Murder by Numbers is a fun and enjoyable game in the style of Ace Attorney and other similiar VNs. It's cliché, it has various humerous characters and the soundtrack, while a bit repetitive, is nice to listen to. It's very much a western love letter to both Japanese VNs and the picross genre.
You play as a former actress turned private investigator, solving murders together with a robot that you find. There are four cases where each have its own storyline and characters, but it also has overarching plot where you get to know both the main character, her companion and the recurring supporting cast (such as her mother, a police detective, a stylist, etc.). It all ties together neatly in the fourth and last case. Well almost.
The gameplay is interesting as the developers mixes your typical VN together with picross which adds more to the game. With that said, I do think that some of the timed puzzles are very hardcore and at times it felt like pure luck was the reason why I managed to finished them (mainly during case 3 and 4).
I definitely recommend this game! It's fun and the picross puzzles aren't too hardcore, but instead enjoyable to solve. I want more of this, and apparently so did the developers as there is a slight hint for a continuation towards the end of the game. However after this game release the studio, Mediatonic, released the popular game Fall Guys and subsequently got bought by Epic Games. I unfortunately do not see the studio working on any other games for a foreseeable future.