The first time I heard about Clue: Murder by Death invoked memories of the famous board game, and trying to determine whether Colonel Mustard really did it in the study with the candlestick. While not directly inspired by the board game, that is no doubt a connection a lot of people will make. Things go a bit different in Clue: Murder by Death though and you are on the clock trying to figure it out.

The game begins with the report of a murder in the mansion. Apparently Lord Anderson was found dead and it is up to you to decipher who did it and why. The game takes place in a 166-room mansion and you are on the clock. This game is designed for the player to have multiple playthroughs, which each one taking approximately two hours. That is how long you have until Scotland Yard shows up and takes over the investigation. As the detective, you can pick two suspects out of a group of people to help you try to get to the bottom of the situation. This list of people includes the butler, relatives of Lord Anderson, long-time acquaintences and more. Each person has different pros and cons so when I was making my selection, I picked who I thought could best suit my method of going through the game. Certain individuals might have access to rooms that others won’t, while other individuals might have a key piece of information that isn’t public knowledge.

After going through the initial cinematic and set up, you are left to explore the manner as either the detective or one of the two you selected from the aforementioned lineup. I chose to go with the detective first and started to investigate the scene and then tried to move to other rooms to look for clues. It was immediately apparent how the different perspectives work in the game. As an example, as the detective I might walk into a room and see papers tossed on the ground and think it is weird but that is about it. As the butler, if you walk into the same room and see that, there might be a comment about what Lord Anderson was working on and how it everything needs to get straightened. It can be difficult to keep track of everything but it is important that you keep everything straight, especially as you get more information as your playthrough progresses. This is exasperated a bit by a tutorial that could be more informative. There were mechanics and other things that I eventually figured out on my own but it would have been nice to have them explained early on. I also had a bit of trouble navigating this huge mansion early on and I think that will happen to others as well. There is a map for the mansion but it isn’t very detailed and just basically gives you a drawing of the layout. For those that play this game enough to eventually memorize the location of everything, that won’t be an issue. For those who just like to play a little here and there every once in a while though, it might be an issue.

One thing the development absolutely nailed is the general “whodunit” vibe. Throughout my playthrough I interviewed everyone that was around the mansion throughout the day. Each one had a story to tell and a recollection of events from the past day. Sometimes stories would sync up, other times there might be some discrepancies. Another interesting tidbit is various items that seem to be strewn around the mansion. For example, I found billiard balls in different rooms, a pencil, a shotgun, a telephone directory, and much more. Each person can only carry three items, which is extremely limiting and something I didn’t like. You can switch between characters at every time but they are going to be where you left them, not at your current location. For example, if you are playing as the detective and are in the northwest wing but the butler is in the southeast wing, when you switch over to the butler, that is where the action will resume. These seemingly random items laying around can serve a purpose though and players shouldn’t ignore their existence. One example I came across was a ghost in the house that wanted a glass of wine. I happened to pick that up earlier, switched over to the character carrying it, and then gave the ghost his wine. After I did that, he gave me a key piece of information. I appreciate the creativity that is on display here, it is just that some of it could have been executed a bit better in my opinion.

If it seems like I am being a bit vague about character details and whatnot, that is because I don’t want to spoil any reveals or key information for anyone. There is a lot of information to unpack here from interrogating suspects, to exploring this huge mansion, and the multiple branching narrative paths you might find yourself on. I did appreciate the notes section the game has that you can go back and read some of the key highlights or pieces of information that you have found out up to that point. I don’t think they went far enough with this idea but I like the overall concept.

My experience with Clue: Murder by Death is a bit of a mixed bag. There is a really great foundation here. I like a lot of the ideas and the concepts. There are some things that need to be tweaked to improve the overall experience though, whether that happens in future patches or maybe even a second game altogether. I mentioned it before but more could have been done with the map system. On the PC version it would have been nice if perhaps we could have taken notes, like put a pin in one room and note that we left a golf club in there, or “Person A” was there, or whatever. Something to help us juggle all of the information that we were being given. On console typing something out like that might be a bit tedious but maybe the use of some icons could have helped. For example, allowing me to put a tiny icon of the glass of wine in the room it was located in or if there was an important locked door that I couldn’t get into, being able to note it is there once I do have the means to open it. Putting some systems like that into the game would have helped make the game a bit more immersive because instead of worrying about trying to remember everything, we can absorb what is going on in the moment, and then check our notes later to try and put the pieces together.

There are also some instances where the game is a bit too obtuse for its own good. I understand that this is a mystery and that you need to figure things out, but there would be instances where I could see the game was trying to give me a nudge and tell me to go to the library (for example) to find a certain clue, but when I got to the library, nothing was there. There is an “Observe” button that you can press but a lot of the time that really didn’t do anything, even if I was standing in front of a highlighted object. There are games that can be incredibly obtuse and it can be fun to figure it out, but it didn’t work out too well here in my opinion. Especially when you have a mansion with 166 rooms, if I’m expected to find one item, and I might not even be exactly sure what I am looking for, that can get old quickly.

If you think you have all of the information you need, you can try to “close the case” early before the time limit expires. If you decide to do this, though, and are wrong, you might need to do another playthrough. So be very careful of what you are doing and make sure you have all the information you decide before you make that decision.

Clue: Murder by Death has a fantastic foundation to build on. It has a great “whodunit” vibe, and I can see what the development team is trying to do here. As I mentioned, there are a few things that stop this game from reaching its potential. If these things can be addressed either through a patch or through a sequel, I would happily return to give it another go. I really enjoy a good mystery, so I’ll check in on Clue: Murder by Death to see how it evolves over time. If you are interested, there is a free demo on Steam that you can download and try for yourself. If you are a fan of “whodunit” stories with a branching narrative, give this a try.