Mystery games are some of the biggest creative gambles you can take when you’re making a game. Given the success of titles like Dangan Ronpa and Ace Attorney, there’s only two ways to make a good mystery game: Story and execution. Moreso than any other genre, the success of your game cannot be compensated for if any of these are lacking.
To its credit, Death Trick: Double Blind does a really good job at filling these metrics. Developed by Misty Mountain Studio, Death Trick’s setup is simple: a magician is dead, and someone in the circus did it. You have exactly one day to get to the bottom of this- though there’s a catch. Instead of playing as one bumbling lawyer, you’re instead playing as two different investigators- an undercover magician and a detective, all looking to solve the mystery on their own.
Not Just The Mystery But How You Solve It
It’s here that Death Trick Double Blind best shines- the game stores any information you learn like items in an inventory, and it’s up to you to show them to people in hopes of getting more information. But since your two protagonists aren’t working together, there’s an added meta challenge- remembering which character knows what.
At one point, I was ready to have Jackie, the Magician, confront a member of the circus about a broken trophy found in the victim’s room- only to realize that was a discovery I’d made as the Detective instead. The same had happened with the Detective- a whole line of inquiry about our dear victim’s talents had instead been explored by the other character, instead.
It plays nicely with the other major design decision: a non linear story. Unlike games like Ace Attorney where you’re locked in until you have enough information to progress to other chapters, Death Trick Double Blind is more than happy to wave you off even as you forget to ask important questions. It’s such a good setting for a mystery game- the fact that you’ll never know everything creates an air of drama and frustration.
While the game encourages you to at least get a statement from everyone you’re not beholden to it- I’d spent half a day hanging out with the mischievous acrobat, with those discoveries setting up the entire flow of my run. It’s nice because the game never really expressly pushes you into playing any particular way- you still feel like you’re moving the story along, even if your detective has never met Rolf the Animal Trainer.
All this running around does culminate in a pretty successful climax, too. I’m still in two minds over how much I like some of these revelations but that’s part of the brilliance about how the game is set up: any displeasure I might have can just as much be chalked up to the fact I just couldn’t have known everything.
Enjoy The Show
At the end of the day Death Trick: Double Blind has within it a lot of potential to be a strong cult classic- what gambles it takes with its mystery, it has its excellent execution as collateral.
What flaws it does have aren’t unique to the game itself. The information-as-items and contradiction systems do require you to intuit what the developers think each item means, so don’t be surprised if you think you’re on to something only to get a morose look from the pretty fire eater.
Still, if you like mystery games, Death Trick Double Blind is definitely one for the books. It’s a game that feeds off keeping you in the dark in a really satisfying way- what nuggets of information you get will feel incredibly well-earned as a result, all leading you to its grand finale.
Score: 8/10
Game reviewed on PC. Review code provided by Neon Doctrine
