Tangle Tower

One of the most fluid detective murder mystery games I've ever played that is animated so well you can use emotive clues to really get a feel for whoever you're talking to. The puzzles are refreshing, and each mystery is solved in game at approximately the pace discovered. Voice acting is superb and every character is refreshingly unique and endearing. This 10/10 game is brought down a few notches by an uncharacteristically abrupt and shallow ending that leaves one going 'huh.' The interesting 'how' is answered, but the 'why' is extremely lacking. Even if you handwave away the obvious inconsistency. The ending isn't even bad it's just... unsatisfying in a way that leaves you feeling like you want so much more from the game BECAUSE of how well crafted a world the game exists in. Well worth playing though, it's cute and cozy and the journey more than makes up for the destination.

[h1]A solid game, but the ending/plot-twist hurts it a lot[/h1] As it says in the title, this game is overall a very solid point-and-click murder mystery. Great voice acting, nice cartoony style, fun characters, decent logical puzzles, but it stumbles hard at the end, asking you to accept a conclusion that goes against the gameplay and enforces an incredible level of incompetency to our protagonists. [h2]Down/Negative[/h2] Because the negative is tied to the ending, I am marking the discussion of it in the spoilers. [spoiler]Two characters are revealed to be one and the same. Giving the “villain”, not just a sharp change in personality, one that has not -or at best very faintly- been alluded to. In fact, it makes one of the other side mysteries including said character appear out of place. It gives a bigger problem regarding the gameplay. BOTH characters could be accessed throughout the investigation stage. In two locations, with completely different attire, and your no meaningful way for them to “switch persona” between meeting them and cut your characters off before getting there. Making gameplay clash with the story. If they wanted such a switch to be possible, one character would have to be more unpredictable in where and when they showed up. Leaving it incredibly disappointing when you are essentially revealed a completely new character when the game is wrapping up.[/spoiler] [h2]Up/positives[/h2] Essentially everything that does not touch the ending is a positive. A colorful and wonderful cast of characters once more. Lovely sound and voice acting. Fun style. Having a great duo of protagonists, that work well with one another and give some lovely banter. If you only want to try out one game in the series, go for ‘The Mermaid Mask’, but as long as you can handle a disappointing ending to the mystery, I would say ‘Tangle Tower’ is also worth your time. Certainly not the worst ending in a point-and-click mystery title I have played, though is a low for this specific series so far.

[4/5] ★★★★☆ Would recommend Tangle Tower on sale ($12 or less). Very fun, lighthearted murder mystery game. The character design, animation, and voice acting is amazing and brings the game to life. The puzzles are trivial to solve (outside of one or two easily missable things), as the main focus is on the fun conversations when interrogating characters, and the grander mystery of what happened. That being said, the ending is very abrupt, and bad, definitely brings down my opinion of the game.