Microid's 1970's Reimagining of "Agatha Christie's - Death on the Nile" is a fantastic mystery journey.

I'm a sucker for a good mystery story. I will watch a Knives Out movie over and over taking it in and looking for stuff I missed. I grew up having to stay at my grandparents a lot which meant I grew up on a LOT of Columbo and Murder She Wrote. If there's a WhoDoneIt, the only mystery is how hard am I going to jump at it.

So when a 1970's reimagining of Death on the Nile, the famous tale from mystery writer and Vespiform destroyer (iykyk), Agatha Christie, landed on my desk I was hyped.

Here's the thing though, we live in a world with an absolute wealth of mystery games out there and while I've tried many, they usually get you with a fantastic hook mystery at the beginning and then slowly die down until the end. Not this though.

The team at Microids that put this out seems to remember the thing that makes Agatha Christie's stories of detective Hercule Poirot so compelling isn't just the mystery itself but the character development. The way a good mystery doesn't just mean anyone can be a suspect, but also that anyone could be, potentially, justified for it. It's about the characters first and foremost and, with that, Death of the Nile does just that.

And even better, as you frequently switch between Hercule Poirot or detective Jane Royce, both with two VERY different personalities and approaches to things, you really get to see characters shine as you approach things from different angles.

Another thing I loved is how much the game asks YOU to think and to listen. For example, when you're talking to people and they introduce themselves, you can enter into a menu where you select that particular character and enter notes. YOU have to keep track of their name, what they do for a living, how they're connected to other people.

You also have a "Mind Map" which is a fantastic place to store all the information you've gathered about the events leading up to this moment until you're ready to look like Charlie Day in the "Always Sunny" conspiracy meme. It's gorgeous and works so damn well.

And don't worry if it seems like that might be a bit overwhelming, worry not, changing the difficulty to an easy setting will have the game keep track of some of this stuff for you so that you can enjoy the game more from a story standpoint. It won't HAND you the solution but it's definitely going to help guide you. I tried both and neither made me feel like I was missing out though I did absolutely love keeping track of everything. No joke. Having your notes play off allowing you to connect the dots and solve problems feels REALLY good.

All in all, if you feel the need for a solid head scratcher, it's no mystery that this is the route you should take. Not only is the game a phenomenal mystery (that will get even those who have read the original) but the voice talent, art direction, everything goes WAY harder than it needs to to give us a gorgeous setting filled with diverse characters and a wonderful story.