The Mermaid Mask PC (Final version)

Get aboard the world’s strangest submarine, crewed by sketchy suspects. A handcrafted point-and-click with sharp humour and tricky puzzles. Dive into the next mystery from the creators of Tangle Tower & Crow Country in The Mermaid Mask. Endlessly charming, stylistic and incredible art, impeccable voice acting, and a great point-and-click detective game with minor puzzles and SO. MUCH. DIALOGUE. Which never feels like a slog because of those aforementioned great qualities. These are all things that the Detective Grimoire games have always had.

The sequel does not shy away from being absolutely gorgeous, being funny with its duo of detectives, being emotionally gripping with its suspects, and having mysteries that are captivating to explore and understand. Now with 3D models and a slightly longer runtime (around 10 hours), there are certain moments in this game that will leave eyes wide open as it calls back to things in Tangle Tower that simply can’t be fully understood or appreciated without prior knowledge. These moments aren’t necessary to enjoy The Mermaid Mask, but skipping Tangle Tower means losing a significant amount of emotional context.

As for the improvements, this game has by far the best finale of all the Detective Grimoire games, addressing the biggest weakness of Tangle Tower in The Mermaid Mask. The build-up to its story is well done, and the climax absolutely sticks the landing. Its culprit is by far the most well-executed of the three games, including Secret of the Swamp, while the crime and motive are also the most convincing. It’s reasonably solvable before the final act, even if not every mystery can be pieced together beforehand, and it still manages to resolve just about every thread by the end.