Murder Malady review

• Reviews by Sean Parker
• Published:

The modest twentieth anniversary installment displays all the same comfortable, classic series symptoms that fans have come to love

Twenty years. Twenty games. For any other series, such a milestone might mean a great big celebratory entry, with a story more bombastic than usual to honor a decades-long legacy. But if you're Carol Reed, rather than taking some grand, well-deserved victory lap, a twentieth anniversary means little more than quietly brewing a pot of tea, stepping out into the serene Swedish countryside once again, and methodically unraveling another mystery – all with the same understated charm that's drawn fans back time and again every year, to the steadiest of rhythms.

The lack of pomp in Murder Malady feels perfectly on brand for the Carol Reed mysteries. Since 2004, this cozy and unassuming point-and-click adventure series has quietly endured, delivering its signature brand of laid-back puzzling and investigating in picturesque settings without ever straying from its low-key photo slideshow roots. Series fans who plead to creator Mikael Nyqvist "Don't change anything" can breathe easy: The new game is exactly as we all remember. It’s modest, minimalist, and not about to set the adventure gaming world on fire.

That's not to say it simply goes through the motions, either. While I haven't exhaustively gone through each installment (yet), this game is one of the stronger outings I've played, with an affecting core at the center of the mystery that gives it more of an emotional through-line than I've come to expect from this series, even if the actual storytelling is largely relegated to the background (as always).

In Murder Malady, Carol is contacted by the tormented Immodia Berling, who's been grappling with a mystery that's haunted her since childhood. At nine years old, for motives unknown, Immodia's mother killed her father and then fessed up to the crime. After serving 13 years in prison, her mother simply vanished after an early release, with no word for over a decade – until now, with the arrival of a cryptic text to Immodia attempting to bring some closure while she still can. The message implies that Immodia's mother's is in poor health and with not much time left, but also raises more questions than answers. Immodia wants Carol to try to track down her location so she can finally understand what she's been burdened by all her life: just what caused her mom to do such a thing?

From here, it's everything you'd expect in a Carol Reed mystery, plus a couple small surprises. Some locales this time around are just a touch more expansive and labyrinthine than what I'm used to with this series. Never overwhelmingly so, but in a series first, I did opt to keep notes on the locations of all the various locked drawers, boxes, and other unsolved puzzles I found along the way so I wouldn't lose track of them. Early on, before even discovering very many places to go, I had amassed eight of these "locked door" puzzles dotted around the game world with no sign of their keys, which was a bit daunting. (This was later outdone closer to the midgame, when I took stock of all the objects waiting for their keys, and counted up a whopping FOURTEEN!)

This installment also doesn't hold back when it comes to a plethora of inventory items. At one point, my inventory was stuffed with enough items to stretch across the whole top bar of the screen. I've only played a quarter of the Carol Reed games by this point, but I can't recall ever seeing that much stuff in her pockets. Fortunately the massive inventory stays (just barely) on the "manageable" end of the spectrum throughout, so it's a good balance.

All Carol Reed games have side quests that take you away from the central mystery, and this one has a lengthy one that has you "solving" a made-up murder as part of an elaborate test of worthiness for an underground detective agency. Carol’s not actually trying to join, simply attempting to make contact with the elusive head of the organization, and going through their battery of tests is the only way to the top. The amount of time spent gathering clues (and doing mini scavenger hunts) across multiple parks, a rock quarry, and a museum do derail the momentum of the main story a little bit, but returning players know that's par for the course in these games. It's a pretty fun little diversion too, with the gigantic machinery you get to explore in the quarry being a highlight. And after finally solving this puzzle gauntlet, I guffawed in amusement at the cameo appearance of a certain adventure game YouTuber who pops up at the quest’s end.

There are some decently satisfying puzzles in Murder Malady, generally well-integrated into the game world, with very few of them stretching credibility. The bulk of the mystery revolves around a lengthy, unsolved scavenger hunt from Immodia's mother that was meant for her father, which Carol must embark on herself. I was rather invested in the very personal nature of this tragically romantic setup, which was a marked improvement on some of the more sterile-feeling quests in prior games. There are puzzle boxes aplenty here, with hidden passcodes dotted throughout the game world, and these are lots of fun to unlock. However, one particular challenge, which involves retrieving a watering can from high atop a tree, has a solution so convoluted it stretches believability a tad.

Murder Malady

Genre:	Mystery
Presentation:	2D or 2.5D, Slideshow
Theme:	Crime solving
Perspective:	First-Person
Graphic Style:	Photorealism
Gameplay:	Investigative, Puzzle
Control:	Point-and-click
Game Length:	Short (1-5 hours)
Difficulty:	Medium

That's not the only design choice falling slightly short. Some of the research you put on Carol's friend Stina's desk feels like the sort of thing that'd probably only be a Google search away for Carol to take on herself, which makes parts of the story come across as needlessly gated until the designer allows you to pursue them. That goes especially so for the moments where common household objects are needed to solve puzzles, which Carol can only obtain by chance through the varied web of destinations she visits, rather than, you know, simply stopping by a local hardware store and getting 90% of what she needs in one go. Heck, if Carol just kept a toolkit in her flat with assorted screwdrivers, a crowbar, knife, spade and a litter picker for grabbing out of reach objects, she could bypass a sizable chunk of the puzzles she encounters across ALL her adventures. (By now, you'd think she might have realized that herself.)

Thank goodness there's still a tiered hint system accessed via the journal. Some of the previous Carol Reed titles had occasionally obtuse hints that still weren't enough for me to make progress without consulting a walkthrough. I'm glad to say I was able to stay entirely within the game this time, only consulting the hint feature twice.

There are lots of people to stop and chat with or interrogate along the way, some new and others comfortably familiar. When series regular (and lovable oaf) Bigge turns up, he’s tied to the main mystery in a more meaningful way than his usual fetch quest filler. Murder Malady still indulges in the obligatory collect-a-thon mission for his latest business venture, but this time it amusingly involves helping him cover up for a misdemeanor. (I guess the ends justify the means, eh, Carol?) There's an unusually hilarious payoff to this, adding a surprising and memorable twist to Carol’s typically understated role in the proceedings.

The photography on display here is often quite great, and looked outstanding even on a giant 4K TV screen.  Some of the more dingy and dilapidated environments were clearly captured with the use of a camera flash, which somewhat cheapens the visuals there with less appealing lighting, but everywhere else the game shines really nicely – quite possibly the best these games have ever looked. Once again, the Carol Reed series makes a great argument for making a real-life visit to her home turf, and Murder Malady feels totally deserving of some sort of sponsorship from the Swedish tourism board.

One other minor standout is the music. I've enjoyed a lot of the Carol Reed soundtracks for what they are, but this one has some great piano compositions and some genuinely eerie ambient soundscapes that made altogether harmless locations feel dangerous enough to make my neck hairs stand moderately on end. A few lovely, melancholy songs play in some of the abandoned homes you'll be sifting through (always a series staple, and in full force here!) and there are even a couple pretty catchy jaunty numbers that liven up the scenes now and then when needed. It's not a soundtrack that calls much attention to itself, but it's wonderfully complementary and one of my favorites across the series to date.

The finale involves a lot of frantic running to and fro around locations I was very familiar with by that point, having taken me about four hours of playtime to get to the end. Your last actions involve ticking off all the remaining locked boxes and cabinets from your to-do list (which will have nagged at you for much of the game in the back of your mind, unable to crack them until getting key items in the final minutes) and then poof! Mystery solved. The ending comes a bit more abruptly than I'd have liked (also not an uncommon element in this franchise), and while the mystery’s resolution is built on solid logic, its delivery lacks the dramatic weight that could have elevated it to something really special.

Final Verdict

With its twentieth entry, the Carol Reed mystery series continues to charm and delight with the same signature blend of gentle mystery, atmospheric settings, and relaxed gameplay that fans have cherished for years. The game plays it very safe and isn’t especially memorable for an anniversary installment, but it’s remarkable how, even after two decades, stepping into Carol’s shoes feels like visiting a favorite old haunt – a comforting, familiar experience with just enough intrigue and addictive puzzles to keep you hooked. Murder Malady wisely doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, because it doesn’t need to; it’s content to please its core fans, who will find another gem in a humble crown that has long gleamed in the adventure game world.

Sean played Murder Malady on PC using a review download provided by the game's publisher.