
The King Mere is dead. Once the leader of diplomacy in the Dog Empyre, now a bloodstain on snow. You are the Apprentice, sent by the Master Detective to the City of Ink, to uncover who really murdered the King at the edge of the world.
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About
Journey to the City of Ink in Darkway: Murder of King Mere, a captivating painterly-pixelated murder mystery where the fate of the Dog Empyre rests in your paws.
King Mere, once a beacon of diplomacy for the Dog Empyre, now lies a bloodstain on snow. His brother, August, has been swiftly convicted. As the Master Detective's Apprentice, you arrive four days too late to the crime scene. Is the King's brother the true murderer? Or has the truth been redacted in ink?

A young dog, training under the Master Detective at the academy.
Non-Linear Story and Exploration
Every Apprentice will have a different journey as they solve the murder. Investigate, convict, and pry for information from whoever you want, whenever you want.
Over 20 Endings
You can convict everyone - except the crow. The correct conviction has 5 endings!
A Gripping Murder Mystery
Delve into a complex narrative where every conversation, clue, and observation brings you closer to the truth behind King Mere's death. Was it a simple act of regicide, or a conspiracy that threatens the entire Empyre?

Challenging Parkour
Traverse the intricate architecture of the City of Ink, leaping across castle walls, scaling towers, and exploring hidden paths as you gather evidence. Your agility will be as crucial as your intellect in uncovering secrets.
20+ Fully Voiced and Illustrated Characters
Interact with a diverse cast, each brought to life with full voice acting. Uncover their secrets, manage relationships, and gain their trust to unlock vital information.

Stunning Painterly-Pixel Art Style
Dynamic Story & Consequences
Your investigations and choices will directly influence the narrative's progression and outcome. Both your own fate, and that of the City of Ink's rests in your paws.
Explore the rich lore of the Dog Empyre and Darkway, uncover ancient cults, and piece together the history that led to the King's demise. Collect evidence, challenge assumptions, and ultimately decide who is truly responsible for the Murder of King Mere.
Will you uncover what really happened? Will you die trying? Or will you find yourself behind bars?
Play Murder of King Mere today!
Pierce Papke, or Ekpap on the internet, is the director of IM/MORTAL Studios, and an artist (concept artist and art director). Pierce aspires to capture life in art, creating inspiring and emotionally resonant work.
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Reviews
Themes across 48 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
Neat but short murder mystery in an original fantasy world setting. Initially, FPS was really dragging, but thankfully it's totally fine and still looks great after turning render scale down to 0 from the default of 100. There are multiple endings and ways of going about things, but after 3 hours I've only done one - so if you want to play through multiple times, that will bump the playtime up.
Wow, this game was messy. I think it was super ambitious to make an open world indie game based in a city…with jumping. I enjoyed it but it could be better. I’m a big fan of games where you can accuse/convict the wrong person. The stakes are also upped during your investigation with some limited consequences for pushing too far too often during interviews. You can still get all the information you need without breaking a sweat though. I would’ve liked a higher difficulty option so it didn’t turn into spamming through dialogue while watching the “favor meter.” One of the introductory characters also gives up the goose with the gameplay loop, kind of breaking the fourth wall to explain it. I guess I might do something similar if I was developing a game and I was getting hammered with negative feedback because people didn’t know what to do. Some of the voice acting was really really bad. I understand VAs have an uphill battle doing dialogue for character models that don’t show they’re speaking, this is me being generous. There was one character that sounded like a bored classmate reading lines in class because their teacher made them. I won’t say who because they might read this review and I’ll feel bad. Some of the other voice actors were just not aligned with the character. They all seemed very young 😂. Burying any hopes for a sequel soon because it looks like they’re going to be patching this game for a while. Strong recommend for $8.
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Languages: English**languages with full audio support
Hours played at review time, across 48 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
MOAR.
a REALLY nice game but... WHERE ARE THE FLOWERS ?!??! edit: i found them
I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the game. The graphics are a delight, even though I had to run with special settings to get this properly run on my old PC. The game is not too long for a standard playthrough, but it's well made that once you start to play it's hard to let it go. So I recommend this for all those who enjoy atmospheric games. I could call this a bit "old-school" style, as you need to read what you're tasked to do as you don't have quest markers on the map.
I really enjoyed this! An overall serious game, but I loved being able to jump around the city in a very un-serious way. Good cast of characters. The game has a defined end, but the world building and world events leave the door open for further games which I'm hopeful for!
Great aesthetic art and stuff
This games clues run so deep i couldnt figure out to hear them all, but this is such a good short mystery. It doesnt hold your hand at all with solving it which made for a pretty satisfying ending.
An absolute dream of a game. An incredibly impressive solo-dev mystery in a land of assassins, secrets, cold, murder, intrigue, war, cults and... dogs! A dash of A Short Hike, a bit of Dark Souls lore, a touch of Paradise Killer: it feels inspired by some great games but still feels very unique. The mystery mechanics help you unveil the story and never hold your hand when it comes to making your own conclusions. The setting is very compelling and I enjoyed my time with the characters a lot. This needs so much more attention.
Genuinely such a fun and engaging game. Challenging almost to the point of sometimes being frustrating, but in a way that only motivates you to keep exploring and looking for more clues. Like every indie game out there it certainly doesn't lack in flaws and small bugs, especially since this was developed by a single person, but i honestly don't feel like they take too much from the game (dare i say they kind of add to it's charm). Definitely worth it, hoping for a sequel and more Darkway games!
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