I finished "Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders", but it took some trial and error...

A lovely, deserted city...

Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders consists of four cases, and for each one the difficulty level is raised. It's masterfully done, but I must say it's not a good feeling when a puzzle totally stumps you, even AFTER you brute-forced the solution by trying every possible combination.

Reminds me of my to-read pile...

I greatly enjoyed the third case and I was glad to see I could really accuse the person I already had my sights on for a while. But then the final case came along, which turned everything upside down and I must admit, I was completely lost.

Madame Sophia?

There were two puzzles I couldn't figure out. With the first, the locker room puzzle, I had no idea where to even start. I missed seeing the pattern, but once you realize what it's so supposed to be, you can complete the puzzle in a jiffy. The second was the puppet puzzle, of which I still don't know how you are supposed to figure it out. It's basically a code, but not only is there a specific order to clicking on the puppets when they're on the shelf, it seems there's also a specific order to placing them there in the first place! I had a feeling it had something to do with Shakespeare, but for the life of me I couldn't figure it out -- and still can't!

No master of puppets, me...

But other than that, and the rather deus-ex-machina demise of the villain, I totally enjoyed this game to no end. The investigations, the deductions, it's all great sleuthing material that kept me fully entertained for a solid 8 hours, and I hope we might get some more murder games from Homo Narrans Studio in the future!

This game did spark the desire for some more detective work, so for my next playthrough (which will be a replay for me, in fact) I'll be travelling back in time from Leipzig in 1899, to London in 1888...

You can find Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders on Steam!

Busy investigating the third death in "Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders"

Posh...

The second case in Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders took me an hour and a half. I had actually found the solution, but I thought I was still missing something since one piece of evidence on the deduction board wasn't connected to the others. So I did another round of questioning people, but there were no missed dialogue options. So I just went for it, and it looked like I got it right.

The puzzle of a thousand clicks...

It was a far more interesting case than the first one, with lots more character interactions and even some mini-games. One involved the typical convoluted fuse box which was trickier than it looked. And yes, you can skip it, but where's the feeling of accomplishment in that? Another one was a far simpler lockpicking simulator which offered no challenge at all. You just had to correctly line up the tumblers. But it was fun for variety's sake.

Not much skill involved here...

The third case really has me running around. I've played The Leipzig Murders for 4,5 hours in total now, but I think it'll be a while before I solve this particular murder. I have an intuitive feeling of who the real murderer is, but I'm still lacking the evidence to put that person up on the deduction board. Thankfully I just unlocked a new area, so I'm hoping to finally crack it!

One more unemployed cleaning lady...

You can find Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders on Steam!

New game: "Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders"

New game!

When I played the demo of Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders back in 2022, immediately I knew I wanted to back its Kickstarter. Being a longtime fan of Sherlock Holmes, I was very interested in another deduction-based adventure in a traditional point 'n click style, only this time featuring a German police inspector in an original story by Gregor Müller of Homo Narrans Studio. And here were are, with the game finally released!

A first case to solve!

The first chapter is the demo I had already played, but since that was several years ago it felt like the first time again. This time, I could enjoy voice-overs too! Yes, they are German only, and not being very fluent I'm glad there are English subtitles, but it does give The Leipzig Murders its authenticity. Not every line is spoken, though. The conversations and cutscenes are, but Joseph Kreiser's comments on whatever you click on only feature a hum, mumble or the occasional "Interessant..." though strangely enough even when it concerns - in my humble opinion - far from interesting hotspots.

Wir sind in Deutschland, mein Liebchen!

But it's the investigation part that matters. I love how you can discover evidence but then have to decide for your own what really happened. It really takes a sharp mind to find the truth, since at first glance every possibility seems to be genuine.

Accident or homicide, that's the question...

I've solved the first case in slightly less than hour - and I've already started to talk German to my wife... - but I probably did remember most of it from the demo. Now it is immediately on to der Bahnhoff for the second of the four cases in this game. Hopefully this one will have some more meat on its bones.

Choo-choo!

You can find Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders on Steam!

"Vlad Circus 2: Curse of Asmodeus", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: "This game certainly holds fast to the original’s production values, and its interesting story is a suitable new addition to the Vlad Circus lore. For anyone expecting more of the same, however, Curse of Asmodeus doesn’t follow the same path as its predecessor. Sure, there are some light horrific elements but you will never be truly scared or have to battle for your life, with the survival aspects largely gone in favor of a more straightforward adventure game experience with simple yet enjoyable puzzles. I mostly appreciated this decision, as I had a great time plotting my escape and playing through Josef Petrescu’s history. But even though I was relieved not to have to keep track of my health and ammunition, I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed as well in the reduced horror factor that made Descend Into Madness such a wonderfully creepy time. And so, while a fun game in its own right that fixes certain issues I had with the first game, ultimately it falls victim to the curse of the sequel rarely being as good as the original."

I've finished "The Dagger of Amon Ra" in 5 hours!

Ace reporter makes headlines!

After my previous post, a couple more bodies showed up and suddenly I was catapulted into the end game. I remember when first playing The Dagger of Amon Ra that this is a timed chase sequence where you need to stall your pursuer so you can make your escape. Forget to block one door, and the culprit catches up with you and bashes your head in.

Nothing beats a good back rub!

I didn't make it all the way through this time either. There was a pixel hunt where I had to cut a cable by clicking on the exactly right spot, which took some tries of frantically clicking. I also found Steve Dorian passed out in the furnace room, and he had lost one of his boots somewhere, so he burned his foot as soon as he got up and fell down again. So I restored my game and this time made sure to explore the museum some more before entering that one room that triggers the chase.

Goin' down with Laura...

And good thing I did, because there were some more pieces of evidence lying around that I hadn't picked up yet. After the chase, I had to answer a load of questions during the coroner's inquest pertaining the killer and their motives, and my replies need to be supported by the items I collected. I had to give that another try too, and frankly even after getting the good ending I still don't understand the reasoning behind all the murders, though I did understand at least a lot more when I first played this game and didn't yet have such an extensive grasp of English vocabulary...

How big IS this place?

So I finished my replay in five hours! It's fast this time because I only did the essentials and didn't explore fully. It was amazing how I can't remember what I ate yesterday but most of the details of this game came back to me after probably twenty-five years since playing it last.

My next playthrough will be of a more recent game again, about some murders in some German city...

You can find The Dagger of Amon Ra on GOG!

I'm 3,5 hours into "The Dagger of Amon Ra" and my suspects keep dying!

Peekaboo!

After my first session of my "The Dagger of Amon Ra" replay, I spent an hour talking to all the guests at the museum fund raiser, and eavesdropping on their private conversations. Then I finally got the chance to explore the exhibits. Security guard Wolf Heimlich blocked the way at first, but had conveniently moved location. And that's how I discovered the first murder victim of the night...

Yvette admiring the modern art...

Yes, I do say, first victim, because the bodies keep dropping in this game! It felt like every time I turned a corner, one of my suspects would no longer be a suspect. I'm moving rather fast through this game since it's a replay, and I still remember all the times I died when I first played this game. So I already know where to go, what to do, and most importantly what to pick up.

Always dreamt of an office like this...

Which means I'm not really taking the time to enjoy the scenery, which is a shame. There is so much to look at in this game, so many elaborate descriptions, not just informative but also often funny. I really love the writing in this game, and I'm not just saying that because it's Josh Mandel... The artwork as well is amazing to look at, so detailed. You can spent hours exploring the museum and examining everything.

Ooh la la...

Besides the dead bodies, I've found lots of notes of appointments the different characters have with each other. Each time you make some sort of discovery, the in-game clock moves forward. You can then go to the respective meeting place for that time and eavesdrop on the people. You get lots of information this way, which I remember you need later on.

I feel I'm close to the finale, which I recall gave me a really hard time as a novice adventure gamer. Hopefully I can do a better job this time around...

You can find The Dagger of Amon Ra on GOG!

Classic time: "The Dagger of Amon Ra"

Replay!

Time for another great classic point 'n click adventure. I'm REplaying The Dagger of Amon Ra. It's the second Laura Bow game after The Colonel's Bequest. It's actually one of the first Sierra games I played, (after Police Quest) and I'm still the proud owner of the big box and the booklets that came with it!

Is this Cruise for a Corpse?

I'm one hour into the game, running the files from an external drive through ScummVM. Immediately I'm thrown back in time, not only to 1926 when the story takes place, but my own teenage years playing this in my bedroom. I can hardly believe that since then I've actually visited New York City myself, and I didn't even get mugged! (I did get run over by a car, which is actually a random death you can encounter in The Dagger of Amon Ra...)

First death scene: getting run over by a car...

This first hour of gameplay is spent mosly visiting all the different New York locations jotted down in your notebook, and talking to all the people. There's your colleague at the newspaper, a desk sergeant in the police station, a stoolpigeon in a local speakeasy, a stevedore at the docks, Lo Fat the laundry guy. The interview system isn't that user friendly, though. Instead of automatic replies when you click the topics in the notebook, you have to close it first and then open it again to ask your next question. I'm glad later games - like Gabriel Knight - improved on that.

The Roaring Twenties...

Having played this game countless times in the past, I was suddenly stuck trying to get ready for the fund raiser at the museum. I found a dress, but no idea how or where I was supposed to change into it. So that cost me some time before I realized which location offered that possibility. So now I'm ready to talk to everyone at the party, as Act 2: Suspects on Parade, kicks off!

Like flies on a turd...

You can find The Dagger of Amon Ra on GOG!