Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a pixelated point and click adventure game. Published by RedDeerGames and developed by Nupixo Games, this is actually Nupixo’s first Xbox release, and the game doesn’t disappoint. Personally, I typically don’t go out of my way for a point and click unless it has a lot of love put into the design. This game manages just that, Its roughly four hours long in length reading and solving all the mysteries with all clues. We control the detective, Di Renjie, and are assigned to solve a murder during the prologue and soon later discover more related incidents across the city, they couldn’t all be related right?
Being a point and click the gameplay for this title is simple in design, we explore the environments as they are presented to us and must interact with everything possible to find clues to solving the murder. The prologue teaches the player they can press ‘Y’ to see all interactable objects on screen, so it’s only a matter of exploring and clicking and applying items to other objects using the inventory. The player can click on people or objects and have a couple choices presented: Examine, grab, and talk to (if possible). It’s important to talk to others while also exploring as they reveal the concrete evidence that helps us decern who was where when the murder took place. After a clue has been discovered a screen will appear showing a table of all clues during that particular section and shows how many more are missing. This clue table is accessible always at the top right of the screen. Once you find the clues, the game will allow the player to reenact the case presented and must choose the correct options of what happened. Options are presented throughout the game, but for the most part do not alter the linear story that is presented, but rather gives more details about the characters Di may be speaking to. The setting for Detective Di is during the Tang Dynasty in China which was during 600-900 A.D. Di Renjie is an honorable man and only wishes to get to the bottom of the serial killer running loose in the streets plotting, but more is revealed with each murder that occurs. There are 4 chapters to the game counting the prologue.
The Visuals for Detective Di are pixelated and does an excellent job with maintaining the aesthetics of the story setting, font selection, and attire worn by the numerous characters we come across on our hunt for clues. The game even manages to have some minor gore with no nudity. Walking through the streets of China or investigating the few crime scenes we come across is self-contained until we are introduced to a map. When leaving a cell, the game will clearly show what room your cursor is over so the layouts are simple to learn. The map appears when leaving a location and more locations are unlocked in the latter half of the game. There is roughly a couple dozen unique cells in the game, all extraordinary art of the city or people and filled with color. I was expecting a gloomy dull looking investigation title, but couldn’t have been more wrong. The art style is hands down one of the coolest features of this title, you can tell many hours were poured into designing the different locations visited throughout the case.
The audio and sound design make the game feel more immersive, which I see as a challenge for pixelated games. The late-night sounds of the prologue are subtle but present, like crickets chirping or a water flowing near a crime scene. There aren’t clue ques like other well-known detective games chiming when near a clue, but that isn’t required since the player can easily see all interactable objects with a press of a button. The music for the game isn’t playing all the time and is there for key scenes in the story. As for the narration, there isn’t any. Nor is there any audible dialogue between any of the characters, so the game is more focused on letting the player explore and enjoy an occasional peaceful moment before the plot develops more. I enjoyed this short title thanks to the visuals and audio design alone. It seems a cut above the rest of the Indie developed titles and when I saw the credits roll and realized the very few names who worked on this title, I was even more impressed with what they had accomplished, especially with an OST for the title.
The longevity of the game is moot at best, sadly the story is linear so the player won’t be returning often unless they truly love the story, audio, and visuals. The game is 4 hours long at most and can be drastically shorter if someone is using a guide. I quite enjoyed moving room to room trying to connect items together to reveal more secrets. The text is something you would have to read and follow to be a good detective, but is skippable if you like a challenge or want to get lost. I know I won’t be returning to the game in the near future, but others may disagree with me just for the art style alone.
Conclusion
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a wonderfully brief point and click adventure that throws the player in the thick of a murder investigation. Di and all the other characters may not have voice actors, but that doesn’t take away form the feeling of true quality on this game, especially with how small the developer staff was while making this Kickstarter project years ago. This is a decent port over to consoles and the developers fixed the broken achievements in the game very quickly after launch. Apart form minor nuisances like inventory usage or lack of facial features for some models, this game is fun to experience. Gorgeous art with enjoyable music appropriate for the Tang Dynasty of ancient years past. For the amount of detail and time invested in making this game, it is accurately priced on the Xbox market. If a sale ever happens for it, I would say it’s a must buy for point and click fans or if you’re looking for a decent adventure title with an enthralling story and cool art.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox Series S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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