Once upon a time, ten-ish years ago, I ran across the game Haunt The House: Terror Town…and fell in love with it. Zooming around as a ghost, I explored the old mansion, scared people, unlocked new rooms, and solved puzzles against a brightly colored backdrop whilst listening to a fantastic score. I will unashamedly admit I played the game for hours. 

But, as new games started stacking in my queue, I set the Haunt The House aside.

Then I discovered the developer wrote another game, Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp. It’s a detective game where you play Private Detective Grimoire, who’s hired to solve a murder and inadvertently meet his future side-kick. And I must say it was a whole lot of fun. The puzzles were challenging enough to feel satisfying when solved but not so hard you’re going to pull your hair out. The art was lovely, and the music was excellent, all of which helped immerse you in the game.

Then life interrupted my video game playing, for nearly a decade.

The upside of this nearly decade-long hiatus was, upon opening STEAM once again, I discovered the developer had published a new Detective Grimoire mystery called Tangled Tower. Again, the art and music are excellent, and the mystery engaging. Though there are numerous cut scenes, when interviewing various suspects/witnesses, which lengthens the gameplay significantly, they aren’t tedious. Moreover, the puzzles are engrossing, and the game mechanics make it fun to play (and aren’t buggy, which is even better). 

If you enjoy playing puzzle-based video games, I highly recommend all the titles above. The two Detective Grimoire mysteries are written as a tongue-in-cheek homage to the hardboiled Philip Marlowe private detective-type character, though Grimoire’s way more bumbling (in an endearing way) than his foundation. 

And I cannot wait until they publish the new installment, The Mermaid Mask comes out…Hopefully this year? There’s no date yet, but I look forward to playing it when it’s released!