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Unique mechanics; engaging story;
Back and forth narrative; Buggy graphics
Based on Agatha Christie’s classic 1937 mystery, Death on the Nile, this adaptation brings the “queen of crime’s” work to life in a fresh way. Set in 1970s Egypt, you play as two detectives whose cases intertwine at Abu Simbel. Famous detective Hercule Poirot is onboard a peaceful cruise that is disrupted by a terrible crime. Simultaneously, private detective Jane Royce is trailing a murderer, traveling from London to Majorca, New York, and finally to Egypt. The game takes it a step further than the book as well, with an extra twist even fans won’t see coming!
The game begins at Chez Ma Tante—unlike the movie, which re-imagines the same moment in a nightclub scene. This is clearly meant to be a prologue to introduce gameplay as well as introduce the characters before the main story-line fully begins. You learn all of the mechanics of the game in this scene as well; features such as the mindmap, character profiles, and confrontation system. These three are used in each chapter in order to uncover bits of the mystery as events unfold. There are also various puzzles as well as a mechanic where you rebuild the timeline of events. Each chapter introduces a new mystery, with fresh puzzles and timelines to reconstruct.
Starting with the character profiles feature, while not completely necessary to gameplay, it does help keep track of who is who, and what role they play in the overall story. It also allows you to re-read dialogue in case you may have missed anything. It definitely played a bigger role in the prologue than in the other chapters I played, as it is no longer prompted. Once you have all the pieces of someones character profile correctly placed, it will check them off. This happens gradually over the course of the game. Next is the confrontation system, which is not as prominent in my opinion. During dialogue, sometimes you learn conflicting information in previous conversations, so you have the opportunity to go back and confront them about lying. All you have to do is find the lie, and confront them with the conflicting statement. It is much more simple, but still plays a prominent role in gameplay. Now, let’s talk about the mindmap.
The mindmap is the most unique mechanic I’ve seen, and is actually very helpful for games such as these, as it is essentially a spiderweb of information that you’ve learned and can come back to reference if you’re stuck or maybe just need a moment to go over events again before confronting someone or filling in their character profile. You can also make links between evidence or events once you have enough information. Linking two circles prompts you to select the conclusion, leading to more dialogue options with characters, a breakthrough in evidence, or possibly another link. You can also use the mindmap to unlock hints in case you get stuck; it will tell you where to search or who to talk to.
The timeline feature was also engaging, as you place characters within the scene to replay what exactly happened. The game does tell you when you’re wrong, but lets you make as many mistakes as needed until you are correct. This helps visualize the crime that happened, and see exactly how it went down. This gets more difficult as the chapters go on, as you are given more characters to work with and less room for error. The miscellaneous puzzles are also entertaining and refreshing, giving you a small break in normal gameplay while still making you think. Some are more puzzles like shifting pipes or picking a lock, and some are games like rolling dice and playing cards.
Aside from the mechanics and puzzles, Death on the Nile itself looks really nice. I enjoy the graphics, the setup of the scenes, and the overall look of everything. There is an incentive to explore as well, aside from the views. There are hidden golden mustaches and vinyls scattered throughout each chapter; some are obvious and some not so much. I was hyper-focused on this in the beginning, but sort of forgot once I was invested in the chapter, and ended up with just a few each time.
The biggest gripe I have is the switching back and forth between Poirot and Royce with each chapter. I didn’t understand why their stories weren’t separated as it breaks you out of the immersion of the current story you’re playing, and is a bit frustrating not being able to play through without interruption. However, the reason for this back and forth is because the mysteries end up merging in the last chapter, making both individual stories important to the ending. I feel like the stories could have still played separately all the way through and then merged at the end, rather than alternating each chapter, but it also isn’t a dealbreaker for the game. Aside from that, there are some minor issues with the graphics like the mouths not syncing up with the dialogue.
Death on the Nile modernizes Agatha Christie’s classic mystery with engaging detective mechanics and a fresh 1970s flair. The dual storylines offer two lenses into the same mystery, even if the frequent switches between them occasionally interrupt the flow. Still, the game’s standout mechanics—the mindmap, timeline reconstructions, and clever puzzles—make every chapter feel purposeful and rewarding. Even if you’re not an Agatha Christie fan, this one is worth unraveling the layered mysteries; just prepare yourself for the twist at the end.
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Nintendojo was provided a copy of this game for review by a third party, though that does not affect our recommendation. For every review, Nintendojo uses a standard criteria.
