Death in the Manor

Mystery games are great. They appeal to something primal within each of us, a deep yearning to understand the nuances of the worlds we choose to immerse ourselves in. Each of us wants to discover something, to have that moment where a lightbulb goes off and everything makes sense. Indeed, I’d argue this desire to learn, to understand, and to master is what lies at the heart of most games, with mystery games just being the most transparent about it. This sensation and need to understand and have that cathartic moment where everything makes a little more sense is still present in Death in the Manor, don’t get me wrong. However, instead of that catharsis coming from solving a mystery and knowing who dunnit, that sensation is driven by needing to understand this game and the choices it has made. Why, for instance, in a murder mystery game, is there only the barest hint of a mystery? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3652412330 Death in the Manor is a point and click game. You play as a detective tasked with solving the murder of some procedurally generated victim in his procedurally generated house. The detective moves through a house, rummaging through boxes…

I played through three murder cases, each took about twenty minutes. The second one seemed broken because I swear there was no key anywhereeeee! I searched for sooo long and ended up just making a guess that was obviously wrong. The other two were pretty straightforward and very easy to solve. I will say that having to match fingerprints was a pretty cool mechanic, but that's pretty much the only positive thing I experienced. There is a zero chance I will play this game again (unless there ends up being a massive update or something).