4/5 ★ – AvatarAang's review of Murder by Numbers.

This game is like if you smooshed Ace Attorney and Picross together! The game is played in a visual novel fashion, with moments where you can investigate the screen ala Ace Attorney. When you find something, you have to do a Picross puzzle to figure out what it is. Hard to rate this one, because at its core it is just another Picross game, but what they do with it and the quality of the soundtrack really elevate it I think. Picross games are some of my favorite casual games to play, and I have played most of Nintendo's Picross-e games as well as Mario Picross, Zelda Picross, Pokemon Picross, and the lovely "Khimera Puzzle Island." This game is better than Nintendo's Picross games and proooooobably the best Picross game of the bunch? I think the game comes off as cheaper than it actually is. The character models early in the game look a little off, and their animations aren't nearly as satisfying as those in Ace Attorney. The story seems a little basic and many of the early characters are fairly unlikable. But the second half of the game (really the late portion of the second case) reveals the true spirit of the game and it is really quite good. I am attached to the characters and want to see them return in a sequel! One of the main side characters is gay, which is neat, but I was disappointed to see that that was their only character trait. Most of their dialogue is about how they are attracted to other men, or some lines that reflect their flamboyant caricature. As somebody who is trans and bi, that really put me off. However, I was thrilled to see that the third case was all about queer characters (drag queens) and showed a much more nuanced and realistic take on people who are queer and their experience. One main characters explores their gender in real time and that was a fun addition that I appreciated. That case told me that the writers have a much better understanding of the queer experience than the character from the first case initially led on. By the third case, I was fully invested in the game. My interest was helped a lot by two key strengths of the game: hard Picross puzzles and a great soundtrack by the composer of the first Ace Attorney game. I have to tell you, since I started playing this game in December (two months ago), I have had the puzzle music in my head pretty much every day. It really captures the ups and downs of work, I think, at least speaking as somebody with a career in education. The music overall isn't as good as Ace Attorney 1 and Ghost Trick but it cemented the composer as one of my favorites. Hard to pick between this and Khimera Puzzle Island for a picross game with the best music. The puzzles toward the end of the game were MUCH more challenging than the later Picross-e games and Khimera Puzzle Island. There were quite a few head scratchers for me! I played with hints off though; I am not sure if playing with hints on would have made the game substantially easier. Many late game puzzles are the type that Picross fans dread: 15x15 puzzles with lots and lots of "1"s and very little else to work with. The puzzles overall were good although like Khimera Puzzle Island they were more fun to do than they were artistically interesting. Initially you feel like you are drawing actual pictures, but most late-game puzzles are small segments of larger objects (a corner of a book, for example, or the edge of a computer instead of the whole thing). So you can't really guess what you're making a picture of. The investigations were... Well, it felt like investigating in Ace Attorney, except you didn't really have any visual cues where to look, so you kinda just search around until SCOUT starts beeping that a puzzle is nearby. If I had one piece of advice for the developers when making a sequel (which I want badly), it would be to make investigations more visually intuitive. The cases are more like Ace Attorney Investigations than the main series games. You are typically trying to find a suspect and evidence that incriminates them. There are a lot of twists and turns to finding the suspect though so often you will have to pin multiple suspects before you find the real culprit. The game explores the main character's development from a TV show actor to a real detective, alongside a plucky robot assistant who is dealing with memory loss. Their interactions were a joy to see on screen. They are also joined by a real detective who is multidimensional and likable even though he's gruff and "no nonsense." I regularly go back to this game after beating it to do all the extra puzzles. I would say the game is a great fit for any Picross fan and especially for anybody who likes Picross and Ace Attorney!