Mystery solving and Eldritch horrors are always a winning combination – what can be more thrilling to investigate than a being from the timeless worlds of space or a creature of the unknowable depths? It’s something that we have seen countless times with games such as Call of Cthulhu and The Sinking City spectacularly showcasing how to find the things that should never be found, but they are all far too serious for my tastes – what’s a guy gotta do to get some jokes in this abyss?
Thankfully this is something that The Mermaid Mask isn’t afraid to lean into – as the third entry in the Detective Grimoire series (fourth if you count the original Newgrounds flash game!). It is preceded by the incredibly well-received Tangle Tower, in which our eponymous Detective Grimoire and his assistant Sally Spears investigate an impossibly tall tower and the tangled web of lies leading to a murder within – I suppose that explains the name of the game.
Where the previous game took our detective duo to the heights of the tower, The Mermaid Mask instead sinks them into the briny depths of the submarine of Magnus Mortuga – embroiled in a classic closed-door murder, the former captain’s demise won’t be the only mystery on your mind, as tales of giant serpents, mystical mermaids, and an adorable idiot called Dirk Dansom will require you to investigate every corner, corner every suspect, and suspect everybody on board.
Players who are already familiar with the series (or at least with the previous entry) won’t be overly surprised by how the game is both played and presented: you are given various rooms to explore with suspects strewn throughout each, requiring you to click on objects around you to collect evidence and solve fiendish puzzles a-la Professor Layton. The overarching mystery is more of a story experience than anything, asking you to take in all of the information available to you and gently pushing you in the direction of the answers, but it serves as a way to embroil you in the stories of the various wacky characters aboard the submarine itself.
Each room is densely packed with detail, and it quickly becomes apparent that clicking on even the smallest item could lead to a big discovery – either that or you’ll end up with another mysterious jar of goop; the clues themselves are important, but you will also need to work out how they relate to the case through the testimony of the different characters aboard the submarine. As you speak to everyone, you will discover their testimony, find out their relationship to other passengers and hear more about the mounting list of evidence piling up in your pockets.
It’s through this exploration that you’ll come across one of the most enjoyable aspects of The Mermaid Mask, but also one of its most frustrating: the various puzzles hidden about the world. To draw on my previous Professor Layton comparison, each puzzle in the world is presented as a logic problem that needs solving with outside-the-box thinking; this can take the form of everything from matching shapes and turning dials to simply learning more about items through thorough investigation – glass eyes, model towns and smoking pipes all warrant a closer look to unlock their deepest secrets.
Some of these puzzles aren’t as straightforward as they seem and in fact can be annoying when they present a roadblock – on a few occasions I found myself annoyed after completing a puzzle when I discovered that a puzzle solution was outlandish or defied logic, but thankfully these were few and far between – of course it doesn’t excuse the fact that necessary progress can sometimes be locked behind obtuse or cyclical logic.
Outside of puzzles, the game feels mostly like a visual novel in how it puts characters and their stories at the centre of everything – meeting everybody on board gives you the chance to both question them all about their own motivations as well as explore their relationships with each other. Just make sure you remember that there is a murderer among them that you’ll need to root out.
If there’s one thing that can be said for The Mermaid Mask that players of Tangle Tower will already know, it’s that the game is as stylish as a set of pink leopard pyjamas (I have been informed by a reputable source that these are very stylish); brimming with colour and a sturdy cast of characters that are as charming as they are unique, exploring every corner of the Mortuga Submarine never feels like a chore. As though the visual spectacle wasn’t enough, it is also backed up by a wonderful soundtrack and a cast of voice actors that frankly deserve extra praise for their performances.
Sadly, The Mermaid Mask still falls foul of some notable issues that plagued its predecessor, as well as some puzzles being needlessly obtuse; there is also the problem of the final chapters, which draw out the conclusion for much longer than necessary. Aside from a few moments of interaction in which you present relevant evidence or answer questions related to the case, you are largely just dragged through a wall of exposition. It should definitely be praised for the incredible writing and again for the performances of the voice actors, but the sequence goes on long enough to leave even Ace Attorney Investigations players wanting a break.
Despite this, the game is brilliantly presented – in spite of the final chapters, you mostly feel as though your time has not been wasted as you learn more about the characters, their motivations, and most importantly their motives; each moment spent inside the submarine is a moment spent listening to some astounding writing, wrapped up in a cloth of comedy gold and tied off with a ribbon of mystery. I’m not quite sure where I was heading with this parcel analogy, but either way it lets me call The Mermaid Mask a veritable gift to video games.
