Isn’t it comforting to settle in with a good book that you already know? Microids certainly seem to hope so, as their Studio Lyon is snuggling yet another Christie classic right into your Switch.
A follow-up to 2023’s Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile may not be as big as that choo-choo colossus, but it nearly is. So, Studio Lyon has brought the same challenge upon itself: how can a classic this classic be made to feel fresh? And how can you make a mystery game when so many of the audience are already expecting the solution? Luckily, the devs hit upon a formula for it last time, and now it’s back with bells and whistles.
For one thing, the setting has been updated from the 1930s to the ’70s. We open on a swishing pair of bell-bottoms, the camera panning up to snaking hips on their way into a disco. This slinky customer is none other than the latest rendition of Hercule Poirot, the legendary detective, now with a collar wider than his trademark moustache and a cravat that suits him to a T. It may be Agatha Christie via Starsky and Hutch, but some things don’t change.
From dancefloor to detective work, we Moog and wah-wah our way into a third-person adventure perspective, free to stroll around and start chatting up the clientele. This is the backbone of the game: explore, examine, discuss, and solve mysteries from major to trifling. This may mean unravelling the social complexities of a love triangle, cracking the titular river-based murder, or simply arranging suitcases in the boot of a car. The mini challenges like that last one are tacked on a little roughly, however, ranging as they do from simply using a rotary phone to mending a jukebox via five different Christmas-cracker logic puzzles.
Another hallmark of the Poirot games under Microids’ stewardship is the “mind map”. This is a 2D, visual representation of the web of interconnected facts and deductions that make up the case in each chapter. These various observations must be collected during play, then connected and expanded upon in this liminal space inside Poirot’s head. Previous games — especially before Studio Lyon took the reins — made these connections a baffling mix of the obtuse and the obvious, driving you to guesswork to grind out the truth the game wants from you. Death on the Nile is comfortably the most coherent go at the idea yet.
But the standout addition to this visualised reasoning is a timeline-building mode that drops the world into an almost sci-fi purple and orange glowing wireframe. You walk around these spaces, associating characters with actions at each step in time. It’s like a cross between a Cyberpunk 2077 braindance and a spaced-out hippie’s lava lamp dream.
And that really sums up the essence of the game: it’s an easy ride. Lots of relaxed conversations, low-key, ’70s-tinged music, easy puzzles, and slow-paced cutscenes are the order of the day. It may not be everyone’s cup of fussily prepared tea, but it absolutely suits the concept of revisiting a good old classic story. Success always feels like a foregone conclusion, so relax and enjoy the river cruise. A pop-up instruction that summed it up for me read, “New objective: go to dinner” – and that’s dinner on the type of boat that has a cocktail lounge and smoking room. Nice.
Some measures have been taken to liven things up – in response, the developers say, to player feedback. These include difficulty modes that strip away guidance layer by layer — a bit antithetical to the game’s raison d’être in my view — and collectibles scattered around the chapters. If you haven’t found a golden moustache in a bidet, have you had a true Poirot experience? Yes, actually. Thankfully, these additions are completely optional and non-judgmental. You’ll get a chapter report of your collectibles, hint count, and so on, but it doesn’t come with a great big “D” rating if you weren’t up to scratch. No pressure here.
But the biggest contrast to the happy cruise of Poirot-by-numbers is Jane Royce, private investigator. Jane is a new side character with a mission of her own: to avenge the death of her close friend who’d uncovered a conspiracy. This leads her into the gritty streets of The Bronx – a strong counterpoint. She runs about to intense prog rock; Poirot sips wine to easy jazz.
Jane also introduces some tension with consequence-carrying decisions that affect the story. If you thought this was a snuggled-up cruise through a well-loved classic, then — wakey wakey — there’s a drive-by to deal with.
While all this does work to give a change of pace, it also feels a little incongruous. Just as you’re getting into the flow of one narrative, you’re passed back to the other. It might have been nice if the two threads were woven together more closely earlier in the adventure. Some light action scenes can also feel a touch disjointed. Steering a boat or taking on an impromptu stealth challenge add variety, but they don’t really fit with the game’s greatest strength, which is cosy coasting through a timeless story.
Visually, things look pretty great. The most significant quibble is probably the animation in cutscenes: characters sometimes move like puppets in a way that’s almost nostalgic for the PS2 era – or The Clangers, since we’re in the 70s. They almost look like they’re carved from wood, too, which is an art style that looks good without striving for the latest AAA standards. The environments, meanwhile, are varied and attractive, bringing the period to life with the expected staples: dungarees, egg chairs, and the colour brown. Performance isn’t as smooth as Poirot’s wardrobe, but it’s plenty good enough for this type of game.
Conclusion
With Death on the Nile, Microids Studio Lyon has settled into a great formula for a Poirot adventure: a supporting playable character brings novelty and gives the moustachioed star room to ham it up as a lightly comic persona. Some mildly disjointed pacing and a dozily relaxed speed might put some people off, but if you want the cosy feeling of curling up with a good mystery novel, then this is absolutely the game for you.
