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!