Mystery of the Malign

I really enjoyed my time with this game. For what little there is, it's a surprisingly thorough and logical detective game. However it's very clearly unfinished. The ending is very abrupt and unsatisfying. This game feels like the opening chapter of a much larger experience that was abandoned. I can see why. There is an impressive commitment to the deductive reasoning in this game, that was likely exhausting to maintain for what i assume to be a very small team of devs. I would really love to see more from gameplay supremacy. Clearly a lot of talent on display here.

Mystery of the Malign is not a game for everyone. It is deliberately retro, some of the inventory / evidence management is lacking some Quality of Life, there could be a lot more options for customizing controls and whatnot. But as soon as you step over the slight frustration of its presentation, you find a deep and very involved detective game, that feels like a true investigation. Filled with characters that will lie to you and try to deceive you, often not out of guilt, but simply because telling the truth is not advantageous to them. There are dozens of potential evidences and you can ask every NPC questions about all of them. It is not hard to feel lost and in awe of the size of the task ahead. The game is about taking out your magnifying glass and looking through the entire environement, for the piece of the puzzle that will allow you to place those other pieces that seem disparate at the moment. I have yet to conclude it, and might adapt my review. But at the moment, this is a fine piece of detective game, a uniquely deep and interesting one. Highly recommended.

I love this game, it's premise and aesthetic is brilliant. The atmosphere is suitably eerie. The mystery is engaging and really fun to unravel and its immensely satisfying to experience a eureka moment when everything fits into place. With all game's in this genre there are frustrations at times when it feels like you're not progressing or when the information you have to remember keeps piling up and you're not sure how much of the case you should have surmised, but I do feel that the game does a good job at hinting towards what you should be doing or where you should be looking for clues just by talking to npc's and breaking down the case into smaller chunks. It definitely helped that I had a friend in the backseat pointing out things I missed or leading me investigate things I hadn't thought of.

Clearly a labor of love and incredibly immersive. I had a blast trying to solve every last mystery in this game. At times some of the puzzle solutions were a bit obtuse (categorizing the artifacts was the worst offender) and I wish the game made some of the gameplay elements clearer such as using blank sheets of paper for footprints. The setting is amazing though and the detective work was so fun. I'd love to see this same system get refined even further with a future game. Please keep making games like this!!

Really enjoyed this! Thankful that there's multiple ways to solve things and that very little is missable. Thank you to those who create guides--they helped me find small things I was missing!

Excellent detective game, requires you to actually apply deduction and common sense instead of being spoonfed. Very similar to Obra Dinn, includes many of the same strengths and mechanical weaknesses.

I am absolutely in love with the nostalgia and vibes of this, while also gathering up all the various pieces of the puzzles and putting everything together. The game keeps surprising me with the turns its taking, and I'm having an absolute blast going along for the ride. It's so much more than I expected, and best experienced with as little info as possible. If you like the genre, you'll like this. I only wish I could move a bit faster, the "running" is dreadfully slow, but also fits the aesthetic so I'm not too mad.

Such an awesome and solid mystery game. Requires some real thought and actual logic, but it's also not so punishing as to be impossible; a lot of puzzles you can solve by approaching it from a few different angles, and the game is built well enough to avoid most cases of missing clues or items entirely. There's a ton of bonus worldbuilding that gives you the sense of living in a full, fleshed out world even though you only see a few rooms of it. Also the characters are really funny - to be a fly on the wall in Christofer and Emely's house; how on earth did they get together?? Totally recommend for anyone who wants a tightly-written and rewarding mystery puzzle game.

Do you feel jaded from modern detective games with swanky animations, poor UI or puzzles that just don't make sense? Consider this your oasis in the desert. Mystery of the Malign is a thrilling ride of deduction and discovery with a story so good, even stick figures could have sold it. Despite no VA, the characters are bursting with real personality - from the evasive tour guide to the cantankerous curator - and this makes the questioning process a real treat. Combined with snooping around the museum grounds, you'll slowly collect *just* enough information to fill up your notebook and hear that satisfying, spooky sound effect whenever you solve a case. This game excels in its atmosphere. Not just audio design, but the ever-present threat of a jump-scare as you explore dim passageways, the enduring mystery of what lies beneath the secret trap door, the inexplicable buzzing coming from a security guard's locker - all testament to genuinely creepy world-building. I am eagerly awaiting for more cases in this universe.

a very good obra'dinn when I see one !