I grew up watching a lot of Agatha Christie shows. My mother was a huge fan, and we frequently spent evenings after she got home from work watching Miss Marple or Poirot. We also watched other murder mysteries (just how many murders can happen in Midsomer before the population is essentially zero?), but the one’s based on stories from Agatha Christie remained a firm favourite because of how well all the plot threads come together. How all the little hints sprinkled throughout let you piece together what happened and maybe guess the culprit before the denouement.
Detective games, good ones anyway, do the same thing. You click around rooms gathering clues, solving puzzles and asking questions until you figure out whodunnit. It can’t be too obvious – no one wants the ending spoiled in the first 5 minutes – but it can’t be too esoteric either. A twist you don’t see coming can be satisfying, but if there’s no real hope you could have actually figured it out then it might as well be a plot hole. Onto The Mermaid Mask from SFB Games – can Detective Grimoire and Sally structure a decent denouement? Let’s find out.
A Locked Door Mystery
The gameplay of The Mermaid Mask is pretty standard fayre for an adventure game. Like the previous titles in the series (Secret of the Swamp & Tangle Tower) Detective Grimoire and his assistant Sally move from room to room of an extended crime scene, investigating unusual objects, gathering clues and questioning suspects. In The Mermaid Mask we’re on the Mortuga Submarine, investigating the locked door murder of the Captain – Magnus Mortuga.
Some of the clues you’ll find out in the environment, others are locked behind puzzles – either in the rooms of the submarine or contained in the items you find. The puzzles are well designed, with most of them being able to be solved on your first pass. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, just having a good study of what’s in front of you will usually lead you to the correct solution. If you don’t quite manage, Grimoire or Sally with give some subtle hints with each incorrect guess, so you’re never in the position of outright being told the correct solution, but not left floundering if you’re drawing a blank. They’re also presented in ways that make sense for the setting – like having to manipulate a safe in a teenage girl’s room that fittingly looks like a cute piggy bank, or sorting out a heap of compasses with different conditions for the ships would be navigator.
For those that can’t be solved right away, presenting the various items you find as clues to the eclectic cast of characters will eventually unlock a solution or at least prompt our dynamic duo of where to go next. There is a clue function – which you can use to see where the best next focus area of your investigation should be, and it comes at no cost so don’t be afraid to ask for a little help if you need it!
This Seems Fishy
The real strength of SFB Games has always been the character writing, and The Mermaid Mask is no exception. The banter between Detective Grimoire and Sally is hilarious as always, and they’re surrounded by a host of eccentric suspects – all with their own story of how they ended up on the Mortuga and potential motives for murder.
As you uncover more about each person, and more information about the clues collected, you’ll be prompted to discuss your suspicions with each character. This leads into the series’ signature “thought mapping” mechanic, which has been refined for this. You can only question people about your suspicions once you have enough clues to actually resolve them – so you won’t be stumbling blind through a process of trial and error. Like the puzzles, each of your conclusions during these conversations will be gently corrected if you happen to get a bit confused. Again, The Mermaid Mask never outright tells you the solution, but not having to try every iteration when you’re almost there removes a lot of the frustrations that sometimes come with the detective game genre. Some die-hard deduction fans might find it a little handholdy, but luckily you can turn a lot of the suggestions off.
The mystery itself is beautifully designed. Following the earlier “Agatha Christie” philosophy, the clues are presented fairly. Alongside looking for clues; you’re looking for contradictions. The locked-door setup of the Mortuga Submarine creates a pressure-cooker environment where every suspect has a motive and every alibi feels just a bit too convenient. It avoids the pitfall of being too esoteric; when the twist finally lands, it feels earned because the breadcrumbs were there all along.
Whodunnit
The cast of characters is as memorable as the mystery itself, with each suspect boasting a distinct, eccentric design that tells a story even before they speak. SFB Games’ hand-drawn art style shines here, lending every individual a level of expressiveness that makes their animations – from subtle, nervous fidgets to dramatic shifts in posture – essential clues in their own right. Whether it’s the mysterious Madame Tadpole (is she actually half Mermaid?) or the ridiculous Mr Gripp and his sidekick Cornelius Cane (literally just a cane with a face), the character designs are superb – each one fully voiced so the long conversations rarely feel tedious.
The Mortuga Submarine is a character in its own right – cramped, industrial, yet filled with the whimsical detail we’ve come to expect. Each room feels distinct, mirroring its inhabitants, with signature musical tracks for each. The fact you can’t leave, just like the cursed Captain, keeps the whole experience tight and not everything being available at once means you won’t be overwhelmed with information meandering around waiting for the next storybeat. We’re tracking down a killer here – so there’s no time to be wandering off!
The Final Verdict
So, does The Mermaid Mask structure that decent denouement? Absolutely. The Mermaid Mask is a polished, clever, and thoroughly charming addition to the Detective Grimoire series. It manages to iterate on the mechanics of Tangle Tower without losing the cozy, inquisitive spirit of the original flash games. It is arguably the series’ greatest entry yet, it sets a remarkably high bar for future sequels by perfectly balancing complex puzzle-solving with the undeniable charm of its characters. Yes, it may be a little easy for die-hard fans of the genre, and there is a lot of dialogue but for fans of detective fiction and point-and-click adventures, this is a must-play. Magnus Mortuga might be dead, but the series has never been more alive.
The Mermaid Mask was reviewed on PC (with some time spent on Steam Deck). Gamer Social Club would like to thank the devs and publisher for the code.
