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- The Irregular Corporation
- The Irregular Corporation
- The Irregular Corporation
- The Irregular Corporation
Murder by Numbers
Released On: Mar 6, 2020
79
6.7
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
All Platforms
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
79
65% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
17% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
79
65% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
17% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Overall this is a game no fan of Picross (or nonograms) should miss. It is just as essential as Jupiter’s Picross-e and Picross-s series.
Whether you’re a fan of Picross, or whether you enjoy a good murder mystery, I can’t recommend Murder By Numbers enough. The stories it weaves are fantastically realised, brought to life with wonderful characters, genuine touches of humour and fantastic animation. Honestly, I’m sad there’s only four chapters (although each one will keep you hooked for at least 3-4 hours) – more please, Mediatonic. It’s one of the nicest, genuinely unique games I’ve played in quite some time.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 25 User Ratings
6.7
44% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
32% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
24% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 25 User Ratings
6.7
44% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
32% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
24% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
Murder By Numbers feels like a great start to a franchise that combines picross gameplay and murder mystery. The cast of supporting characters are fun and interesting, the main duo have great chemistry with each other, and are apart of the center of this games mystery. The music and art style emulates the likes of Phoenix Wright and for good reason as a lot of the game is either inspired or in the musics case, made by the same composer. The is a total of 4 cases, with each case being longer than the last, and providing a different unique mystery.While I certainly think the game is a great starting point, it also has a lot to work on as well. The majority of the game doesn't feel heavy enough on mystery, with a lot of the game focused more on character interactions and picross than solving a mystery. A lot of the villains are also either too predictable, uninteresting, or both. And there was never a moment where I actually cared about any given villain, and the little that I did was mitigated by how little they did after the fact. The Ace Attorney series have a way of making their villains far more nefarious or remember-able by giving them more outlandish features or motivation, but the majority of Murder By Numbers villains are far too grounded in reality. If anything, Murder By Numbers needs to work on their reveals more in order to wow an audience.I certainly like picross, and even learned how to do it better thanks to the games tutorials and mechanics, I feel that it relied far to heavy on the gameplay from it to use it effectively, and didn't quite iron out a way to make non-picross players stay. A good way to help that is either to beef up the hint system or simply lower the overall difficulty of the puzzles. Largely the fact you're scored throughout the case, and get penalized if you use hints makes a lot of the game harder than it needs to be. And while I understand the process of using a high score system to influence players to play, the fact that in order to S rank on a case, you have to either 100% the first time or go back and redo it again makes for getting any of the unlockables more of a frustrating endeavor than it needed to be.Overall Murder By Numbers is a game series that I want to see more of and while it does have it's problems, they are far more minimal than I make them out to be. The majority of this game is a great start to what it can be, and the fact that I can see that potential, keeps me excited for this game.
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PC
This game made me addicted to nonograms
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PC
If you’re looking for something to scratch that Ace Attorney itch, Murder by Numbers will do the job nicely! The music and effects will sound instantly familiar, and the basic mechanics are great as well. The game brings a lot of its own style to the table, with more mature themes and a ridiculously catchy animated theme song. If you’ve ever found yourself passing away the hours playing Picross or Ace Attorney on your Nintendo DS, there is a lot here for you to enjoy. If not, I might try out a few sample Picross puzzles before purchasing.
Murder by Numbers successfully blends a Phoenix Wright-style visual novel with a Picross-style puzzle game by making each aspect great in its own right.
Murder by Numbers isn’t perfect, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it and hope there’s a sequel. Honor, Scout, Detective Cross, and the gang deserve a second outing, ideally with more of a focus on the detective work—and perhaps a few headache-inducing 25x25 Picross puzzles as well.
A vibrant mystery adventure but maybe not for you if you're picky about picross.
Murder by Numbers combines the unlikely trio of maths, melodrama and murder in a stylishly animated equation that is somewhat unbalanced by its repetitive Picross puzzles.
Murder By Numbers is the combination of number-pixel puzzles and a slew of murder mysteries wrapped inside of a pretty short game (depending on how fast you can solve them). MBN's difficulty does ramp up fast. With that increase of difficulty I did find myself getting tired out after one puzzle. Some may find this as a negative, but I think that's great. This does mean that the overarching story is a little lengthy because lots of time needs to be invested in each puzzle. However, that's perfectly fine for me. That's even par for the course when it comes to puzzle games.
Definitely a recommend.
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PC
A visual novel with a few easy nonogram puzzles here and there.
The story is super simple and silly. You can never belive that a police department inspector misses so many easy clues that a simple actress can find.
There's like 10min of avoidable text in between every playable/puzzle section. So the game is more about reading than about playing.
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PC
Summary Solve Pixel Puzzles to find clues. Use those clues to interrogate witnesses. Work your way to the truth... ...and uncover the mystery of Murder by Numbers.
Platforms:
- PC
- Nintendo Switch
Initial Release Date: Mar 6, 2020
Developer:
- Mediatonic
Publisher: The Irregular Corporation
Genres:
