I really like a superb locked room thriller. The finest ones aren’t a lot in regards to the ‘whodunnit’, however the ‘howdunnit’. The former’s nonetheless vital for a satisfying ending, in fact, however unravelling what seems to be the unimaginable (how did they get in? How did they depart?) is a way more brain-pleasing knot to unpick than determining which of the various shifty faces in entrance of you seems to be essentially the most suspicious.
Tangle Tower, the newest game from Snipperclips brothers SFB Games, goes one step additional, although. Instead of an individual being the prime homicide suspect on this charming Phoenix Wright meets Professor Layton-style detective puzzler, it’s *checks notes*…
…a portrait holding a blood-tipped knife?
It sounds ridiculous, and sure, I don’t assume it’s a spoiler to say it is ridiculous. “Of course, a painting can’t kill anyone”, your thoughts shrieks. But that’s the genius of it. By starting its story with one thing so patently preposterous, Tangle Tower manages the uncommon feat of constructing everybody in its titular mansion really feel like a real suspect. It’s one more unimaginable thriller to unravel, making the whodunnit simply as compelling because the how.
At the centre of all of it is poor Freya Fellow, a gifted artist, scientist and all-round wunderkind who met her premature finish whereas portray her pricey good friend (and distant relative) Flora Fellow. Adopted into the halls of Tangle Tower as a younger woman, Freya grew up alongside her fellow, err… Fellows, in addition to her equally distant Pointer family members, who occupy the second of home Tangle’s two towers.
Grimoire and Sally have one thing to say about every little thing in any given scene.
Now, should you’ve ever had two households over for Christmas, you’ll know that having that many individuals in the identical home for a pair hours is a setup rife with murderous intent. If your mother-in-law isn’t criticising the cooking, it’s your wacky uncle going a bit Brexit over pudding whereas the youngsters run riot with the newest flashing gadget that’s destined for the bin. It’s sufficient to push anybody over the sting, and so it proves with the Fellows and Pointers, all of whom are completely completely happy to pin the crime on whoever they just like the least. There are secrets and techniques to uncover, rivalries to dissect, and greater than a few double-bluffs to decipher, but it surely all makes for a compelling story that pulls you within the second Detective Grimoire and his splendidly deadpan assistant Sally draw up of their rickety wood boat.
Admittedly, the overarching thriller will most likely really feel a tad trite in comparison with the latest cerebral machinations of Disco Elysium, for instance, however there’s nonetheless one thing deeply endearing about this light story of household misfortune. Indeed, Tangle Tower’s excellent voice work and full of life animation do some surprisingly heavy lifting on this detective puzzle ’em up, making it way more interesting to the eyes and ears than even Capcom’s Ace Attorney games. Every character is superbly articulated, from their fluid actions and gesticulations to their witty and infrequently chucklesome dialogue exchanges, and so they infuse the game with a allure and persona that’s all its personal.
One of Tangle Tower’s mild logic puzzles.
In reality, I’d even go so far as saying that is most likely the primary detective game the place I’ve truly loved talking to each single character as I poke round for clues and proof. In an identical style to these aforementioned pointy-haired lawman games, you spend the majority of the Tangle Tower going from room to room and clicking on factors of curiosity in its vibrant dioramas. Some clues shall be out within the open, however most rooms even have a light-weight logic puzzle that unlocks one other object to make use of in your questioning. They’re not significantly tough, per se (just one correctly stumped me), however I appreciated that they had been at all times linked to the merchandise at hand, relatively than being one thing completely summary a la the MacGuffin’s you’ll discover in Professor Layton games.
You’ll gather over 40 of this stuff as you progress by means of the thriller, and naturally, loads of them don’t have anything to do with sure family members. But I used to be impressed that, it doesn’t matter what merchandise you thrust of their suspicious faces, there was a bespoke line of dialogue for every considered one of them. That’s not one thing I used to be anticipating from such a small improvement staff. To see SFB Games placing within the effort and time to make every little thing distinctive is unquestionably worthy of reward.
As such, I took nice enjoyment of chucking every little thing I had in my merchandise trunk on the solid of Tangle Tower, simply to see what response they’d give you. Yes, it might be a relatively low cost method of brute-forcing the story towards a conclusion, and one which doesn’t actually require any nice deduction in your half, however when the dialogue is that this entertaining, I truthfully couldn’t care much less about taking part in it ‘properly’ like I’d, say, an Ace Attorney game.
Besides, there’s no strain to play Tangle Tower in as few strikes as potential, or to solely current related proof. There’s no fail state in Tangle Tower. It’s utterly as much as you to go the place you want, once you like, and play it at your individual tempo. Naturally, that’s going to be fairly divisive amongst hardened detective followers –- the place’s the game should you can actually give something to anybody with out consequence? And sure, there have been moments after I wished Tangle Tower had one thing at stake to make the accusation dialogues have a bit extra weight and chew to them. We’ve seen it earlier than in different open-ended detective games, in any case –- characters clam up, or received’t converse to you once more should you get on their unhealthy facet –- and the shortage of it finally ends up making Tangle Tower really feel fairly tame by comparability.
When you’re consolidating your proof, it’s as much as you to tug all of the strings collectively by establishing the proper sentence.
Equally, although, I don’t assume that’s actually within the spirit of the remainder of the game. Grimoire isn’t Sherlock Holmes. He’s quick-witted, however he’s additionally a bit amateur-hour, too, failing to attach even some apparent dots. This is the place his associate Sally is available in, providing a extra logical tackle a few of Grimoire’s extra out-there conclusions, and collectively they make a reasonably good staff. But every little thing from their dialogue to their splendidly noticed facial expressions additionally makes it completely plausible that they’d fumble by means of proof every so often as properly, throwing every little thing at a wall simply to see what sticks. That’s why I don’t actually thoughts SFB Games’ barely comfortable method to detective work. If something, it matches the duo to a tee.
Of course, there’ll at all times be those that favor their investigative games to have increased stakes, and that’s high-quality. Tangle Tower most likely received’t be for you, should you’re one. But I relatively appreciated its undemanding nature, because it meant I used to be higher in a position to get pleasure from this 5 hour romp and relish its excellent character work. Yes, it’s a relatively slight detective game in comparison with your heavyweights of the style, however its winsome solid, beautiful music and sharp writing go a protracted option to make up for it.
