Review by Jon Donnis
Murders & Mistresses is an unusual adult visual novel because there is considerably more going on here than the adult content. Beneath the adult material is a surprisingly detailed detective game, with five cases covering murders, kidnappings and hostage situations.
You play an ex-conman turned police consultant, with the freedom to investigate cases while making plenty of questionable personal choices along the way. The story gives your decisions genuine consequences, affecting relationships and the fate of the people around you. It helps that the protagonist has enough personality to make these choices feel like part of the story rather than simple dialogue options.
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The investigative gameplay is the real surprise. Story Mode provides a more straightforward experience, while Detective Mode asks you to properly piece together evidence, deductions and theories. You are not simply handed the correct answer at the end. You decide who you believe is guilty, sometimes without having absolute proof, and the game remembers your decisions.
There is a good variety to the cases, too. The game moves between different types of investigations, including double homicides, locked-room mysteries and hostage negotiations. This keeps the detective side from becoming repetitive, while the branching structure gives you plenty of reason to revisit earlier chapters.
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The adult content is extensive, with more than 40 scenes and 145 animations, while the relationship system includes three different marriage paths. There are also dates, hangouts and other activities away from the main investigations. The chapter flowcharts are a particularly useful addition, showing the choices and scenes you missed and making it easy to replay individual sections.
Graphically, Murders & Mistresses is well made. The character presentation is good and the animated scenes are of a high quality. It also helps that this is a complete game, offering around eight to twelve hours for a single playthrough rather than making players wait for future episodes.
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The main drawback is that the adult content will naturally limit its audience. It would have been interesting to see a non-adult version using the same detective gameplay and story, particularly because the investigation mechanics are strong enough to appeal beyond the game's intended adult audience.
We do not cover many games of this type, but Murders & Mistresses has clearly made an effort to offer more than the usual adult visual novel experience. The detective mechanics give it some genuine substance, the branching choices encourage replaying the cases, and the complete release means there is plenty to play from the outset.
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Murders & Mistresses is not going to appeal to everyone, but for those comfortable with its adult content, it is a surprisingly well-rounded investigative game with more depth than its premise initially suggests.
I score Murders & Mistresses a surprising 8 out of 10
