If you live in the UK, then the Blue Toad Murder Files puzzler has been available to you for two months now via PSN. The game is a family friendly murder mystery experience, that sees you solving various puzzles to advance through the story. The game will put your detective skills to the test along the way, and you will not be able to figure out who your murderer is if you are not paying close attention to everything that happens on screen. So far episode one and two (there are six in total) are available for you to purchase in a bundle. Episode three will be available to you via PSN from the 25th of February (this upcoming Thursday.) Recently I was kindly invited to Relentless Software’s studio’s in Brighton to preview episode three. There is no other way to start off by telling you, that if you loved the first two episodes you are in for a treat this time.
Before I proceed with my general impressions on the game; if you are aren’t already aware of what Blue Toad Murder files offers, then check out our review of the game here. Episode 3 will see you re entering the village of Little Riddle, where you will have to solve another fantastic mystery (I don’t want to spoil it for you). Just like in previous episodes, you will have to visit all the village folk and complete chores for them in an attempt to find out what they were doing on the day in question.
The puzzles in Episode three lead to even more head scratching than those seen in previous episodes, but those who love the Dr Kawashima’s brain training kind of puzzle solving will love the challenge. Puzzles we came across in Episode three included anagrams, math problems, and picture puzzles. There was also a tricky one where you had to listen to one of the characters try and remember where she last saw a certain item, and figure out which part of the garden it is in. One of my favorite puzzles was one that sees you trying to sit some customers at a restaurant, with a list of requirements. The requirements tell you where the costumers absolutely do not want to be seated, so you have to figure out the best place to seat everyone based on their requirements. It is very tricky, but you’ll have fun trying to figure out the right place to seat them.
As far as solving the mystery itself, if you really want to guess who it is then you will have to pay close attention to every detail presented in the whole 90 minutes of the game. I played the game with a couple editors from other video game blogs in co op mode, and all of us voted for the same person in the end of the game. We were all very shocked when we discovered that all three of us had wrongfully accused the same character. The game does a really good job of throwing you off, and if you miss out on even one detail then you will be thrown into the complete opposite direction. Once you reach the end of the episode another incident occurs, which looks like it will be the basis of the mystery in episode four.
The best thing about episode 3 is perhaps the fact that Relentless will be offering it for free upon its UK release. With Relentless being an independent publisher, it’s remarkable that they would give away part of their pride and joy for free. So be sure to take them up on their offer, as it is only free for four weeks. Those of you in North America will be able to purchase episodes one to three together from the 25th of March. Which will be the first time you will be able to buy the game in that region.
