The Mermaid Mask key art
Image: SFB Games

It has been a really good week for investigation freaks. We opened with The Incident at Galley House; tomorrow we've got Desktop Explorer (which is already racking up some great reviews), but today we've got some real pedigree point-and-click sleuthing with The Mermaid Mask. From SFB Games (who recently gave us the excellent Crow Country), it's the latest in the Detective Grimoire series of point-and-click murder mystery adventures, which first started back in 2014.

Set in a gothic, slightly steampunk cartoon world, Detective Grimoire is the man to hire to crack impossible sealed-room mysteries. He and his short-tempered partner in crime-cracking, Sally, have been called beneath the waves to the luxury submarine of the eccentric Captain Magnus Mortuga. Well, former captain. The new captain, Sinthia Seafoam, would quite like to know who killed her previously-thought-immortal boss. Not that this gets her off the hook as a suspect, either.

Each game in the series has been a step up in production, with increasingly lively and frequent character animation, and a richer, more professionally directed voice cast. Based on the game's demo (which you can still snag on the game's store page), this one's no different. And by that, I mean it's gorgeous. Like an impressively detailed webcomic sprung to life, full of weird characters and weirder locations.

Initial reviews for The Mermaid Mask have been nothing short of glowing, and the demo suggests that it keeps up Tangle Tower's mixture of exploration, interrogating suspects to squeeze out key information points (which can be used to further push for secrets) and the occasional full-screen logic puzzle with unique mechanics. It is also frequently funny. Grimoire and Sally are a great double-act, backbiting and supporting each other when needed, and playing nicely off the bizarre cast of each adventure.

I'm really hoping to dive into this one over the weekend, but you can start sooner. The Mermaid Mask is out now for £17.75/$20, with a small 10% discount until July 23rd. For just a little more, you can pick up the entire Detective Grimoire trilogy, along with steep discounts on Crow Country and Haunt The House: Terrortown. So, a good week for cartoon goths AND detective mystery fans.