Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp

Last updated
Detective Grimoire
Detective Grimoire cover.jpg
Promotional art for Detective Grimoire
Developer(s) SFB Games
Publisher(s) Armor Games
Platform(s) iOS
Android
Windows
Mac
Linux
ReleaseJanuary 2, 2014
Genre(s) Adventure game

Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp, also simply called Detective Grimoire, is a murder mystery point-and-click adventure game developed by SFB Games and published by Armor Games, which was released on iOS platforms on January 2, 2014. It was later released on Android, PC, Mac, Linux and Steam by SFB Games.

Contents

The game has been well received for its mystery, animation, dialogue and protagonist. It is intended to be the first game in a True Detective Grimoire franchise. A sequel, Tangle Tower , was released in 2019. [1] However it was predated by a flash game release of the same name in 2007.

Gameplay

The game puts players in the role of Detective Grimoire, who comes to a tourist attraction in the swamp where a mysterious creature is the suspect of a murder. The player must go around speaking with witnesses, searching the environment for evidence, and solving puzzles that hinder their progress. At the end of the game, the player must use all the evidence and testimonies they've gathered to determine who the true culprit is.

Development

Secret of the Swamp is a successor to the original Detective Grimoire flash game developed by SFB Games (formerly The Super Flash Bros.) and published by Armor Games on their website and Newgrounds in 2007. The game was crowdfunded on Kickstarter in July 2012, raising $29,611 USD. [2] The game was followed by a sequel, Tangle Tower , which released for Apple Arcade, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows in 2019.

Reception

The iOS version has a Metacritic score of 83/100 based on 8 critics. [3]

148Apps wrote "Great voice-acting, interesting gameplay, and top-notch animations set Detective Grimoire apart from the masses in a fantastic crime-solving adventure". [5] Gamezebo commented "From the moment you set foot on the docks, Boggy’s Bog is engrossing, its characters alive and endearing, and its mystery simple—yet inescapably intriguing". [6] Gamer.nl said "Atmospheric images, a filmic soundtrack and very strong acting make Detective Grimoire an experience for everyone. The game offers original and varied puzzles, intuitive controls and a play style that forces to exploring its beautiful world. Enchanting, challenging and interesting to the very end". [7] Adventure Gamers wrote "Detective Grimoire breathes some new life into the investigation/visual novel subgenre with its compelling setting, characters and humour, undermined only by puzzles that are nowhere as enjoyable as the rest of the game", [8] while Hyper Magazine described it as "beautifully presented". [3] TouchArcade concluded "in this outing, however, Detective Grimoire is going to have to settle for being an enjoyable, though altogether too simple, ride", [4] while AppSpy said "though it's a little short and a tad buggy, Detective Grimoire is an entertaining mystery that is elevated by it entertaining art, writing, and voice acting". [9] Pocket Gamer wrote "Detective Grimoire goes a long way towards involving you in a funny, wacky cartoon murder mystery. But the case is not quite as complex as you might hope", [10] while Hardcore Gamer Magazine said "For a game like this to have this bad of a mystery at its core should be absolutely unforgivable, but it presents itself with such charm and style that I find myself willing to forgive quite a lot. Not quite that much, but a lot more than I'd expected". [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armor Games</span> American video game publisher

Armor Games is an American video game publisher and free web gaming portal. The website hosts over a thousand HTML5 browser games. Based in Irvine, California, the site was founded in 2004 by Daniel McNeely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boomzap Entertainment</span> Video game developer

Boomzap Entertainment is a casual games developer registered in Singapore with a virtual office environment. It was formed in 2005 and has released 50 games to date that are ported on various platforms. Boomzap has developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Nintendo DS, Wii, iOS, and Android. Its games are available on games portals such as Big Fish Games, Yahoo!, WildTangent, GameHouse, Google Play, Amazon, iTunes, Steam and others.

<i>Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor</i> 2009 video game

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is a 2009 side-scrolling action-puzzle video game for iOS and Android, developed and published by Tiger Style. The player takes control of a spider who comes to reside in to the deserted Bryce Manor and must spin webs to trap various types of insects, whilst simultaneously ascertaining what happened to the former residents of the manor. The game received critical acclaim and won multiple awards. Originally released in August, a Director's Cut update replaced the original version on the App Store in December. The update added ten levels, twenty-four Game Center achievements, new music, more story elements and an insect. A year after the game's initial release, a HD version was released for the iPad. In 2013, the game was also released for Android. A sequel, Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon, was released in August 2015 for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and Linux.

<i>Lost Echo</i> Mobile video game

Lost Echo is a point-and-click adventure developed and published by KickBack Studios for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. It was released on September 27, 2013, for iOS. Later it was also released for Windows Phone and Android on June 18, 2014, and November 11, 2015, respectively. The game has gained a cult following. On February 9, 2019, and February 19, 2019, the developers updated the game with a complete remaster of the game for iOS and Android respectively. As of 2024, KickBack Studios is developing a sequel, entitled Lost Echo: Resonance.

<i>The Lost City</i> (video game) 2012 video game

The Lost City is a point-and-click adventure game developed by American studio Fire Maple Games. It was released on iOS, January 31, 2012.

<i>Coin Drop!</i> 2011 video game

Coin Drop! is an iOS game developed by Full Fat and released on April 19, 2011.

<i>Ice Breaker</i> (video game) 2009 video game

Ice Breaker is a puzzle game by Nitrome Limited, released on Miniclip on January 5, 2009. Ice Breaker: The Red Clan and Ice Breaker: The Gathering were sequels released afterwards. An iOS adaption entitled Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage was developed by Rovio Stars Ltd. and released June 20, 2013.

<i>Monty Pythons Cow Tossing</i> 2011 video game

Monty Python's Cow Tossing is a catapult-physics game. It was developed by South African studio Luma Arcade and released by Zed Worldwide on February 3, 2011 for Android, iOS, and J2ME. The game is similar in style to Angry Birds and Crush the Castle, and includes the premise of firing cows at Englishmen who are located in structures built of concrete, wood, and other materials. It is based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail "in which French militiamen hurl a heifer onto a band of English relic seekers", and to further tie-in to the movie, "funny quotes from the movie appear in bubbles over the characters".

Steve Jackson's Sorcery! is a series of interactive fiction adventure video games developed by Inkle for iOS, Android, Windows, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, first released on May 2, 2013. The games are based on Steve Jackson's Sorcery! gamebook novels: a four-part spin-off series of the larger Fighting Fantasy series.

<i>Air Mail</i> (video game) 2012 video game

Air Mail is an iOS game developed by British studio Chillingo Ltd and released on May 24, 2012.

<i>Cordy</i> (video game) 2011 video game

Cordy is an iOS and Android game developed by SilverTree Media/SilverTree Holdings LP and released on July 27, 2011. Cordy is a platform game with 27 levels.

<i>Fragger</i> 2010 video game

Fragger is a popular trajectory-based puzzle game created and developed by Harold Brenes and released in 2009 for the Internet. After achieving popularity on the Internet, being played more than 100 million times, it was licensed and ported by Miniclip to iPhone in 2010, and to Android and PlayJam in 2012. By August 2014 it had become the second-placed paid app for iPhone and third overall top-grossing app in Apple's App Store. The gameplay is similar to Angry Birds. The game has had "generally favourable reviews", garnering a Metacritic score of 86% based on 5 critic reviews.

<i>Rules!</i> 2014 video game

Rules! is a 2014 educational puzzle video game co-developed by Marcel-André Casasola Merkle and Agnes Lison and published by TheCodingMonkeys. It was released for iOS in August 2014 and became the first game to be released on the Apple Watch in April 2015.

<i>Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery</i> 2013 video game

Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery is a popular episodic puzzle adventure developed by Lucid Games. Part 1 was original published by Sony Computer Entertainment on PlayStation Vita on May 14, 2013, and later on iOS on May 16, 2013. Episode 2 was released on iOS on July 24, 2014. It had since been removed from all app stores. Both episodes were also made available for Windows via Steam.

<i>Feeding Time</i> (video game) 2014 video game by Incubator Games

Feeding Time is an indie iOS video game developed by Incubator Games and released on June 25, 2014.

<i>Windosill</i> 2009 video game

Windosill is a 2009 puzzle video game by Vectorpark for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, web browsers, and iOS. The player advances through eleven different rooms by interacting with each level's environmental objects. It was developed by Patrick Smith, an artist who taught himself to animate and program the game in Adobe Flash. He was inspired by a variety of painters and artists. The game was first released for Windows, OS X, and web browsers in 2009, and was later ported to the iPad in 2011, with several added features.

<i>The Trace</i> (video game) 2015 video game

The Trace is a 2015 dark immersive murder mystery adventure game developed by British developer Relentless Software. The whodunnit game, which sees the player assume the role of a detective out to solve a series of murder cases by examining the crime scenes, has been described as "part escape-the-room and part hidden-object, with a bit of puzzle-solving mixed in". The game was available for iOS devices

<i>Azkend 2: The World Beneath</i> 2012 video game

Azkend 2: The World Beneath is a tile-matching video game developed by Finnish studio 10tons Ltd. It is a sequel to Azkend and was released on March 14, 2012 for Microsoft Windows and iOS, on June 7, 2012 for Android, on May 6, 2016 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, and on January 5, 2018 for Nintendo Switch.

<i>Tangle Tower</i> 2019 video game

Tangle Tower is a murder mystery point-and-click adventure game developed and published by SFB Games. It is a sequel to the 2014 game Detective Grimoire and the third entry in the Detective Grimoire series. The game was launched with the Apple Arcade service on 19 September 2019 and was later released for Nintendo Switch and Steam on 22 October 2019, followed by PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 6 October 2021.

Detective Grimoire is a series of detective mystery video games developed by SFB Games. The series currently consists of three titles, with a fourth in development. Additionally, the soundtracks to Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp and Tangle Tower have been released.

References

  1. ↑ "Apple Arcade release date, UK price, controller and everything you need to know". 18 September 2019.
  2. ↑ "Detective Grimoire: Adventure Game Win/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android by SFB Games & Armor Games — Kickstarter". kickstarter.com. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  3. 1 2 3 "Detective Grimoire for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  4. 1 2 Musgrave, Shaun (18 February 2014). "'Detective Grimoire' Review – An Entertaining Romp That's Too Light On Detective Work". TouchArcade . Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Detective Grimoire Review » 148Apps » iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch App Reviews and News". 148Apps. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Detective Grimoire Review - Gamezebo". Gamezebo. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  7. ↑ "Detective Grimoire - Moord in het moeras review - PC games recensies". Gamer.nl. Archived from the original on 8 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  8. ↑ "Detective Grimoire review - AdventureGamers.com". 3 March 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  9. ↑ "Detective Grimoire Review - iPhone & iPad Game Reviews - AppSpy.com". appspy.com. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  10. ↑ "Detective Grimoire Review". 7 January 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  11. ↑ "Review: Detective Grimoire ‹ Hardcore Gamer". 10 January 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.