Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders

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Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders, because we have to learn our alphabet somehow, right?

[/vc_column_text][vc_message icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-steam-square”]Purchased: As an individual game on Indiegala.
Achievements: 50 Steam Achievements
DLC: None[/vc_message][vc_column_text]I wanted to play a mystery game without the intense situations that Sherlock Holmes games kind of put you in. Games that have a more realistic feel or look to them tend to get a little tiring to look at and play after a while. So much so, that I had to take a break to a game that reminded me it’s a game.

Therefore I went for the Agatha Christie game, and I can say I’m pretty satisfied with the choice.[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag color=”peacoc”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Pros:

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  • Music is low-key and not in-your-face
  • Variety of puzzles aren’t terribly difficult
  • Hint system

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Cons:

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  • Voiceovers are bland and lack emotion
  • Nice graphics, but out-of-sync mouth movement
  • Subtitles don’t always match what’s being said

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Navigation

While navigating through the crime areas, you’re basically stuck within them. Which means if you’re in a bedroom, and you need to search everything, you won’t be able to leave said bedroom until you’ve actually searched everything. It locks you into specific places.

Which is nice. You don’t have to wander everywhere to find clues.

Like in freakin’ Painscreek Killings.[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag color=”peacoc”][vc_column_text]

Graphics

There’s not much to say on the graphics. I personally believe they’re well-done. They certainly stand out from most games that I’ve played, so if I ever have another go at a game by this dev, then I may notice the art style off the bat.

I never found any graphical problems, however.[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag color=”peacoc”][vc_column_text]

Gameplay

This game is pretty slow-going at times, and the sound of their voices, combined with the light soundtrack had me on the edge of sleep a few times.

That doesn’t make it a bad game with bad gameplay, though.

I mean, I loved my English class, but our instructor had one of those voices that could lull every single student to sleep. And then there were the movie days that he had to have known would put us to sleep.

Maybe that’s why he sold us candy for cheap in his class? For that sugar rush.

I’m digressing.

Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders makes you go from crime scene to crime scene in order to solve a small mystery to get to the bigger picture of who the killer is.

Now, when I say crime scene to crime scene, I mean you’ll have to complete one in order to do the next one.

There aren’t too many puzzle games in here, and when they show up, they aren’t too difficult. You might need to think a little bit on them, and I had to use a hint on one, but once you figure it out it’s smooth-going.

While you talk to people, you can earn ego points depending on the answer you choose to give them. That, as well as interacting with certain things in an area and figuring things out. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t do anything, but there may be an achievement once you hit the max.

For all that information, it’s actually a pretty short game.[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag color=”peacoc”][vc_column_text]

Audio

The characters’ voices when speaking were off-putting to me at first. They just didn’t sound right to my ears, like the actors were forcing themselves into their respectable roles. But as the game went on, I got used to them.

As far as the vocals and the subtitles, they do tend to be different at times, and because there are different languages you can choose from at the start of the game, it makes me believe that the creators weren’t native speakers of the American language.[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag color=”peacoc”][vc_column_text]

Overall

It’s a good game if you like mysteries with a bit of puzzle-solving and piecing things together. There’s not much of a penalty if you get something wrong.

Make sure you’re awake though, as it’s slow enough to be somewhat tiring.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]