Clues point to 2025 release of Agatha Christie  – Death on the Nile 

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Microids reimagining of the famous whodunit to be set in 1970s with a new second playable character

After one modern reimagining of an Agatha Christie literary classic in 2023's Murder on the Orient Express, French publisher Microids and its development studio in Lyon are leaving train tracks behind for the water and waves of another Christie masterpiece, Death on the Nile. 

If you're already objecting that you know whodunit, rest assured that there's much more here than can be found on the pages of the Queen of Crime's 1937 novel. And as with its predecessor, it's leaving behind the original time period for a slightly more modern setting. Here it's the 1970s, and famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is aboard the Karnak for a leisurely cruise down the Nile River. In Egypt, however, a "terrible crime" is committed, turning Poirot's peaceful vacation into an active investigation. Meanwhile – and you won't find THIS in the book – private detective Jane Royce is pursuing a murderer of her own, on a case that has led her "from London to Majorca, New York, and finally to Egypt." Eventually the two cases intersect at the historical Abu Simbel, against the backdrop of the renowned temple carved out of the rock, and from this point on the "dynamic duo will solve a complex case full of twists and turns."

As with the previous game, the new one will be a third-person free-roaming 3D adventure, and here too the cases will play out both on land and moving vehicle, with Poirot piecing together clues and deductions in a personal mind map. But while the developers intend to stay "true to the essence" of the source material, that's pretty much where the similarities end, starting with the 1970s backdrop. It's a decade of hip fashion, psychedelic colours, and "major social transformations" such as "feminist movements, the rise of minority rights, and the liberation of social norms," giving the game a much different atmosphere than either Christie's original novel or the studio's previous modern-day game. Instead of crossing continental Europe, here players will travel to (mostly) sun-drenched new locations, from "the exotic Nile cruise to the bustling cities of Majorca, London, and Cairo." The addition of Jane as a brand new playable character promises all-new story segments to explore, which will be more closely interwoven with Poirot's than Orient Express did with Joanna Locke. Players will have more agency in deciding how to proceed this time around, which is good because the challenge, too, has been expanded with "more complex puzzles" and "advanced gameplay mechanics," including a confrontation system in which you "use the evidence you have gathered to challenge suspects, expose lies and uncover hidden truths." 

It's too early for a target release date just yet, but Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile is due to arrive on Steam for Windows PC sometime in 2025, along with console versions for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch.

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