlen für:
Spielerinnen, die klassisches Gameplay oder Rätsel erwarten
Menschen, die mit FMV oder Schauspiel-Lastigkeit nichts anfangen können
Story-Puristinnen, die stringente Dramaturgie suchen
🌟 Endbewertung: 6/10 – Solide
„Who pressed mute on uncle Marcus?“ ist kreativ, charmant und kurzweilig - bleibt aber in der Umsetzung etwas hinter seinem Potenzial zurück. Ein nettes Experiment, das man mögen kann, aber nicht lieben muss.
you might need to watch same clips again and again like more than 10 times, some can skip, some just can't, to reach the final answer. It is so annoying
and there are no logical outcome for your choice, everything just random or you have play long enough then it load you the answer
Good fun story game to play for a bit.
Fun game. Got all the achievements but one which is the achievement for getting all of the achievements. Weird but whatever. Took a minute to get everything but I did. Would recommend for a few hours of fun.
Неплохой, местами удивляющий, местами забавный детективчик.
Однако надо иметь ввиду что он рассчитан на последовательные многократные прохождения для открытия "всей картины".
Who pressed mute on Uncle Marcus? A simple question at first, but the underlying motives and meanings, layers to the story create the ultimate story game the steam page has ever seen. Questions, everywhere. Who could it have been? the plot twists, the beatiful pacing and thespian levels of acting, dragging me on this emotional rollercoaster. After playing this game myself I can say part of me feels attached to Uncle Marcus, I shed a tear at Uncle M's funeral. Overall, blood, sweat and tears went into the creation of this masterpiece, and it all roots from the simple question. "Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?"
SECRET Review (Real Review)
The acting in tubi's masterpiece 'Evil Bong' was 10x better than this, honestly Evil Bong is a must watch. The dumb and unsatistying ending paired with the corny acting and Abigail being unsufferable the whole game is a huge waste of time, every single character had evidence fully pointing to them being the muter of uncle marcus for some stupid reason just for the real victim to be the one with the least motive. Plus, why does everyone in this game absolutely despise the main character with their whole heart (Including the MOTHER) ?? what a dumb family.
It was me! I was the one who pressed mute on uncle Marcus. >:D
Nan is the killer.
Скучная. Актёры играют нормально.
difficult to keep track of what paths you have and have not taken sometimes, but a silly little game ! i'd give it a 3/5 probably, not peak not bad just average and chill
Complete cheeseball of a game, good thing I'm into that
Not worth 15 money in a million years but lets be honest, you got this for three or in a humble bundle
To start with: I like FMV games, and I like (a lot of) Wales Interactive's catalog.
But this was bad. Like, unforgivably bad. The plot itself is ridiculous, sure, but I could have suspended my disbelief to get behind the "family zoom game night x murder mystery" format for a better game. It's goofy and weird, and sometimes that can be endearing, but this game missed the mark entirely.
Uncle Marcus spends the first half hour relentlessly interrupting the gameplay in the guise of tutorializing, and what a godawful performance it was, but I don't think even the greatest performer could have saved the dialog. I suspect these interruption were to help pad out the beginning gameplay, stalling players until it's too late for a return. That didn't work in my case, I could see that this was not a game for me. It's okay to have a cast of unlikable characters, but there has to be SOMETHING there to hold the audience. As it was, I wasted about an hour listening to unlikable caricatures of a sh*tty family swap unwitty insults with each other.
No thanks.
uncle marcus is a goat fire game
不到一块钱的话值回票价，其他价格我只能说建议一块钱买。挺有意思的家庭互撕小品，但作为推理作品，推理属性非常弱，找出凶手全靠穷举。很难想象这玩意儿实装跳过功能以前怎么能玩的……
There are definitelly not professional actors, but i still think that the acting is acceptable for this type of game. The story is shorter, but there are still several choices of killers and getting to the right one can take a time if u will choose wrong choices and dont have enough evidence. The answer is not always straight forward so i would recommend anyone trying it, i dont think u can go wrong with this game really.
I DID IT I SAVED UNCLE MARCUS
I'm sorry, but despite being a game that heavily incentivise replaying, lacking in simple QoL features such as the non-existent of story tree really kills it for me as when collecting for evidence, instead of being able to jump around scenes, I instead have to replay the whole thing from start to finish. Same goes for when you have enough evidence to accuse someone, but since you can only accuse one person per run, it means that you'd need to go through it all again just to accuse another person. All of this also assumes that you can remember the choices that you haven't pick since the game doesn't really tell you until AFTER a choice have been chosen, which is pretty much too late by then.
Sure you can skip scenes, but not only does the ability to skip scenes is only unlocked after completing a run (which is annoying as if you quit in the middle of a chapter then you're forced to rewatch the scenes that you have already watched), but it will also take eons anyways for the skip to kick-in only to immediately be greeted with the world shortest choice timer which have threw me off a couple of times (which also takes a while before registering a choice). The inability to pause the game to take in-game screenshots is also a nice cherry on top.
Overall, the game isn't that bad per say & can even come off as being fun due to possessing great humour from the constant banters. While the story could have been better, the questionable gameplay as a whole is what holding me back from personally recommending it since after a while it starts feeling like a chore.
6/10
(this review was typed with QWERTY)
Holy peak
Ну и семейка
Really good game. It needs an easier way to track progress otherwise you spend a lot of time redoing dialogue and forgetting which paths you have and haven't done.
The 'skip' logic doesn't distinguish reused dialogue as already viewed.
Great acting, great story, good twists and turns.
Cute little game. You need to replay it a few times to get all the evidence and find the killer, but I don't mind it too much, because whether you guess right or wrong, every ending had me invested. I didn't mind seeing the wrong choice because they made it fun.
I played for 40 minutes and didn't interact with anything once, it was like watching a strange artist's skit based on an early Skam episode. I do appreciate what they were trying to do though.
一般
I understand you need to stop people from refunding the game after finishing it, but man, being forced to replay the game only to play every possible combination of dialogue felt like an awkward slog (expecially considering how easy it was to tell who the real culprit was from the first playthrough)
As my first FMV game, I wanted a lighthearted mystery and this delivered exactly that. You just talk to people, gather clues, and use those to narrow down a suspect. In each conversation, you can gather up to 4 pieces of evidence and these accumulate through repeated playthroughs.
One thing that I felt this game was missing though was a flowchart or a list where you could see all the conversations and the evidence you found in each one, since you'll have to play this multiple times and it's hard to remember the conversations in which you've not gotten all the evidence yet.
Good concept, very bad execution. You need to replay it 4-6 times. And I don't want to spoiler, but the outcome will leave you unsatisfied. Another bad FMV game from Wales Interactive.
Sürükleyici bir yapım olduğunu düşünmüyorum ve sadece 2 seçenek ile ağızlarında bir şeyler ya alıyoruz ya da hiçbir şey olmuyor.Late Shift ve Complex den sonra bu aşırı dandik geldi
[h1] Семейный яд в прямом эфире
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? [/h1]
Жанр интерактивного кино (FMV) — ниша специфическая, где грань между увлекательным фильмом и скучным геймплеем очень тонка. Если The Shapeshifting Detective пыталась брать нуаром и мистикой, то Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? делает ставку на динамику и социальную сатиру. И, надо признать, эта смена тональности пошла жанру на пользу.
В отличие от своего тягучего собрата, эта игра не страдает от «синдрома резинового времени». Напротив, здесь всё бодро, даже, пожалуй, слишком — права на ошибку почти нет. Игра раскрывается именно через свою реиграбельность: мы вычислили убийцу лишь с пятой попытки, раз за разом проигрывая одну и ту же викторину. Но парадокс в том, что это не утомляет. Каждый новый заход открывает свежие диалоги и ветки, превращая рутину в азартную гонку со временем.
Детективная механика здесь работает честно и увлекательно. Тебе нужно не просто тыкать в варианты ответов, а реально «копать»: выуживать улики, сопоставлять факты и ловить героев на лжи. Сюжет добротно запутан — игра мастерски сбивает с толку, подкидывая ложные следы именно тогда, когда ты уверен в своей правоте.
Отдельного упоминания заслуживает каст. Если в других проектах мы ищем любимчиков, то здесь перед нами паноптикум колоритных мерзавцев. Персонажи прописаны так, что вызывают искреннюю, почти сценическую ненависть. Это тот случай, когда «змеиный клубок» родственников выглядит пугающе живым: у каждого своя понятная история, свои скелеты в шкафу и мотивы подсыпать яду ближнему своему.
В сухом остатке — это качественный представитель FMV, который развлекает и не дает заскучать. Это не глубокая драма, а скорее веселый и злой детективный аттракцион на пару вечеров. Всё немного гротескно, местами абсурдно, но сделано с душой и хорошим пониманием того, как удержать зрителя у экрана.
[b]7 семейных тайн из 10[/b]
I want to start off by saying that I really, really wanted to like this game. I forced myself to complete it in the hopes there'd be some turn around or a good enough pay off to make all my frustrations worth it, but in the end I just found myself disappointed by how the writing and game mechanics interacted with each other. The cast of characters is honestly what put me over the edge to not recommend this game. I have no issues with the fact the family sucks, as the entire point is having to investigate the main character, Abby's, crappy family, but rather that on top of this, they're annoyingly obtuse. This game constantly struggled to build up my sense of intrigue. I think the best choice games give you hints in the dialogue that a character is hiding something or that you're missing out on vital clues, which makes you all the more eager to replay and keep snooping. As some examples, you may end up scaring a character off, a character may refuse to open up to you at a key moment, or they may even lash out at you in a way that feels suspicious. This all leads the player to replaying the game, wanting to do better and feeling more prepared to appeal to the character next time.
But here? If you pick the wrong choice, outside of the occasional funny interaction the most you get is a mean spirited quip, and neither have anything to do with the mystery or tell you anything about the characters. Auntie June mourning how stupid she thinks Abby is or Bradley outright not speaking to Abby besides insulting her is just dreadfully boring. I don't really think the audience needed constant reminders the family was awful and didn't really like Abby, the premise set this up from the get go. In a game where one of the main draws is picking different choices to see what will happen, the fail states here are so dull it's usually better to just restart the scene or even the entire run if a wrong choice is made. This really shines through if you also decide to get the endings where [spoiler]Uncle Marcus dies[/spoiler]. I did this hoping the shock of [spoiler]his death[/spoiler] would cause certain characters to open up, but the most I got was just a few extra out of place jokes and only slightly different dialogue. I eventually decided it just wasn't worth it, and stopped going for these endings entirely.
The writing was the main issue here. I didn't mind the occasional wisecrack or joke made at the expense of how horrible the family was, but overall the game didn't take itself seriously enough for my tastes. There's a lack of urgency throughout the entire runtime, with the focus remaining primarily on the family's bickering despite Uncle Marcus' life being on the line. Abby is written to act like any person would at an uncomfortable family gathering, which would be great writing if it wasn't for the previous context mentioned. It's not until the final round that she actually presses anyone for answers, having no issues casually chatting with them for the rest of the time while her beloved uncle dies on the other line. The idea of being stuck at a family quiz night because you know one of them is a murderer is a great one, but there's never any sense that is what's actually happening here. Abby shows absolutely no suspicion or fear towards anyone involved, the most she shows is slight annoyance or upset at their attitudes, and there's only a few specific moments where any of them act even remotely suspicious. For most of my playtime I thought the twist was going to be that [spoiler]none of them did it[/spoiler]. Uncle Marcus might as well have asked Abby to find out which person stole his beloved pocket watch with the way they both act, Uncle Marcus never giving any helpful additions to what Abby finds out besides, "good job kiddo".
It's unfortunate because the writing really shines whenever you accuse someone, but the depth characters show in these scenes isn't led up to by the rest of the game at all. The only way you can get characters to talk is by succeeding or failing at the quiz at the right times, making it a very trial and error process with very few options to connect with the characters over their interests or relationships. This makes paying attention to the dialogue outside of these confessions feel very unrewarding. If you do anything outside these quiz questions to appeal to the characters, such as picking someone more than once as your quiz partner or talking to them before the quiz, it either has no affect or, on the rare occasion that it does have an affect, there isn't any proper dialogue to acknowledge this outside of unlocking a new clue. This makes the characters feel even more obtuse than they already do. Halfway through figuring out the mystery, it was the achievements that kept me going. The second I got all the achievements was the second I decided to stop playing, even though there were technically some choices and endings I hadn't seen yet.
I don't want to be too harsh on this game, because there were some things I really enjoyed during my time with it. There were some jokes that actually landed really well, mainly the ones you get achievements for finding, the screen that pops up at the end of each character interaction letting you know if you've missed a clue is extremely helpful and something I want to see in other games, the acting is actually really well done with every actor nailing their character, I loved the use of a zoom call for the setting, and the ending twist surprised me while still making sense. There's a lot of potential in this game, and even though I didn't enjoy it I think bigger fans of off beat humor and live action style choice games would get a kick out of this one. It just really didn't stick the landing for me, and if you think the things I mentioned would bother you as well, chances are you won't enjoy this game either.
атстой
Well, I didn't know about the figs specifically ...
Me da pena que este juego no me haya gustado. El planteamiento inicial está bastante bien, pero al final ha resultado ser una pesca aleatoria de pistas sin ningún tipo de sentido, solo eligiendo caminos al azar en forma de las posibles respuestas que puedes dar en momentos concretos. La única forma de deducir el verdadero asesino es a base de volver a jugar una y otra vez para tener las pistas suficientes y, entonces, en base a eso, acusar a alguien... si es que no has acertado ya de forma aleatoria en uno de los reintentos previos.
Un «meh» muy grande.
toby was lying the whole time you thought he was in africa? in reality the van was shaking so much becouse he was jumping on his friend wich he had sercret gay relationship and thats why he poisnode marcus beceuse marcus knew the truth marcus ❤️❤️❤️
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? Is a game that I originally got from Humble Choice. I redeemed the game as it looked cool and had a pretty interesting gimmick (that being that the game is on a video quiz). Especially as I got it just after lockdown had happened. Now, I want to outright buy more of these games.
This game has an incredible amount of effort that was poured into the game. The small details such as how each person has a largely differing personality, the humour and how each person's background looks like places that you would see in a house (except from Toby) and they all look like places they like. To carry on with the humous parts of the game, personally I find certain moments very very funny. Mainly due to the facial expressions of the characters. I have also gotten a lot of reaction images from this game. If you want a laugh play the game! To be more serious the game's evidence system is great! The way that you have to get someone talking or talk about something they like, to get evidence otherwise they won't give you anything is great as you get a better understanding of the characters and the situation of the meeting.
The next part of this review goes into spoilers of the game!!!! SO BE WARNED!!!!!
As you carry on in the game it does seem easier to obtain evidence, especially if you know anything else about them. Such as learning that Lottie has met someone outside during the meeting leads to you learning that she has a burner phone (and vice versa). It can sometimes get repetitive though as personally I had played 2 times before saving Marcus, which annoyed me. Although at the end of the 3rd run I did I could accuse someone and also save Marcus.
The endings of accusing someone also are really cool (my favourite one and possibly the worst one to happen if it happened in real life would be Bradley's). Overall the entire experience of the game is great and very good value for your time and money. It took me about 7 and a half hours to beat the entire game.
There has been an increase in the release of FMV-style games on Steam lately. What makes this one unique is that it revolves around a family quiz (as opposed to some other FMVs that are essentially interactive action or sci-fi movies) that we need to participate in. We control Abby and we make decisions on her behalf.
Our initial conversation is with uncle Marcus who tells Abby he has been poisoned so during the quiz not only can we make a guess to get the right answer but also get information from the others. Eventually, we have the opportunity to accuse a family member with the act but this requires collecting enough evidence first.
During gameplay we are often presented with two options and we have limited time to act and make a choice. Occasionally, Marcus wants to have a separate call with Abby and we regularly see the health bar of Abby's uncle in the upper-left corner slowly decreasing. The evidence we have collected may not be enough to accuse someone but it remains under its own, separate menu as an already collected piece of information meaning they can be expanded upon in subsequent (new) playthroughs.
After the first walkthrough skipping scenes we have already seen / heard becomes a possibility. If we accidentally hit TAB the game warns us skipping is not recommended due to the new information present but if we hold TAB we can still skip every scene. Multiple playthroughs will be needed to get all evidence and to be able to accuse everyone - this does not mean the end result will be the same (quite the contrary - it's pretty fun seeing some reactions from people who had nothing to do with the deed).
The FMVs I played in the past had average acting. This one here is the opposite! Every member is an archetype and since Marcus is played by Andy Buckley purchasing the game was obvious for me since I loved his character, David Wallace, in the [i]Office[/i] series.
This is a great FMV game with superb acting and some funny scenes. This is not the first FMV by [i]Wales Interactive[/i] - in fact, some of you may already be familiar with the studio given the [i]Sker[/i] franchise. Fun little game, highly recommended!
Decent mystery FMV, but nothing extra. I thought there was a prank ending if you do the 100%, but sadly, no. It would be epic, but this way, it just isn't worth accusing everybody, so don't bother. Find the killer and forget the rest.
[quote]Follow us for more [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45113328-Awesome-Adventure-Friends/] Awesome Adventure[/url] [/quote]
Seems like the only way to finish the game is to play through it multiple times. That just make it super annoying & not fun at all. Eventually resorted to an online guide, just so that I could finish & uninstall it as fast as possible.
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Лучше, чем Late Shift, похоже, не будет.
Honestly a pretty fun FMV game of a classic setup with a modern twist, if you like this type of stuff I'd recommend it, the writing left plenty of replayability and was well worth it
I didn't expect to get so absorbed into this particular mystery game. It was a lot of fun.
Definitely one to play with friends if you can.
Uncle Marcus
[h3] Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? — Enquête familiale sous tension ![/h3]
Vous aimez les règlements de compte en famille ? Les comportement excentriques, exécrables ou manipulateurs de vos proches vous excèdent et vous rêvez de leur balancer leurs quatre vérités ? Alors [b]Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?[/b] va vous faire du bien ! Si vous avez également l'âme d'un détective, il n'y a plus de doute, ce jeu est fait pour vous !
Vous incarnez Abby, jeune femme timide et dénigrée par ses proches. Heureusement, vous êtes la préférée d'oncle Marcus. Lorsqu'il vous apprend qu'il a été empoisonné lors du dernier repas de famille — auquel vous n'aviez pas pu assister — le contexte est clair. Il ne peut compter que sur vous pour trouver qui l'a empoisonné et avec quelle substance, afin de s'administrer le bon antidote. Le timing est parfait puisque tous les potentiels suspects vous attendent pour le quiz annuel qui a lieu pour chaque anniversaire de votre "adorable" matriarche.
Vous aurez alors l'occasion de discuter avec chaque membre en tête en tête. Parmi eux, se dresse un beau portrait de famille :
[list]
[*]Votre mère psychorigide et peu aimante, inutile de compter sur elle pour vous redonner confiance,
[*]Votre demi-sœur influenceuse, uniquement préoccupée par son make-up,
[*]Votre tante alcoolique, aussi bienveillante que le reste de la famille.
[*]Son fils aîné, dévoué à l'humanitaire et grand donneur de leçons,
[*]Son fils cadet, geek asocial, fan de criminologie et collectionneur d'armes,
[*]Pour une dernière touche d'humour, votre grand-mère qui ne comprend aucune règle du quiz.
[/list]
Au casting, Robbie Kay (Once Upon a Time), Susannah Doyle (Black Mirror) et Andy Buckley (The Office).
Clichés en apparence, les personnages révèlent toutefois une certaine profondeur au fur et à mesure de l'enquête. Alors faites les bons choix de partenaires, approfondissez les discussions et grapillez petit à petit des informations sur ce fameux repas.
Bien sûr, chacun d'entre eux semble avoir un mobile ! Leur tempérament, parfois explosif, condescendant, ou complètement [i]creepy[/i] ne vont pas vous aider ! Accrochez-vous, et dépêchez-vous avant que le poison n'ait raison de votre cher oncle...
Un conseil : prenez des notes ! Le quiz se déroule en quatre manches, dans lesquelles vous pourrez choisir différents partenaires de jeu, et donc plusieurs choix de conversations. En une trentaine de minutes, vous "finirez" le jeu. Pour avoir le fin de mot de l'histoire, il faudra relancer plusieurs parties et mettre en évidence les contradictions des discours de chacun. De quoi se faire des nœuds au cerveau ! Le jeu propose néanmoins de passer les scènes que vous avez déjà vues, afin d'éviter trop de répétitivité.
La chance n'a pas sa place dans cette enquête : impossible d'accuser un membre au hasard. Vous devrez d'abord récolter suffisamment de preuves pour l'inculper. De quoi faire durer le plaisir du jeu et découvrir la véritable histoire de chacun des innocents. Comme vous vous y attendiez, aucune n'est très soft...
Vous ne passerez pas des tonnes d'heures sur ce jeu. Il peut facilement être fait en deux soirées, et le format FMV est une bonne alternative à une série Netflix. Pour ma part, pas une grande habituée des jeux vidéos, j'ai mis 5h pour le faire à 100%.
[code]Vous avez aimé cette analyse ?
Découvrez en d'autres en suivant notre groupe de curation : [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/le-pixel-legiste/curation][u]Le Pixel Legiste[/u][/url]
Découpages de pixels, éviscérations de logiciels, on plonge les mains dans les entrailles du game design et on vous raconte tout.
[i]Pour ceux qui joueront après ![/i]
[/code]
Not recommended unless you enjoy Groundhog Day at Quiz Night in Purgatory Hell.
[h1]⭐ My Verdict[/h1]
If you’re in the mood for a quirky, oddly British-toned FMV mystery with more charm than heavy gameplay, this one hits a sweet spot.
[b]👍 What I Liked[/b]
+The setting is strong: a bizarre family quiz night gone wrong when dear old Uncle Marcus reveals he’s been poisoned and only you (as Abby) can figure out who’s behind it.
+The acting is surprisingly good for the genre — the eccentric characters, snappy banter and off-beat humour give it a fun vibe.
+It’s accessible and relatively short — you can make meaningful choices, explore a few branches, but you’re not locked into a 50-hour grind.
+If you enjoy the FMV genre (choices, branching stories, video playthroughs) this is a solid entry, especially on a casual evening.
[b]👎 What Could Be Better[/b]
-It is light on gameplay mechanics. If you expect lots of exploration or action, you’ll find mostly dialogue, video clips and decision nodes.
-Because it’s fairly short and some dialogue or evidence paths recycle, the replay value drops a bit once you’ve seen the key branches. Some users mention repeating playthroughs and paying attention to choices.
-The tone and humour are pretty British-eccentric — some jokes/characters may not land for everyone (translation/localisation may make things a bit odd for non-UK audiences).
-If you’re playing on non-Windows or via Proton/Deck, there are reports of some video playback issues.
[b]🎮 Who Should Play It[/b]
*Fans of FMV / interactive movie-style games who enjoy story and character more than mechanics.
*Players looking for something light, fun and shorter — ideal for a relaxed evening rather than a full binge.
*Anyone who enjoys quirky cast ensembles and oddball family dramas/mysteries with humour.
[b]🚫 Who Might Skip It[/b]
-Gamers wanting heavy gameplay systems, deep mechanics, long campaigns or high action.
-Those who dislike FMV or choice-driven narrative games with limited interactivity.
-Players expecting massive branching complexity or hugely divergent endings — the scope is modest.
[b]📝 Final Thoughts[/b]
All in all, Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? is a charming little mystery with a good cast and just enough choice to keep things interesting. It won’t blow you away with gameplay innovation, but if you go in knowing it’s more “interactive movie” than “action-adventure”, you’ll likely enjoy the ride. I’d give it 3.5 to 4 stars / 5 — definitely worth a look if the premise appeals.
I saved David Wallace but couldn't catch the Scranton Strangler.
why everbody gaf about marcus 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Pretty messed up family feud. +++ Loveit
this game is peak 2020 at its finest. it will be a history relic for the books one day, trust me. playing it when things are back to normal feels like holidays with my family (cannot get everyone in the same room and also everyone is fighting all the time)
also i ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hate marcus. he is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying i play this game just to watch him die over and over again. 10/10 would buy if you hate marcus and also your family, 3/10 if you are looking for a good game
za darmo polecam ale za opłatą to już niezbyt, idź zagraj w lepsze filmo-gry prosze
Good
Oğlum Marcus amcayı niye zehirlediniz
EK: Marcus amcayı 50 kere kurtarabilirsin, ama bir zehirleyiciyi 1000 kerede bulamazsın... Marcus amca... Ölme... June teyze az iç kusma amk.
This games does not work on steam deck
I think the story is very bland. The actors honestly played their parts well though. Not something I’d sit through if I had the option.
BEST GAME I PLAYED
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?, developed by Wales Interactive and Good Gate Media and published by Wales Interactive, is an FMV interactive mystery that fuses family melodrama with the dark intrigue of a murder investigation. It unfolds almost entirely through the lens of a dysfunctional family’s virtual quiz night, where players take on the role of Abby, a young woman reluctantly attending the annual event. What begins as an awkward family gathering quickly takes a sinister turn when Abby’s uncle Marcus contacts her privately to reveal that he’s been poisoned and believes one of the family members did it. With Marcus growing weaker by the minute, Abby must navigate conversations with her volatile relatives to uncover clues, gather evidence, and determine who is responsible before time runs out. The result is a tense, darkly humorous, and frequently absurd digital whodunit that plays like a blend between an interactive stage play and a modern murder mystery broadcast over a webcam.
The game’s format is deceptively simple but effective in its design. Most of the experience takes place across video calls, with the screen divided between family members during each round of the quiz. Players choose which character Abby interacts with, and their decisions influence both the flow of conversation and the kind of evidence uncovered. Each family member is written and performed with exaggerated flair, turning the cast into a gallery of dysfunctional archetypes: a condescending mother, a vain influencer sister, a neurotic aunt, a self-righteous cousin, and a boozy relative who masks bitterness with humor. These characters are intentionally over the top, and the writing leans into their absurdity, often teetering between dark comedy and biting satire. The script is filled with sharp exchanges and emotional outbursts that feel at once ridiculous and uncomfortably believable, capturing the claustrophobia and tension of a family that thrives on conflict. The performances—filmed during lockdown conditions—bring surprising energy to what might otherwise be a static format, with each actor fully committed to their roles and the game’s heightened tone.
Mechanically, Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? is more narrative experience than traditional game. Choices appear at key points, prompting players to decide how Abby responds or which family member she partners with during the quiz rounds. Each selection shapes what information becomes available, but the system is built on gradual accumulation rather than instant deduction. It’s almost impossible to gather enough evidence to solve the mystery in a single playthrough, and the game expects players to repeat sessions to unlock new dialogue paths. Clues and evidence persist between playthroughs, allowing players to piece together the truth across multiple attempts. This structure works well in theory, as it gives the story a sense of persistence and progression, but it also leads to inevitable repetition. Watching the same scenes and conversations several times—even with minor variations—can start to drag, especially once the novelty of the premise fades. The game does allow you to skip previously viewed content, yet the reliance on trial and error can make the investigation feel less like sharp deduction and more like methodical menu navigation.
The production values are among the game’s strongest aspects. For an FMV title produced under pandemic constraints, the visual presentation is clean and surprisingly cinematic. The framing and editing mimic a virtual meeting platform but with enough polish and variation to avoid monotony. The decision to set the entire story within a digital environment serves both as a clever narrative constraint and as a commentary on the modern family dynamic—detached, mediated through screens, and brimming with unspoken tension. The lighting, costume choices, and camera angles all serve to reinforce each character’s personality: Marcus’s dimly lit room underscores his illness and paranoia, while the rest of the family’s well-lit, performative backdrops reflect their superficiality. The soundtrack stays understated, punctuating moments of revelation or discomfort without intruding, and the sound design uses silence, awkward pauses, and background noises to heighten realism and suspense.
Narratively, the game straddles the line between mystery and dark comedy. The writing is self-aware and occasionally borders on farce, but it manages to maintain an undercurrent of real tension as Marcus’s life hangs in the balance. The premise—an uncle being poisoned at a family meeting—could easily collapse under its own absurdity, yet the developers treat it with enough sincerity to make the player invested in saving him. The dialogue captures the awkward energy of video calls perfectly: overlapping speech, forced laughter, and passive-aggressive remarks that hide years of resentment. Each relative has a motive, and uncovering their secrets requires pushing through layers of evasion, guilt, and denial. Over time, the web of suspicion becomes more tangled, and while the mystery’s resolution may not shock seasoned players of FMV games, the journey is consistently entertaining. What sustains the experience is not the complexity of the puzzle but the joy of watching these flawed, exaggerated people implode under pressure.
As with most FMV titles, the game’s limitations are tied to its format. The interactivity is largely superficial; choices influence dialogue flow but rarely lead to dramatically different outcomes until key evidence is collected. The player’s agency exists more in the rhythm of discovery than in shaping the narrative itself. Once the mystery is solved, replay value depends largely on a player’s interest in seeing alternate scenes or exploring unchosen dialogue paths. Some players may find the repeated structure tedious, while others will appreciate the incremental storytelling that builds tension through accumulation. The pacing can also feel uneven—early playthroughs brim with intrigue, but as repetition sets in, the sense of urgency diminishes, and Marcus’s condition starts to feel more like a mechanical timer than an emotional anchor.
Despite its flaws, Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? succeeds in delivering a distinct and memorable FMV experience. It embraces the limitations of remote storytelling and transforms them into a strength, using its video-call setup to reflect the disconnection and dysfunction that define the modern family. The performances are consistently strong, the writing sharp enough to balance humor and suspense, and the atmosphere tense without ever becoming grim. While its interactivity is minimal and its repetition occasionally numbing, the game’s charm lies in its characters and its willingness to treat absurdity with sincerity. It’s a mystery that thrives not on complex deduction but on personality, timing, and tone—a compact, campy, and surprisingly poignant snapshot of suspicion, family, and the chaos of human relationships played out one awkward call at a time.
Rating: 7/10
6/10，剧情一般，其实看关系图就可以推测出凶手大概是谁了，但必须要证据才能指控。选项会不会触发证据和是指控谁的证据全是未知，导致强行多周目才能触发想要的嫌疑人的证据。一周目看看剧情，后续周目全程跳过对话收集证据。
7/10 Who Pressed Mute On Uncle Marcus? Is a FMV murder mystery with camp acting where you must find out who is poisoning your uncle.
My takeaway: Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? Is a video based murder mystery interactive game where you play as Abby who is tasked with finding out who is trying to poison Uncle Marcus during the annual family quiz. The acting is campy in a great way, the story is as memorable as it is absurd, and the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s overall an extremely creative and fun idea reminiscent of lockdown times.
I love the cast of actors this game has. The comedy is very endearing and the way everything is presented created a very inviting whodunnit atmosphere for the player. The actual story of the game left much to be desired but the shallow lore actually worked in favor of the overall tone the game was trying to achieve. The gameplay itself was extremely intuitive and memorable. I ran into no issues playing it through.
There is very little replayability in this game. The outcomes sometimes felt random and illogical, which isn’t great for a whodunnit type story, and it’s runtime is short. I finished it in its entirety with all achievements in 4 hours and believe it to be a little steep in its price point. The skip button could be reworked but overall isn’t a massive issue. On sale I think the experience is definitely worth it and the actors did a fantastic job setting the tone of the game.
[u]Pros[/u]
[list]
[*] Extremely Creative
[*] Fun
[*] Memorable
[*] Great Actors
[*] Great Job Setting Tone
[*] No Glitches
[*] Intuitive Gameplay
[*] Shallow Lore Works In Favor Of The Game
[*] Achievements Are Achievable And Relatively Easy
[/list]
[u]Cons[/u]
[list]
[*] Skipping Sometimes Skips Over Important Details
[*] Feels Random And Illogical
[*] Short For The Price Point
[*] Little Replayability
[*] Felt More Like A Film Than A Game
[/list]
[spoiler] Am I the only one that could not stand Abby? I mean, most of the characters seemed miserable to be around but I got the sense they were trying to make her likable and that failed miserably for me. [/spoiler]
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Мне понравилось
Me lembrou muito quando a Netflix lançou o Bandersnatch da Black Mirror, lá eu tinha achado bem interessante a proposta de jogo FMV, aqui não foi muito diferente. É diferente a mecânica de quem tá acostumado com gêneros de jogos tradicionais e até mesmo quem curte mais um drama interativo pode estranhar, mas negativar esse jogo é demais.
O jogo tem seus momentos engraçados e você tem a curiosidade de saber quem matou seu tio, graças a deus tem a opção de pular os diálogos que já foram vistos para economizar tempo. Alguns atores tem a atuação bacana, já outros nem tanto, me lembrando bastante web séries no Youtube por exemplo.
Eu jogaria novamente algum FMV, claro que pagando o preço de promoção, o valor cheio não vale a pena até por ser bem curtinho, mas ele não merece ser negativado.
Overall pretty good if you are into these types of games
My only gripe is that it gets a bit more repetitive than the others
[h1]Аннаративный дефектив[/h1]
Ещё одно дитя коронавирусной эпохи [i](комнатные съемки, сеттинг созвонов)[/i], что по иронии запечатлело и болезнь всего жанра FMV.
Во-первых, это плохо нарезанные куски роликов. Как это часто бывает ради условной одной новой фразы приходится пересматривать целую череду уже знакомого материала. И ладно бы, если всё упиралось в необходимую точку для контекста, чтобы при встрече с новым контентом было понятно [i]что[/i] и [i]к чему[/i]. Однако конкретно в данной игре это больше смахивает на лень и избегание заведомо чуть более сложной структуры дерева решений.
К слову о деревьях — имеется в игре и семейное древо — абсолютно пустой декоратив, призванный пояснить who is who из героев. Вся эта информация и так лежит на поверхности местных диалогов, а само древо даже близко ничем не поможет в распутывании дела.
Во-вторых, то самое детективное дело. Видите ли, сюжет игры пытается балансировать между комедией [i](за счёт здешней семейки)[/i] и детективом [i](с потенциальным убийством богатого родственника)[/i] — две классики своих жанров. И если комедия ещё на любителя в силу своей некоторой специфики, то детектив уже исполнен неплохо. Ветвистость приличная, а игрока в первом трае то и дело заставляют усомниться в каждой из сторон конфликта. Но стоит только единожды пройти, как...
Игра предлагает странную механику: все доказательства, найденные в ходе текущей попытки, сохраняются, однако нарративного обусловливания для этого никакого не даётся. Ни временных петель, ни переноса воспоминаний — просто данность.
И отсюда начинает рассыпаться всё остальное. Обвинения, кроме единственного верного, никак не апеллируют к этим самым найденным доказательствам, из-за чего весь сбор улик ощущается как фикция и некое самоубеждение. Сами же улики легко подбираются на неправильных кандидатов и едва находятся для настоящего, чем только ставят последнего под ещё бóльшее подозрение. Ну, а настоящая концовка вместо раскрытого дела и так-то жуткой развязки портится ужасной сценой эдакого каминг-аута, где, по задумке создателей, мы должны порадоваться, что ГГ высказала всё накипевшее и порвала все отношения с нерадивой семейкой. Однако сделано ей это было так, что, по сути, та стала ничем не лучше их самих, да и пустые неканоничные обвинения только закрепляют подобное ощущение. Проигнорировали и какой-либо объясняющий итог по анонимкам: прямая связь с виновным отсутствует и даже не проговаривается, а сам этот мув сюжетно приходит в никуда, оставаясь лишь не до конца вплетенным в историю средством для создания напряжения.
И, наконец, в-третьих, набор русскоязычного текста. То и дело на строчках субтитров будут резать глаз одинокие запятые/точки, неопределенность в имени бабушки [i](Нэн/Дэн)[/i] и прочие пропуски, опечатки да неправильные рода.
Могла бы получиться своеобразная игровая вариация фильма [b][url=https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/4369515/] «Вечеринка на вылет»[/url][/b], где, продравшись через специфичный французский юмор, зрителя-слэш-игрока ждал крайне серьезный [i]вотэтоповорот[/i], поднимающий социальную проблему или не менее весомый вопрос о семейном. Но даже одна из побочных концовок в этом словно метит куда выше, даруя значительно больше шока и удивления, нежели истинное раскрытие дела и тянущаяся за ним подноготная.
Oh my god! The plot, the story , the buildup is just awesome. Capturing the darkness within family, where family becomes crazier than enemies. Loved the plot twist, loved the lore. Took me about 5 hours to get all the achievements on my own while exploring the game inside and out. Totally worth the time . The story just slays ! Learning new things in a new play thru was crazy. Reminds me of a scene from Avengers where doctor strange said the possibility of winning is 1 in some millions. Saving unc similarly was a crazy job of permutation combinations , you will enjoy it. The achievements are also easily grindable ! Good luck ! SAVE UNC!
Jó sztorija van, tetszik, hogy többször is végig kell játszani. Keresni fogok még ilyen játékot ettől a cégtől.
It's better than Call of Duty: Ghosts.
玩不明白。。。
On ne comprends pas trop ou aller, ni les bon choix à faire. Le seul moyen d'y arriver c'est de brutforcer les réponses. bref après 4 essaies j'ai laissé tombé
一般，很生草的家庭伦理剧，适合剧荒的时候下饭
我还以为会有惊天大反转，但就普通反转
看它跳过功能22年改进了
可以一周目看剧情 随便选，二周目懒得看了 走攻略跳过看真相
好无聊啊，角色一点都不鲜活，游戏体验真的很一般。有些内容是已经体验过的，但是我想跳过，又提示说有重要内容，叫我不要跳过，一脸懵逼。我记得这个Interactive Whales做过好玩的游戏的呀，怎么这个游戏这么烂。别买，点个奶茶比玩这个好啊，朋友们。
