This is a black and white comic review of the video game Murder By Numbers.

Page 1

Panel 1:

Review: Muder By Numbers

Score: Three Stars out of Five

Developer: Mediatonic

Reviewed by Dan McAlister

Panel 2: A film-set clapper labeled “Murder Miss Terri!” snaps closed, held by a pair of hands.

Narration: Actress Honor Mizrahi is processing some life changes.

Panel 3: Honor Mizrahi, a woman with medium-dark skin and dark hair, is looking downcast and carrying a small box of belongings.

Narration: She’s recently divorced, and has now been fired from her show without warning.

Panel 4: Scout, a flying robot that looks like an old boxy tv with a solar panel on his head and rocket boosters on his back, is lying in garbage and looking disgusted.

Narration: Scout is a flying robot with amnesia.

He has just woken up in a garbage dump.

Panel 5: Scout and Honor look at each other excitedly as Honor drops her box. They say “I’ve got it!” in unison.

Narration: Together, they decide to become detectives.

An odd pair, for an odd game.

Page 2

Panel 1: A large office where a man has been killed. His body is slumped over his desk, and a knife is in his back. Behind him is a large portrait, which has been set to the side to reveal a safe in the wall. Becky, a girl with feminine clothing and pale skin, sits on a couch and looks bored. Honor is interrogating a man in a suit who says “I didn’t even know there was a safe!” Furniture and knick-knacks are strewn across the floor. Scout is using a sensor to scan a key he discovers under the carpet.

Narration: Murder by Numbers is a mystery visual novel with a heavy emphasis on numerical puzzles.

Across the game’s four cases, Honor interviews witnesses and suspects while Scout scans crime scenes for evidence. Honor needs this evidence to challenge suspects on their inconsistencies, but Scout’s scans are all low-resolution due to his nineties-era tech.

Panel 2: Close up of Scout, whose screen is displaying a number puzzle that has resolved into a simple key image.

Narration: So in order to use any piece of evidence, you have to decipher it through a nonagram, a kind of number-based puzzle that creates a pixilated image.

Footnote: Nonagrams are more commonly known as Picross, from the popular Nintendo game series.

Panel 3: A key, with a thought bubble emerging from off-panel that reads “But his fingerprints are all over this key…”

Narration: Once you have the evidence you need, its application is normally straightforward. The nonagrams require much more deduction than the actual mysteries, which never stumped me.

Page 3

Panel 1: A corner section of short wall, where several characters have gathered. Becky looks irritated. KC, a white man with decorative hair, a suit, and high heels, looks bemused. Bill, a heavyset guard with pale skin and light hair, is smiling at a piece of paper in his hand.

Narration: Which is not to say that the mysteries and storytelling here are bad. In fact, the game’s writing is its biggest strength.

What the mysteries lack in deductive challenge is more than made up for with strong character writing across its entertaining cast.

Panel 2: Honor, looking confident, says “I can solve this. I was a detective on TV!”

Narration: But Honor herself stands out for her involving character arc. She responds to the upheaval of her personal and professional life with brashness and an eagerness to take risks.

Panel 3: Honor points dramatically, saying “I’m pretty sure you did it!”

Narration: She steps on toes, fights for what she wants, and deals with the fallout from her mistakes. She complicates every case she works on, for better and worse.

Panel 4: Honor, looking dejected, asks, “Have I just been kidding myself?” Scout rests a robot hand on her shoulder and says, “There, there…”

Narration: While this recklessness could have been grating, Honor’s grounded by her friendship with Scout, and her dedication to helping him uncover his lost past.

And just as Scout brings out the best in Honor, the game’s puzzles balance well with the story, providing breathing room for both its silly jokes and dramatic reveals.

Page 4

Panel 1: Scout pushes a surprised-looking Honor aside as he shouts “What’s That???”

Narration: That is, until they don’t.

Panel 2: Scout uses his sensor to analyze a pretzel, and says “Just gimme an hour.”

Narration: As the game progresses, the scanning puzzles get more difficult, require more time to solve, and drag down the game’s pace.

Panel 3: Detective Cross, an older white man with square features wearing a dark suit, tells Honor, “Honor, I need you to interrogate those tedious weirdos.”

Narration: And while the main story gets a resolution, it feels crowded out by a less-interesting final case with less-interesting characters.

Panel 4: Honor looks out from the page with a magnifying glass while Scout cheers behind her.

Narration: It’s unfortunate that Murder By Numbers’ careful balance falls apart by its conclusion, but it really only affects that last case.

On the whole, I still enjoyed my time with these characters as they tried to bring the unknown into sharper focus.