The Mermaid Mask

Absolutely brilliant. One of my favorite murder mystery stories I've experienced. A phenomenal cast of characters that are as well written as they are voice acted. Finding the clues and interacting with the suspects was always fun. There was always something new to discover. The animation work and scene design was jaw dropping. The soundtrack by Raphael B. Meyer is equally engaging as it is epic. It does an excellent job of setting the scene and mood of every moment. The puzzles at times were a little too convoluted for me but whenever I got stuck I just used a walkthrough which I don't mind too much. There were also plenty of puzzles I was able to solve on my own too. This game was all about the story though and I was hooked from the moment I stepped on the foredeck of that submarine. I fully intend to play the first two games as soon as possible.

We were waiting for this game for so long and the wait was definately worth it. Character design, story, voice acting, humour - all top notch. Thank you from a daughter and mom playing all three Grimoire games together.

What a stellar game! I've quickly grown to love the world and characters of the [b]Detective Grimoire[/b] series, and this latest installment is its magnum opus. The soundtrack is glorious, as are the voice acting and character design. The humour, gameplay elements, and puzzles all hit the mark. Also, the plot is more cohesive this time around and the game improves satisfactorily on the main pitfalls of [i]Tangle Tower[/i], while adding some new features. It was truly a delight to play through this game that has been so lovingly crafted right down to the smallest details. Would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys story-based games or puzzles or even just games with a good atmosphere. It works just as well as a standalone or in continuum to this wonderful series.

Годный квест\пазл на несколько вечеров.

Indisputably the best of the Grimoire games. As much fun as I had with Tangle Tower, it was a very flawed game (in huge part due to the ending), and Mermaid Mask improves upon it in every regard. The presentation is a step above, with great use of 3D assets, the characters more enjoyable and their personalities more vibrant, the setting more exciting and, most importantly, the mystery is much stronger. The already solid array of mystery game mechanics is expanded in a way that really bridges the gap between your understanding of the case and communicating it to the game. And, unlike in Tangle Tower, the truth of the mystery is both internally and externally consistent, as are the characters pre- and post-reveal, without sudden personality changes or twists that seem to disregard the investigation that came before. There are misdirections, but they are cleverly done in a way that enhances the eventual reveal of the culprit rather than make it feel like a cheap trick. Good mystery, good mechanics, tons of personality, fantastic music and art direction. Great mystery game all around.

刚玩了《蟹蟹寻宝奇遇记》的我打开The Mermaid Mask真想大吼一句，好精美……（没有批评蟹蟹的意思，我挺喜欢蟹蟹的） 一听就很费心制作的BGM和一看就很花时间/精力/资源的美术，一下子就能把人带入一个诡异的港口小镇。 其实一开始让我惊叹的是本作的配乐，很华丽、元素很多（主要也是和背景音乐哪哪都差不多的蟹蟹对比出来的）。后来更是发觉潜艇里的每个房间都有自己的BGM，而不是只有一个或个别通用的探索BGM。音乐的变化加之视觉风格的不同，使不同房间的特色更为突出，同时也更好地反映出这个房间里的人物的性格（比如镜中女孩的诡异童趣、商人房间的热火朝天）。 美术就更不用说了，缠结塔的漂亮画风延续到本作。随着游戏进程的深入，你甚至会觉得制作组的招牌画风甚至是美术方面最“稀松平常”“不值一提”的部分了。本作能给玩过缠结塔的玩家带来的惊喜包括十分流畅且富于变化的立绘动画、通过3D人物模型展示的情景模拟（潜艇3D模型稍微有点难看了，但是占比很小所以不太影响整体感觉）、细节满满的可供调差的线索。制作组还做了每个角色的手部剪贴图，让他们可以指着线索中他们在意的地方。另外还有少量的过场动画，再加上通关后的美术设定集（这真的不用花钱另买而是随游戏附赠的吗？）明显能感觉到制作组对美术的追求，并非只把美术当作卖点（因为那样的话他们没必要加3D、加动画），而是在尝试突破自己（已经很高）的上限，探索更多美术形式的加入。 文本内容也很丰富，场景里可供点击并弹出不同互动内容的地点很多，所有线索都可以拿去和嫌疑人们交流，并得到非常符合人物个性的对话。明显可见不同人对同一物品的关注点是完全不同的，比如有些人特别注重物品的气味，孩子看到父母照片第一反应就是家人和回忆，而对灵异见闻感兴趣的人则关注到照片角落的特定物品。一方面强化了不同人物的背景和形象，另一方面也在一定程度上控制了信息的流速（同样拿照片做例子，乍一看只是一家三口的合照，后来经别的船员的提示，才发觉了角落里隐藏的秘密），让玩家觉得掩盖在真相和人物之间错综复杂的关系之上的迷雾是被逐渐拨开的。 一言以蔽之，感觉制作组不缺钱啊！你们也确实应该赚大钱！ 此外，我觉得Mermaid Mask的制作组就是那种很愿意花精力在“没必要”且玩家也不一定会发觉的细节上的类型。比如说制作组对角色名字（及游戏名称）的两个首字母必须一致的坚持（虽然不知道作家的名字为何不符合这一规律）；比如说全语音；比如在讲美术的时候提到的角色的手部剪影；甚至是每个线索可以跟任意一个嫌疑人交互这一点，其实完全可以做成只有跟角色相关的特定线索才能触发对话的方式，但是他们没有，他们还是做了全部的对话。所以正如最后从角色之口中说出的“工作量真是太大了”，虽然语气有些许吐槽的感觉，但玩家能很清晰地感受到，这不是一个为了做而做的作品，这是一个制作组真的想这么做所以这么做了的作品。 解谜方面，确实没有特别惊艳的地方，但整个故事也平稳落地了，并且我在凶手揭晓并讲述ta的故事时能感受到心中的悲凉。可以说这个作品做到了通过人物和故事的呈现，让你真正“认识”这些角色，而不只是抓出凶手而已。结局时你会感叹，会遗憾，也有欣慰。感谢The Mermaid Mask这个能给人带来情感起伏的解谜游戏，比起很好的谜题，我还是更喜欢人物、故事、谜题的有机结合。话说回来，如果我真要玩很有挑战性的解谜，我也不会来玩Mermaid Mask了。

缓慢推进中，目前进度51，除了船的步数那个比较难看了别人实况外，还挺简单的。也看到好多熟悉的名字，期待后面的剧情。。。