Murder Is Game Over: The Blackinton Curse

• Reviews by Jenna Ruby Marvet
• Published:

Fourth game in the dog-and-detective series remains simple but is lifted by its charming yet haunting presentation

Set in the gloomy former industrial hub of Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts, the fourth Murder Is Game Over story (but the first I’ve personally played) revolves around the wealthy Blackinton family. Meredith Blackinton, who grew the industrialist family fortune even further as a successful organist and composer, has passed away and a cast of suspicious townsfolk and Meredith’s two sons gather for her funeral. But before the service concludes, a terrifying figure appears above the cemetery: a ghostly image of Saul Blackinton, the long-dead patriarch who founded the family’s mining empire and, according to legend, cursed his descendants. The apparition warns the Blackinton brothers that they will soon perish, their deaths lifting the curse on the family as the last living descendants. The town nervously awaits tragedy to strike again.

Sure enough, before long Meredith’s video game programmer son Trevor is found dead on the Blackinton Estate, his lifeless body accompanied by an antique walking stick inherited by his Hollywood-based actor brother Cade. In The Blackinton Curse, you play as Detective Guy and his loyal dog Cleo, called to investigate Meredith’s and ultimately Trevor’s deaths. Fellow investigator Detective Dudley confidently declares the events a double homicide carried out by Cade. But as evidence mounts through clue-finding and investigation of the deceased, it becomes clear the truth may be more tangled than it seems. It’s a compact mystery that successfully digs into gothic tones and the classic murder mystery whodunnit detective genre, but while veteran sleuths may not be challenged by this forensic foray into potentially supernatural territory, it’s easy to be charmed by it.

Other suspects range from members of the Blackinton family to a cast of potentially dubious townsfolk. Besides Cade, potential murderers of Meredith and Trevor Blackinton include:

●       Father Francis, the local priest

●       Tony Carson, a developer eager to build a wind farm on Blackinton family land

●       Nurse Ingman, Meredith’s caretaker

●       Professor Marshall, a university academic interested in the Blackinton Estate

●       Dana Laskin, a student obsessed with her studies

●       Simon, Cody, Kaci, and Drew, a talkative gang of local kids who were playing hide-and-seek during the funeral

To uncover what really happened, Detective Guy and Cleo must explore the grounds and surrounding town, uncover evidence and interrogate people. While Guy handles interviews and deductions, Cleo is the impressive sleuth in the pair, sniffing out hidden clues like a long-lost cousin of Scooby-Doo. (Not to mention, Cleo can gather doggy bags of treats.) Gameplay centers around collecting information and presenting evidence to corner suspects on suspicious alibis to push the investigation forward. The central mystery with its ghostly trappings is like a mix of Agatha Christie and the aforementioned Mystery Gang, with a familiar setup and cast of characters. While some twists and explanations come off a bit clunky within the limited time constraints, it is largely successful in holding attention and moving things along swiftly.

Keyboard arrow keys guide the pair around the quiet town and accursed manor, with the option to either hold down Shift to sprint or toggle the run speed on and off. Point-and-click controls are available, but the streamlined mechanics make it feel like the game was intended to be played sans mouse. It also worked nicely with my Xbox controller. The menu includes a case file with clues and suspects, a map, and a helpful built-in hint system that can put you on the right track if you’re lost.

You can switch between the two playable characters at will, with Cleo’s keen nose uncovering hidden items and information stored handily in Guy’s case file. New clues can cause Guy to question a suspect’s alibi, leading to a confrontation with the latest evidence. The cast of suspects are interesting and more than a few are written to be effectively suspicious, though there isn’t too much time to dig deep into their characterizations or backstories.

Murder Is Game Over: The Blackinton Curse

Genre:	Mystery
Presentation:	2D or 2.5D, Overhead
Theme:	Team-up, Whodunit
Perspective:	Third-Person
Graphic Style:	Pixel art
Gameplay:	Investigative
Control:	Direct Control, Point-and-click
Game Length:	Short (1-5 hours)
Difficulty:	Low
Action:	Chase

The Blackinton Curse utilizes pixel art with a bird’s-eye perspective akin to an old-school JRPG, which, while simple, nicely captures the essence of the characters and the eeriness of Berkshire Hills. During conversation, well-crafted portraits portray each person with a number of clear, individualized emotions. With time passing between night and day, the muted backgrounds show off the lush greenery of the Berkshires, the purple sky dotted with stars and a rain effect that varies between trickling and pouring throughout. Clues are represented by chunky, larger-than-life items strewn about in buildings and on grassy lawns. I found the aesthetic and mood surprisingly comfy and relaxing, despite the killer on the loose. There is no voice acting but the soundtrack is lo-fi and creepy, though notably catchy, building out the game’s haunting, foggy mood.

The town is extensive but quiet, with different neighborhoods and key buildings like the church, museum, and mines. The Blackinton Manor and its estate are the most detailed, so much more so than the other locations that the large map began to seem a little unnecessary. Most of the gameplay requires navigating between locations to talk to characters and locate physical clues, and even with a map there is no fast travel or a marker for the player’s current location for directional context. While I appreciated the variety of settings, the navigation turned tedious relatively early on.

The ghostly Saul stalks Detective Guy and Cleo at times, which adds a layer of action to the gameplay. The spirit randomly spawns into areas, hunting you down to catch you. To evade the ghost, you must navigate Guy and Cleo to an exit more quickly than it can catch up with them. If that seems stressful, the chase difficulty can be set to cozy, normal, or scary. In cozy mode, players will not encounter any apparitions, while in normal mode the ghost appears moderately often and being caught simply relocates Detective Guy and Cleo to a different location rather than ending the game. In scary mode, getting caught results in an instant game over, reinforcing the series’ subtitle.

I started playing on normal mode but as the story progresses, the hauntings become more frequent and I eventually toggled on cozy mode so I could focus on the mystery. A setting you can turn on and off and adjust throughout gameplay is welcome, rather than being potentially stuck with one that proves too challenging or easy the entire game. The chase feature can add an extra layer of interest for those who prefer more tension with their adventuring. For me, I felt like the mystery stood on its own, and I found the cozy mode charming, even adding extra achievements for finding various woodland creatures throughout the town.

The matter of the ghost is resolved without direct intervention, but after cross-examining alibis and discerning the motives of each living suspect, Detective Guy and Cleo gather all of the characters together for a classic whodunnit session, walking through the details of the case and uncovering the true culprit in Blackinton Manor like a real Hercule Poirot. Here, too, players can choose between an easy and hard mode for the final deduction. The easy mode allows for unlimited mistakes, while the hard mode warns that too many wrong answers will have additional consequences. There are a fair few suspects and clues to parse, but most of the work is done for you by Detective Guy. So, even on the harder mode, the mystery-solving aspect of the game feels more akin to an interactive visual novel than a traditional adventure. 

Final Verdict

Murder is Game Over: The Blackinton Curse offers a classic murder mystery with a welcome canine companion and an extra ghostly thrill for those who (optionally) wish for a bit of action mixed in. With a short play time that rounds out the mystery in just a few hours, this is a bite-sized experience that’s far more charming than challenging. The combination of gothic aesthetic, whodunnit tropes, moody tunes, varied suspects, and streamlined detective work made this an enjoyable romp through the Berkshires for me. With another game already complete and possibly more on the way, I’m looking forward to seeing how the series progresses and to what other settings the developer applies this winning formula.

Jenna played Murder is Game Over: The Blackinton Curse on PC using a review code provided by the game's publisher.