As a balancing act atop the 'by,' it feels more a visual novel dragged down by repetitive Picross puzzles than the inverse. Regardless, its confident writing and presentation save the day.

Hats off to Scout's designers for making that thing fly.

There are two ways of looking at Murder By Numbers. As a Picross game neatly enhanced by its story or a visual novel dragged down by unrelenting Picross breaks in its momentum. A little of column A and...

Almost then, but not quite. It's hard to be scathing of my time when I come out a mostly Picross convert and charmed by its interspersed plot. Murder By Numbers is a balancing act atop the 'by.' Whilst it threatens to be weighed down in favour of the 'numbers' out of sheer frequency, its 'murder' mysteries are strong enough to weather the interruptions.

I don't want to know.

It's the goddamn character on display that wins out. True to its makers, this is a Hatoful Boyfriend visual novel through and through, right down to its presentation. It's ultra minimalist, from the static backgrounds, cut-out figures and limited emotional range of characters. It's like a digital paper puppet show - characters bobbing in and out of the scene. It works surprisingly well. It's versatile enough that it can carry moments of levity and heavier subjects of murder (as you'd expect), corruption and divorce equally. The writing is such that themes of self-discovery and self-determination after being controlled feel maturely handled. The developed relationships between Scout, Detective Cross and K.C. feel believable and satisfying. Scout in particular is so goddamn lovable. It's good stuff.

Will they ever stop talking about The Last Jedi?

The Picross feels more of a missed opportunity. It's an excellent place to learn it and I had my most fun in the hacking 'minigame,' in which you face multiple small grids against the clock. This isn't just because they're quick and easy, but because there's a critical lack of variation otherwise. You need to be an extreme Picross fanatic not to get frustrated at being removed from the story at pivotal moments for the same grid you've completed a hundred times over. Skipping them out of frustration is neither quick or any fun. Whilst these grids complete pictures of items you're discovering in the world and it ties neatly into Scout's 'scanning' of the environment, there's no way use the item identity for assistance in completing the puzzle and they just end up feeling entirely divorced from the visual novel. This is for Picross players who want to play some grids, but could use some spice, then. Even then, the late-game grids' difficulty wouldn't satisfy a fanatic.

Clever Picross joke.

It's frustrating, since I can clearly see some opportunities to bind the puzzles more to the plot. What if puzzles held a time limit if you've sneaked onto a crime scene and Detective Cross is going to be imminently back? What if Scout short-circuited and caused the difficulty to spike? What if you have to ascertain what the murder weapon is and do so from the Picross picture shape that emerges? The hacking grids show another way was indeed possible, but the development time clearly didn't permit it or perhaps the intent really wasn't ever there.

It doesn't help that the game feels LENGTHY and so precludes that kind of fine design. This would obviously not usually be cause for complaint, but some of the cases, particularly the final one, do drag. In the honeymoon stage of learning the Picross ropes and seeing the early story develop, this isn't particularly bothersome, but my my is the last case hard work. Again, I must stress, perhaps only half the game is really aimed at me. From only the perspective of a newcomer, I can only conclude that I haven't been entirely won over. Then again, I still found experience to be largely positive. Call me conflicted.

Completed with pride.

As a balancing act atop the 'by,' it feels more a visual novel dragged down by repetitive Picross puzzles than the inverse. Regardless, its confident writing and presentation help save the day. This is a title that was almost, if not quite, drowned by numbers - lying on a lifeboat of words.

I started playing this because I love Picross and the story intrigued me (a story with a female lead set in the 90s? Hell yes!). My husband saw it and said "That looks fun. Can I try?" .. and so our obsession with the game began. Now my husband has become a Picross master.

So this basically is one part visual novel and one part Picross. If neither of those things appeal to you, this may not be the game for you. Then again, my husband hadn't played either of those types of games before and he loved it (he usually plays Mass Effect, Uncharted, and the like). So, take that for what it is.

I don't want to say too much about the story, but there are lots of characters here including a really cute robot that you will fall in love with. Also, if you're a nerd like me there are lots of technology references that will make you go, "OMG that's a real thing!"

This game couldn't have been more perfectly tailored to my specific interests. An Ace Attorney style visual novel built around Picross puzzles? Sign me up! Murder By Numbers certainly delivers on its premise with much higher quality than I initially expected from this indie title.

Much of the game's enjoyability comes down to two major strengths: the sound track and the writing. Hiring Masakazu Sugimori, composer for Ace Attorney and Ghost Trick, was an inspired decision and did a lot of the legwork in establishing the tone of the game. The guy knows how to write an earworm. In my experience with other Picross titles, the sound track has huge potential to grate if not carefully considered. They did an excellent job here.

I was most surprised by the writing, credited to Murray Lewis and Ed Fear. Characters are nuanced and diverse in a way that adds color and character to the world, and not in a way that seems like tokenism or pandering. The story went in a different direction than I was expecting, even when things seemed like they were being obviously telegraphed. Complementing all this are colorful and attractive character designs by Hato Moa and Damurushi (although the decision to mirror sprites in dialogue sequences leads to some visual inconsistencies).

This is pretty damn close to what I consider to be a perfect game, but ultimately lacked a layer of polish that would have made for a more complete package (which seems strange to say about a game with its own theme song and animated opening sequence!). The Picross design elements are not always well considered, especially considering that's the heart of the game. Some examples:

• It's far too easy to wrap your cursor from one side of the screen to the other.
• There's no way to restart a puzzle when you make a mistake other than to quit and reload the game. Whyyyyy??
• I don't personally use touch controls and can't fathom why anyone would but it remains true that a not insignificant number of nonogram fans refuse to play games without touch controls. To not include them risks alienating a huge part of the potential audience for what I have to imagine is already a very niche title.

Overall, I do highly recommend the game if it sounds like something that interests you. I think the story is a lot of fun and well worth enjoying even if you're not that into puzzles, especially considering how many difficulty settings there are. I really hope the game sells well, I would love to see a sequel that builds on the core concepts presented here.