Game Thoughts - Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders by Nupixo Games

Note: This is a repost from our WordPress, which we don't update anymore.

I got this game since it had “Detective Di” on it, and I practically jumped at it the moment it was on sale on Steam. You see, there’s this movie I loved called “Detective Di and the Phantom Flame” and it was so awesome. I thought, hey, maybe I’d like this one too...

...and then I got into the Chinese mystery game rabbit hole. I couldn’t play this before Firework, since we didn’t have a way to get ourselves a second monitor at the time.

Well, now, I got to play and finish it, and it’s been a nice experience so far. - Kochi

What's It All About?

You play as Di Renjie, who’s the new Magistrate for the Justice Department in Chang’an, and he serves under Empress Wu. She tasks you with a seemingly small murder case involving a random lady who was brutally killed by some unknown guy.

And as you tackle the case, you realize that it’s part of something bigger. Hence the inclusion of “murders” in the title.

Writing

As I said earlier, I got this since I liked this certain Detective Di movie, and apparently, both follow the famous investigator from ancient China.

Anyway, so basically, it’s set in a China where a lady is the Empress, and well, as you would expect, she has a lot of dissenters. But she’s a strong woman, and her appointing you is part of proving that strength… or at least that’s part of it.

But there, I like this tension between you and the enemy that seems to want the Empress to fall, as well as the tension between you and the Empress herself. There’s heavy emphasis on discovering the truth, as well as a responsibility for justice.

And it’s worth noting that there’s some discussion on the strength and weakness of women, and how they find ways to make their own path in a society such as ancient China. What I especially like about it is how strong women as shown here don't have to be more like men (although the Empress has this one bodyguard who's kind of like that, but that's more an exception than the rule) but keep their femininity and even use it to their advantage.

Art

Contrary to its cover art, it’s in a pixel style. The characters are notable for not having much of a face, but I’ve found that they’re distinct enough with their clothing, which is nice.

The backgrounds are what I would call the best thing with their art, because they’re really grand and have a lot of elements that you would find in a Chinese period piece, but in a pixel art sort of way. The only kind of bad thing about it is that the places are so big sometimes, and you might have to pixel hunt a bit as a result.

But damn, though, that pixel art is pretty, and you gotta see how smooth some of the animations are, especially that last scene...

Audio

Music is nice, not quite the typical Chinese fare, except maybe for the title screen, but I wouldn’t call it typical. It leans more towards the mystery side of things, and I like that.

Also loving the fact that sometimes it’s quiet, and all the “music” you’ll ever have is the ambient sound, such as flowing water. It can help with concentration if you’re getting stuck somewhere and need to think.

Gameplay

Gameplay is more or less the typical point-and-click, where you look at the surroundings and click on them to have Detective Di look at them, use them, or pick them up. Thankfully, names of things show up when you put the cursor on them, although you would still want to make sure that you scour every scene for clues, as sometimes they only occupy a tiny part of the scene.

Also, to solve some puzzles or get hints, you have to give some people certain things or put together certain things. I got a bit dumb with combining some things though.

I would say that some of the puzzles can devolve a bit to brute force, especially the drum thing in the dream sequence. That kind of kills it for me, but I’m the type who still wants to think things through lol so I guess it’s not too bad for someone taking this more casually.

And speaking of thinking things, you know that you’re closer to solving the case when you light up a hint on the deduction board, and at the end of it, you need to put together the scene of the crime. It shouldn’t be too hard if you’ve been following the clues, anyway.

Overall

It’s a nice game, and the story isn’t too confusing to follow, at least. If you’re planning to figure things out along with Detective Di, you’ll likely get to the same conclusions as he does.

I like that this touches on an early career Detective Di, as opposed to him being an already established investigator in some other media. It makes him a lot more relatable and kind of closer in level to the player.

I’m okay with not having sequels, but of course, I would be up for a series, if there will be any.

If you guys wanna play it, you can get it on Steam. And apparently, it’s also available for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.