Grim Facade: A Deadly Dowry

Whenever a murder mystery is part of a video game, the killer always leaves a trace behind for your convenience, and it’s not that difficult to follow the trail either. However, there can always be twists in the plot that turn everything upside down, so there’s more to the atmosphere than the clues. Hence, even casual experiences can keep you glued to the screen if the stories are well-written.

Grim Facade: A Deadly Dowry is a hidden object adventure game in which you play the role of an investigator as you take on the curious case of a supernatural string of murders. Although there’s a fair bit of suspense along the way, as well as a couple of horror-ish sequences, the game itself is as classic as it gets in the genre, sporting all the mechanics you should be used to by now.

The adventure starts when the main character is called to investigate a mysterious spree of murders in the small city of Anzio. Rumor has it that the murderer is a ghost bride, which means that you should be expecting all sorts of supernatural phenomena over the course of the investigation. Naturally, things become clearer and simpler once you start unraveling the clues found at the scenes.

As per usual, the gameplay is split between scene examinations and actual puzzles, with a few mini-games in between. However, most of your time is spent searching for useful items, which are then used together to open doors and keep the story flowing. The puzzles are nothing too out of the ordinary either, but they blend well with the story and the environments you explore along the way.

Lastly, graphics play a crucial role in such cases, especially because the atmosphere is so important in mystery games. Thankfully, all is well in this regard, given the fact that every scene feels very much alive, with all sorts of objects, special effects and a bit of post-processing added on top. There’s also voice acting and music, both of which play their role in the grand scheme of things.

All things considered, don’t go looking for innovation in Grim Facade: A Deadly Dowry, because there’s hardly any. However, the story is very well told, and you can have a blast solving the mystery and finding out who the bad guy is at the end.

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