A beautiful pixel art murder mystery, set in China under the Tang Dynasty.
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders
Game Mode – N/A
Review platform – Xbox Series X
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a point and click, pixel art murder mystery, set in China and based on crimes of Jack The Ripper. The game was developed by Nupixo Games and published by RedDeer.Games.
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a narrative driven experience that sees you play as Detective Di, the ‘Chinese Sherlock Holmes’ as he attempts to solve the serial murders of young women during the Tang Dynasty.
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is gripping right from the off. Starting the game as a young inexperienced Magistrate on his first job. You are given orders to investigate the murder of the Korean Ambassador, who was essential to a maintaining stability in the region. This first case holds your hand nicely, without being intrusive, as you learn the game mechanics. This will be the only time it does though, so enjoy it while it lasts.
As you progress through and solve your first case, you are treated to the wonderful pixel art story-telling that the game consistently delivers the whole way through. As you finish the case you discover that this was a crime of passion, ending as a murder-suicide. But you are left thinking that something didn’t feel quite right afterwards. Finely poising the start of this thrilling story.
By the time you start your second case you have been promoted to working directly for the Empress herself. Learn about the legacy of crime and corruption left by your pre-accessor, as you meet your new colleagues and interrogate witnesses.
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders requires the use of pragmatic problem solving, as you are presented with many puzzles, riddles and clues that you must find and solve before you can complete the case. Make no mistake, despite the charming art style, this game was made with a more mature audience in mind. It has adult themes and a level of complexity to the puzzles. (At least for me). Some of these can be blunt forced through by power of trial and error, some require some finessing… Or logic and problem solving.
As the mystery begins to unfold, you start to realise that there is more to this case than meets the eye. You present the Empress with your findings, and she bizarrely orders you to stand down and stop investigating the case. The murders continue however, and like any good detective, you take your investigation off book. Working without the support of the governing body does have it’s drawbacks, and you are left with a relatively unsupported. This is where the game really shines through from a story-telling point of view. The pacing begins to pick up, giving you a much greater sense of urgency as the story unfolds. This pacing build up in the game is great, and really important for helping build the narrative. You really start to feel like you are getting closer and closer.
The body count rises as you track down the killer, their twisted motives become clear. You start to get the bigger picture as this thrilling tale reaches it’s climax. I had an idea in my head for two characters it could be.. I was wrong on both FYI. This game is not a ‘whodunit?’
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders gives about 6 hours of excellent story telling (could be more or less depending on how long it takes you to solve the puzzles). This coming from someone who tends to prioritise game play over the former. While it is a fantastic game and I really enjoyed my time with it, this game is not for everyone. This is not an action game. Game design is around the story and the art style and executed very well. On the topic of gameplay though, I do have one real gripe with the game. The point and click mechanic would be much better fitted to a touch screen or to a mouse and keyboard over a controller. This is a minor problem at the end of the day and, don’t let it put you off picking up this game. I happily recommend this game and I very much hope for a sequel to The Silk Rose Murders.
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders Pros & Cons
Pros
- Fantastic story
- Beautiful art style
- Excellent pacing
- Strong foundation built for sequel(s)
Cons
- Point and click movement not ideal for controller
- Puzzle solving ‘snap’ functionality*
9/10
*When attempting to solve the riddles, it would be really useful if you could have a screen open with the list of words to choose from. I ended up taking a picture on my phone and doing it like that. A great quality of life feature would be being able to pin evidence to help you solve puzzles etc.
Where can I pick up this game? Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders can be found on Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PC. For those still on the fence, I have a profile of my favourite games below to try and help you figure out if our tastes will align.
Reviewer profile – Xbox Series X gamer. I enjoy both single and multiplayer games, but most of my gaming hours are spent on MP games. Genres I enjoy most: platformers, Battle royal, RPGs and twin stick shooters and survival/basebuilders. Some of my favour games are Elder Scrolls games, PUBG/Warzone, Sonic, Minecraft and Deep Rock Galactic.
