Murder by Numbers, the new game from the makers of avian dating sim Hatoful Boyfriend, is a campy 1990s murder mystery featuring Honor Mizrahi, the star of a hit television detective show who's forced to become a real detective when her boss is murdered—just minutes after firing her. Teaming up with a slightly addled flying robot named Scout (it's the 1990s as seen through the lens of 1990s cartoons, you see), Mizrahi will investigate a string of murders across Hollywood, uncover a dark conspiracy, and—hopefully—clear her name.
Basic gameplay involves solving pixel puzzles to uncover clues, which are then used to converse with and interrogate the game's "quirky" cast of supporting characters. The puzzles themselves are fairly straightforward (mechanically at least) but the writing in the game's opening segment is clever and laugh-out-loud funny in one or two places, and the '90s ambiance is almost overpowering: The opening sequence could be a direct lift from the Cartoon Network.
Murder by Numbers is out today on Steam and GOG for ten percent off the regular $15/£12/€12.50 until March 13. A slightly more expensive collectors edition, with a digital art book, wallpapers, and 30-track soundtrack by Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney composer Masakazu Sugimori, is also available.
And seriously, check out this intro:
Random characters kept swearing in Obsidian's font-obsessed murder-mystery when its procedural error system ran amok: 'Naughtiness abounded'
Eagle-eyed streamer spots that Roberta Williams' portrait in King's Quest 4 is based on her author photo on the back of the game box: 'I never noticed it before.'
