It almost seems like every other game in the Murder Is Game Over franchise is actually good. This is a purchase that I do not believe players will regret, but acquiring it while on sale may be a factor in my opinion. Good characterization returns, the map is more manageable, and the player cannot immediately tell who is the murderer. I wish, though, that there was more flavor to the world—things in the environment that are both interactable and clearly just for the player's fun to discover. There is a game within the game which is great, but less satisfying is that Detective Guy is without his trusty canine partner, Cleo, for its entirety. Additionally, one of the clues is gated behind a puzzle, making the "side quest" mandatory. I like that the developer included some new tricks to the storytelling, showing a continuing desire to improve upon the MISG formula.
It is not terrible. It is not great, either. The pacing is uneven (the story is spread too thin), the maps too large, and the murderer fairly simple to guess. If it was possible, I would rate Murder Is Game Over: The Blackinton Curse as 2.5 stars. As that is not actually possible, I bumped up to 3 stars because it is not truly terrible.
(Disclaimer: I own and played this game on Playstation 5. DO NOT BUY THE PS5 VERSION as the rendered textures constantly glitch out. Carrying on...) It took some time, but I found myself intrigued by the world and slowly unraveling what happened to it. The plot does not start strong but it greatly improves over the course of the game. Other reviews tag it a walking simulator. I feel this is an oversimplification. We are exploring the world as the character, not as the player. I also appreciated the art design. I am a meat-and-potatoes person, not a gourmand. It may be simplistic to some—and that is completely fine—but I liked it. My greatest frustration is that the game ends on a cliffhanger, and there really is not a sequel. If memory serves me right, there is a demo of the sequel but it was quite dissatisfying in essentially every aspect. It has been in development hell for so long that it probably fair to write that it is abandoned by the developer. TL;DR Your Mileage May Vary.
