Publisher: Evil Trout Developer: Evil Trout; William Rous Year: 2026 Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac
Rating: 6
In 2025, William Rous released the free web-based mystery Type Help to significant acclaim. In fact, it’s currently rated the second best text adventure of all-time at the Interactive Fiction Database. While I am not as engaged with the IF community as I used to be, I heard enough to want to sit down and give it a spin. However, at the same time I discovered that Evil Trout, publisher of the 2025 enhanced hit remake of The Roottrees are Dead, was planning to similarly update Type Help into a graphic adventure called The Incident at Galley House. I was torn on what to do, but ultimately decided to hold off to play the latter. Whether that was the right or wrong choice, I don’t regret my decision, as Galley House is an addicting, worthwhile entry into the deduction genre.
Publisher: Active Gaming Developer: Indoor Sunglasses Year: 2025 Platform: Windows
Rating: 6
Mind Diver made quite the advertising splash when Lucas Pope (the developer of Return of the Obra Dinn) played the demo and gushed about everything from the art to the movement, mystery, and deduction mechanics. Now that it’s finished, the first title by Danish developer Indoor Sunglasses doesn’t quite deliver the high highs that Obra Dinn managed, but indeed it impresses on just about every other front to create an experience that I won’t soon forget.
Tape: Unveil the Memories, the first release by indie developer BlackChiliGoat Studio, bills itself a narrative mystery adventure where you can rewind time, which gave me the impression I would be playing a clever time travel game. So when that didn’t happen, I was initially disappointed. However, once I framed it as a Portal-type stealth mission, I began to enjoy myself. Unfortunately, the enjoyment didn’t last either, as this disjointed narrative and not so user-friendly interface make the game difficult to recommend after all.
More so than any game I’ve ever played, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (by Swedish developer Simogo) weaves hardcore puzzles with an abstract story. I’m not entirely sure that combination works for me, as one side of my brain was constantly spinning from the difficulty, while the other side was spinning trying to understand what was happening. But I enjoyed both enough to recommend this to puzzle lovers.
I have an affinity for games that entirely takes place in a computer database. Orwell is billed as a surveillance game where you play the role of Big Brother, and must make decisions on what information you decide to send over to the police for further investigation. While the premise is dynamite, the execution is middling thanks to a somewhat clunky interface with very little investigation required.
Publisher: Bandai Namco Developer: Supermassive Games Year: 2020 Platform: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One
Rating: 2
While the first game in The Dark Pictures Anthology (Man of Medan) was a hot mess, it utilized the same general design as Until Dawn while improving the graphics, motion capture, and maintained the solid acting performances. So I was optimistic that Supermassive Games would have learned from their mistakes for their next offering. Sadly, while Little Hope still offers scares, it duplicates nearly every issue of its predecessor while deploying more inane dialogue and uninspired acting performances.
The Shivah, released in 2006, was Dave Gilbert’s first game released under the Wadjet Eye Games label, though it was freeware. I haven’t played it, and appears there is no reason to given that the commercial re-release–known as the Kosher Edition— was not only ported to a bunch of new systems, but also significantly improved the graphics, audio, puzzles, plot, and added live voice acting. It’s a short, somewhat endearing adventure about a rabbi who is coming to terms with his past while investigating the murder of one of his former congregants. While competently produced, there is a severe lack of character development and almost nothing that happens feels remotely realistic.
If I had known going in that FAR: Lone Sails, the first game by developer Okomotive, was a platformer in the vein of Limbo, I probably would have passed on it. I’m not particularly against platforming, but like Limbo, Unleaving, and many other games of its ilk, there’s virtually no story and hence little motivation to what you’re doing. I was able to tolerate the bare-bones experience thanks to its brevity, easy of play, and some neat visual effects.
I tend to give detective mysteries a wide latitude when it comes to plausibility. Real detective work is mostly boring and spicing it up with smoking guns and gotcha interrogations is often necessary to make it entertaining. Contradiction, the first game by Baggy Cat, is a full-motion video mystery that sees you investigate the death of a local college student by shaking down everyone that’s been in contact with her. A user-friendly interface, enthusiastic performances, and the occasional deduction make this a fun ride, though the sheer implausibility of every waking moment make this hard to take seriously.
Publisher: Sony Developer: Supermassive Games Year: 2015 Platform: Windows, PS4, PS5
Rating: 7
The first game I played by Supermassive was The Quarry, and it appears I was a bit spoiled. I heard great things about Until Dawn, but I didn’t own a Playstation. And then they released it on 2024 on the PC, but my computer couldn’t handle the specs at the time. I finally got around to it this year. And I wished I had played Until Dawn first. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I couldn’t help thinking the entire time how they improved the choice-based horror formula in nearly ever single way a few years later
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