French developer Artefact Studio is going to be bringing a good old-fashioned mystery story to gamers in February with the release of Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders. The game will roughly follow the plot of Christie’s novel of the same name, in which an inspector must track down a murderer who has a demented fascination with the alphabet. A video showing a quick glimpse behind the scenes, which can be viewed above, was revealed today along with a release date.
The story’s central protagonist, Belgian Detective Hercule Poirot, is one of Agatha Christie’s most famous creations, starring in many of the Queen of Crime’s most successful works. He has also been portrayed in television and film by several highly regarded actors, including Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, and perhaps most notably, David Suchet. The ABC Murders won’t be the first time the character has made the leap into the gaming world, either, as there was a series of point-and-click adventures also based on Christie’s mysteries released on PC from 2005-2007.
Paris-based Publisher Microïds have previously released two other short, behind-the-scene looks at the game, which can be found on their Youtube channel. Today’s part looks briefly at the art style and how the team was influenced in forming the characterization of this particularly cartoonish-looking Poirot.
Seeing as the puzzle-based adventure genre is all about exploration, observation, and coming up with logical solutions using problem-solving skills, it often goes hand-in-hand quite nicely with detective stories. Artefact Studio has focused on recreating the astute inspector’s keen eye for detail through mechanics such as dialogue trees where the player will have to interrogate eye witnesses, a ‘brain mode’ that involves deducing answers from clues, and multiple puzzles based around key items, which appear to give The ABC Murders elements of a hidden-object game. It will also include alternative endings based on the player’s choices.
Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders will be released on February 4th, 2016 in Europe and on February 23rd, 2016 in North America for PS4, Xbox One, Windows, and Mac.
