Tag: Mystery Game

Am I Nima – Demo Impressions

A unique form of narrative puzzle in an uneasy package.

Am I Nima

Developer: HO! Games

Release Date: 8 October 2026

Am I Nima is a psychological-horror game where you must convince your mom that you really are her daughter. Combine words together in your brain and use them to talk. Get her to trust you.

In the Am I Nima demo, you wake up tied to a chair with a stranger looming over you and no idea what is going on. The lingering discomfort of the unknown and well executed creepiness of the environment and interactions keep you consistantly uneasy through the entire duration, with the mystery unravelling – or deepening? – as you discover new thoughts.

This game feels like a fantastic innovation of Doodle God/Alchemy style games, where you combine elements to create new elements, and combine those with the new and old elements to create more. While those games are all about finding the next thing for discoveries sake, Am I Nima has a narrative reason for doing so. The screen is split and the top right corner is dedicated to Nimas brain. In there, you will receive words. These are thoughts based on the conversation taking place, or findings as you explore the room. Within the brain, you can combine words to create different words. This, in my opinion, is such cool way of delivering a story.

The words that you combine are telling, when you take the time remember that they are thoughts. Combining Nima and Dad results in grief, which must be the feeling that Nima gets when she thinks about her dad. Due to this, I know something happened. I have contextless pieces of information that allow my imagination to fill in the gaps, and the curiosity to fuel my incessant pairing of words. I can continue combining to find more contextless clues, knowing that at least some of the context will be revealed by the rest of the game as we go. It feels like the equivalent of environmental storytelling but baked directly into the gameplay and mechanics. I feel rewarded for being observant, even though it hasn’t really got me anywhere yet.

Then there is the other half of the game. You are conversing with a woman who appears to be your Mom. As she talks, asks you questions and allows you to ask questions, you can reply using the words that you have stored in your brain by dragging them down to the active conversation. I am unsure how far you can go with using any word at any time (I did unlock a lot of words but I only played the demo once so I only got to see what I chose in the first instance), but it certainly feels like you need to be careful with your choices, to get the information that you need without putting yourself in danger.

The demo allowed for a lot of word gathering but I don’t feel like I have a good grasp on how the rest of the game will go/present itself, and how I will get to use the words that I have conjured. But it did feel like a promise of an interesting experience that I would be keen to continue, especially given the intrigue of story hook we are left on.

Demo Length – 40 mins
At a glance
+ Uneasy vibes are on point
+ Freedom to experiment
+ Intriguing mystery off the bat
+ I feel rewarded for finding new words because not only do they present the opportunity to find more words, but they have narrative relevance.
+/- I have no idea how linear the game actually is or really the gameplay loop beyond the conversations in the demo.

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Desktop Explorer – Demo Impressions

Step aside logic puzzles, there is a new contender in town.

Desktop Explorer

Developer: Recurring Dream

Release Date: 17 Jul 2026

Rummage through the abandoned profiles of an old PC to unravel an inherited mystery. What secrets hide in this eerie adventure of cryptic games and outdated software? Who was using this computer? And what happened to them?

Desktop Explorer is what I want to call an OS exploration game, but not like any other I have played. The entire premise of the demo revolves around solving the puzzles on the system, incrementally unlocking new folders and using the files within to solve the next puzzle. They are presented to you through a light horror adventure, laterally unravelling the presumably real life mystery of your uncles amnesia/history/life.

The immersive nature of the OS threw me at first, as puzzle solutions can and will be found throughout the functions of the programmes themselves. Every solution had me feeling like a tech genius, despite – or should I say, especially because of – the brain scratching moments that had me starting at the screen, browsing back and forth wondering what on earth I was supposed to do. The information is there for those lightbulb moments and I feel that is all that you should know going into this game.

After seeking out logic puzzles for the last while, Desktop Explorer is an absolute breath of fresh air and I can’t say I have played anything else like it. I was thoroughly invested in this demo both mechanically and narratively and I highly recommend checking it out for yourself.

Demo Length – ~1 hour
At a glance
+ Excellent puzzles
+ Diagetic puzzles
+ Diagetic hints
+ Immersive
+ Engaging story
+/- Doesn’t feel hand holdy
+/- Disturbing enough. Not too scary (yet)

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Grunn – Demo Impressions

Who gardens at night anyway? ⁿᵒᵗ ᵐᵉ ᵃⁿʸᵐᵒʳᵉ

Grunn

Developer:
Sokpop Collective,
Tom van den Boogaart

Release Date:
4 October 2024

A gardener gets hired for maintenance work over the weekend. A simple task, but strangely some tools are missing…The owner of the garden isn’t around, and their house is off-limits. Perhaps new tools can be found in the mysterious town, or maybe some of the reserved townsfolk have seen them?

Grunn mixes together a type of game that I love with a type of game that I hate. Together, they become a genius concoction that I absolutely don’t want to play despite REALLY wanting to play. Let me explain.

I love a task simulator. Give me games like Powerwash Sim, House Flipper or similar and I can play them all day, getting myself into that hyper fixated state of ‘just one more task’. The entire idea of this genre – in my opinion – is to allow for a flow state, zoning out of your everyday life, keeping your hands busy and your dopamine bar full. No thinking, only doing. As soon as I begun cutting the grass in this slightly overgrown garden I instantly fell into this zone, my safe zone, forgetting any uncanny feelings I may have had prior. What a perfect zone to get someone in before intruding, pulling the rug and making their hair stand on edge.

In Grunn, we are hired to do some gardening. We are left some instructions, a deadline, and that is all you get as you are let loose into this sandbox of oddities. I am not going to spoil in which way this is a horror game, you will have to play yourself for that, but I will say that at one point I did squeal. Once you notice something strange, you may notice something else, until the things you are noticing are probably nothing at all. Or.. If you are like me you will just get on with the job you were hired to do, happily snip-snip-snipping away without a care in the world. Once you realise, however, that things don’t quite seem ordinary, the dread creeps in and the real game begins.

You have been placed into a playground and the world is yours to explore, experiment and tidy up.. or not. Every action you take, object you find or information you obtain will lead you to the next, adding to your knowledge banks ready to take action somewhere down the line. The game takes place with a running clock, which means you only have limited time to do what you need to do, and there is far more to do than you could achieve before the deadline. The time pressure looms as you make your choice on what you pursue. I recommend a notebook as you find yourself zipping around, following clues without context and discover leads that you may want to follow up on.

I found the games unique aesthetic to be a little jarring at first. The generally soft colour palette draws you into the initial ‘cozy’ atmosphere, but it never feels perfect as what can only be described as a surreal wobble obfuscates your environment. This can be turned off in the settings but I quickly got used to it, preferring to keep it on as a scapegoat for any potential peripheral movement that should not be, that I would rather deny happened.

The demo contains 5 endings, with the full game presumably adding many more. In my playtime I found 2, neither of which being the true ending of the demo. While I had ideas of more things to try, I decided to wait for the full game to puzzle it out. Maybe then, I will finally dare to stay out after dark.

If you enjoy weird and wonderful, subversions and curiosity, I recommend giving this one a go. Something is going on here, and it is NOT wholesome.

Demo Length – 1+ Hours
At a glance
+ All in on the surreal aesthetic that can so easily turn creepy.
+ Tasks feel good to do and complete.
+ Freedom/No handholding.
+ So weird.
+ Multiple endings feel achievable in a game this length and densely packed.
+ Non-traditional puzzle game.
+ Contrasts cozy ideas with less cozy moments.

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The Operator – Demo Impressions

I’ll be your newly hired guy in the chair. How can I help you today?

The Operator

Developer: Bureau 81

Release Date: 22 July 2024

Welcome to the FDI. As our newest Operator, your role is to use your detective skills to assist our field agents and investigate mysterious crimes. Use cutting-edge FDI software to dig for clues, solve puzzles, and uncover the truth.

In The Operator, we take control of a high security computer, using the tools available to us – such as a person database, evidence files, photo and video analysis and more – to assist the agents that are out in the field.

I have played a few games that take place within a computer interface and I am thoroughly impressed at how this particular game has implemented it so far. In order to recieve files to investigate we communicate with agents via phone call. These are fully voiced and continue running regardless of whether we are listening intently, or furiously doing our own research in our other files. It is all transcribed and logged in-case you need to re-read and the dialogue itself feels natural and easy to follow.

At it’s heart this is a puzzle game. We are provided with information and questions, and it is up to us to solve the query, whether it is as simple as finding someone’s last known address, or a little more complex like pointing out discrepancies in a victims testimony. A notable point is that we don’t loose access to the previous case we were working. I am very curious to see how far they take this. Can you imagine the web of mystery that we could uncover, finding minor, seemingly unrelated details that weave together further down the line, unravelling a mystery that we didn’t even know we were trying to solve? Someone get me a corkboard and some string!

While the demo is brief, it told me everything that I need to know about how The Operator plays, showing that I am not in for a railroaded experience and will be required to use my brain in detective-like ways. Not only that, it laid plenty of ground to get me feeling very intrigued. The opening minutes of the game set a scene that is unexpected for a computer based experience, and the final minutes confirmed that there is more going on than meets the eye.

Demo Length – 30 mins
At a glance
+ Polished.
+ Allows player freedom.
+ An unexpected but intriguing mystery.
+ Potential for some complexity.
+ Very user friendly.
+ Good voice acting and dialogue.

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The Horror at Highrook – Demo Impressions

Screw the madness, I have got to know more..

The Horror at Highrook

Developer: Nullpointer Games

Release Date: To be announced

The Horror at Highrook is an occult card crafting RPG. Explore a haunted mansion with your team of investigators, summon dark entities, craft powerful protections, uncover the fate of the missing family, and choose your own path through the darkness.

I have been searching for my perfect crafting game for a while now. So often I have the urge to gather stuff to make things, to distribute them, to gather more and make more, but I have yet to find the jackpot game that satisfies my very specific itch. I didn’t even consider I would find it here. The Horror at Highrook demo allows players to play through Chapter 1 of the game. I could have played a LOT more. I am not saying that this is the perfect game or the jackpot, but based on this first hour, it not only hit that compulsive management corner of my brain, but made my eyes sparkle at the idea of increasing complexity. All of this, seasoned with a really enjoyable flavour made this demo an absolute treat.

The game begins with an instruction manual which I found incredibly easy to read. It suits this game a lot more than a conventional tutorial would, immediately setting you loose playing god over a group of investigative explorers. The house that we are inspecting is our board, the team and their belongings are our cards, and it is up to us to set everyone away doing tasks, using the resources that we have to discover new tasks to perform.

As we perform our tasks we find journal pages and other bits of lore scattered throughout the mansion. This guides us forward as we follow in the footsteps of the family that lived here. Doing questionable rituals to appease eldritch horrors is never a good idea, with one exception. Luckily for us, we are doing it to rescue someone, which makes it absolutely fine, and we can all be sure that nothing terrible will happen.

I like the cast of characters. One of them wants to leave – rightfully so might I add – but is reluctantly convinced to stay due to history with another character and despite the fact that I have only known them for 30 minutes, I totally believe it. I didn’t expect to empathise with a card on a board but it is the little details like that that engage the player within the story and make it a memorable experience.

It is hard to put my finger on the exact reason this game hits for me. It has a lot of elements that I like individually, like crafting, management, cosmic horror, character interactions, investigation, and even exploration somehow works considering we are on a static board. Everything feels additive to the next thing with no padding involved. So far it has been linear and I imagine the rest will continue to be the same, I just hope the game continues to feel as fresh as the beginning, as getting new cards is a dopamine rush that only has limited legs. Either way, I will certainly be keeping an eye on the game, consider it wishlisted!

Demo Length – 1+ hour
At a glance
+ Easy to learn.
+ Drip fed the story.
+ The character interactions.
+ The theming is great, especially when surprises happen.
+ I just love arranging my cards on a mystery mansion.
+/- On one hand I could see the game remaining engaging with complexity, but on the other I could see it getting repetitive. Hoping for the former.
+/- We can choose the way we manage our time and characters but the overall story so far appears to be linear.

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The Drifter – Demo Impressions

I can’t think of a better set up for a point & click adventure.

The Drifter

Developer: Powerhoof, Dave Lloyd

Release Date: To be announced

A Pulp Adventure Thriller – A murdered drifter awakens. Alive again, seconds before his death. Hunted and haunted, help him untangle a mad web of conspiracy in this fast-paced point ‘n click thrill-ride.

The Drifter is a demo that I tried for the first time around 2019, back in one of the early Steam Next Fests. It left such an impression that it has been on my Wishlist ever since. I was thrilled to see the game in the LudoNarraCon line up and delighted that I enjoyed it just a much the second time around as I did all of those years ago.

The first thing that immediatly stands out to me is the presentation of the game. The pixel art and animation is fantastic, the colours immediatly setting the gritty tone that will continue throughout the entirety of the chapter contained within the demo. The game is fully voice acted, including narration from the main character himself which in my opinion, elevates The Drifter from a typical point and click adventure to a more unique cinematic experience.

The demo can be played in less than 30 minutes and even in such a short space of time manages to establish two excellent story hooks. One is more realistic, setting the tone in what immediatly feels like a very down to earth game. However, the other is a science fiction twist that has the potential to allow for some very stressful, suspenseful, intense story and puzzle scenarios, or even hilarious ones if they want to. One of these hooks would have been enough but together, along with the entire aesthetic, this is the set up for a narrative that I am itching to see play out.

Demo Length – 30 minutes
At a glance
+ Lovely pixel art and animations.
+ Great story hooks.
+ Narration.
+ Writing feels good so far.
+ Drama.
+ Nice, clear, time saving UI.

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Let’s Play – Exit/Corners

Exit/Corners is a free-to-play browser based visual novel, which you can play yourself here. The mysteries keep on coming as we puzzle our way out of a hotel that is set to collapse with a colourful cast of characters. Created by a tiny team, I do implore you to give this one a go, whether you are playing yourself or watching my series below. It is an interesting one!

Full playlist available on Youtube!

Guest Appearance – Left Behind Game Club – The Nonary Games: Virtues Last Reward

I joined the Left Behind Game Club once again to continue our journey through the Zero Escape series. If we thought 999 was mind bending then we needed to buckle our seatbelts. Virtues Last Reward is the sequel, upping the ante in every which way possible! Beware, this episode is full of spoilers and I recommend playing through the series yourself if you have any interest at all!

Available on your platform of choice!

This episode aired on 15/06/2022. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Left Behind Game Club and give them a 5 star rating if you enjoy their content, it helps them out and they definitely deserve it! Have a scroll through their content and I can guarantee there will be some episodes for you.

Let’s Play – Zero Time Dilemma

We completed the Zero Escape series with a full playthrough of Zero Time Dilemma! It took me a while to get used to the different style of this one, but once I did, I was all in. A fun entry to a fun series.

Full playlist available on Youtube!

Let’s Play – The Nonary Games: Virtues Last Reward

I really enjoyed my full, blind playthrough of Virtues Last Reward. Every time I thought things were peak crazy, something else happened. And yet somehow it all ended up making sense!

Full playlist available on Youtube!