Detective From The Crypt Review

In the cemetery of the great Darkday mansion Jane wakes up in the family crypt as a ghost. Not really knowing what has happend Jane takes it upon herself to find the answer to said mystery. A note left from her great grandma tells her that she needs to seek out help from Pulkheria, who is a ghostly cat. Pulkheria works as the general hinting system of the game, dragging items onto the cat gives a clue of what to do with said item. Clicking on the cat prompts a hint of where Jane should go to. If this is not enough Jane also has a journal where her tasks are written.

You first find yourself traversing the family graveyard, talking to it’s other ghostly occupants. These ghosts all needs help from Jane, in one form or another. This leads Jane to a lot of fetch-quests, which takes up a good portion of the game. Doing these quests helps unlocking the story further, and brings Jane closer to the mystery of her death. The fetch quests are usually quite simple and does not involve a lot of needed brain power. The puzzles will improve further down the lane, and not all of them are as mundane.

Going through the storyline is quite linear and the player does not affect the story. That being said there is five different endings to the game. These endings are only affected by the last choice you as the player makes – pointing out which person is reliable for the murder(s). Each person you accuse gives a different ending to the story, some worse than others.

Going by the title, the game is also far from scary, so even a younger audience can enjoy it. As far as the story goes it is alright. You won’t get any deeply amazing mystery but it is far from terrible either. Mediocre.  You get to learn about the living residences of Darkday Manor, and get some backstory of it as well from it’s diseased occupants. Traversing the manor, both inside and out, is the real treat. The game has a distinct art style that is really very beautiful to look at. Colorful, interesting and well rendered. There is plenty to look at in the environment making finding needed items less of a drag.

The music in the game is fitting, quite a melancholic classical music score. It helps setting up the mood, although the game is lacking from any other sound effects and has no voice lines whatsoever. The character models are nicely done and the cat is a cute addition.

All in all Detective from the Crypt is a stunning looking game, with a sorta flat story, but worth picking up – it’s even not that expensive! It will provide a couple of hours entertainment, and would be a lovely addition to play on, for example, Halloween.