Games worth discovering

FMV games are the perfect way to solve a good mystery

1K View2023-05-05

I’ve always had a special place in my heart for mysteries. There’s a puzzle-solving element to a good whodunit that makes it feel like a game, even when I’m actually reading a book or watching a movie. The best mysteries are a challenge between me and the detective, and they’re a blast to experience, even if I’m the one that loses.

Lately, I’ve been keeping myself busy with The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story, a live action murder mystery that jumps back and forth in time. Over the years, the Shijima family has experienced inexplicable tragedies, including a few grisly murders. The ultimate goal of the game is to solve murders across three different time periods: 1922, 1972, and 2022.

While I’m happy to play all kinds of mystery games, The Centennial Case uses one of my favorite mediums for mysteries: full-motion video. FMV games let me watch mysteries as they unfold, searching for clues even when nothing sinister is happening. The Centennial Case has some gameplay segments where you piece clues together, but most of the time, it feels like an interactive movie.

One of the downsides of consuming tons of mystery media is that it makes cases easier to solve. Mysteries are like magic tricks in that they typically involve some sort of misdirection, and most cases aren’t what they initially appear to be. Maybe the culprit actually murdered their victim at a different time, or perhaps they used some sort of disguise. Once you’re familiar with these tricks, it’s usually easy to see them coming.

Plenty of FMV games rely on these tried-and-true tricks, but since they put you in the shoes of the detective, clues are often harder to spot. Sometimes, I focus too hard on someone’s words or get distracted by an odd facial expression and wind up missing essential details in the background. Some cases are still easy to crack, but the format makes mysteries feel a little more mysterious.

I’m definitely not a master sleuth; I just like to pretend to be one when I curl up with a mystery. From The Centennial Case to Her Story, FMV mysteries are a reminder that detective work is much harder than it seems. FMV games can be a little cheesy—for me, that’s a big part of the charm—but even at their goofiest, the mysteries at their center are satisfying to solve.

The Centennial Case has been available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 for a while, but it just launched on Android and iOS. It plays perfectly on mobile, and if you’re a fan of FMV games and mysteries, it’s definitely something you’ll want to check out.

💬 Will you solving multiple murders in The Centennial Case, or do you need a break from mysteries? Let us know in the comments!