@smallandnerdy's review of The Mermaid Mask
★★★★½
My suspect is Symmetry Silkmoth. She looks like a Victorian doll with a thousand-yard stare and she speaks as if she is reciting Shakespearean poetry. She has an affinity for illusions and the occult, and I get the feeling that someone is trying to take advantage of this talent. She is my favourite character. I interview Dirk Dansom, a muscle-bound himbo modeled after Johnny Bravo, complete with sunglasses and a pompadour. Despite the golden retriever energy, there is something more shrewd than you would expect from him where it comes to his acting contract. No, THIS is my favourite character. I meet Godrick Gripp, a Phileas Fogg-type fellow who gestures wildly and talks to his wooden stick named Cornelius Cane. This guy is going to be annoying, I think. WRONG. He is my favourite character. I cannot stress this enough - The Mermaid Mask is a phenomenal game. In case I haven't made it obvious, the characters are where this game really shines. I picked it up on a whim having seen the overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews and being enamored with the presentation. The hand-drawn character animations are so smooth and just ooze charm and personality, the clues are all presented as 3D models that can be rotated around and manipulated, and the voice acting is perfectly directed and cast - each actor doing an outstanding job to bring their character to life. The puzzles are great - although there were none that made me feel like an absolute genius for figuring out, there were a few that made me get out a pen and paper and there weren't any that I found frustrating or illogical. There is a slight lull in the middle where you have to methodically work your way through each piece of evidence with each suspect - but even this was a delightful excuse to soak in the stellar voice acting and hear each character's opinion on certain items. The game is also genuinely very funny, especially the banter between Grimoire and Sally, and clicking on almost anything will elicit a fun comment or throwaway observation. I could have had 100 guesses and never would have come up with the mechanism of the murder or the culprit behind it. I like that in retrospect, there actually is quite a bit of foreshadowing of who the murderer is, and maybe it is telling that I loved all the characters so much that I didn't want to believe that anyone could be guilty! Also special shout-out to the soundtrack performed by the Budapest Art Orchestra, each character track fit them perfectly, the puzzle music is so hypnotic, and I enjoyed picking up on some more obscure instruments in there (mouth harp anyone?) Finishing the game also unlocks a kind of 'director's commentary' of early concept art, character designs and clues that they had to cut from the game (god, I WISH they could have kept the Trembling Mouse clue) that I loved checking out, and you can tell there was just so much heart poured into this game. With so many banger detective games having released in the last year, I'm worried that this one is slipping under the radar a little, which is a shame as it is one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I have had this year and is well worth your time!
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