Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders (2016)

A different kind of point-and-click adventure, Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders has both highs and lows on the Nintendo Switch. But it's the quantity and quality of speech that pushes it over the edge for me, despite the inexplicable lack of handheld play.

I’m sure like myself you have either see a TV adaptation of the Agatha Christie-ABC Murders or one of the many film adaptation of the novel. Or you could have read the novel like I have. While the game does not follow the novel to the letter, it does follow the events closely, to the point where those familiar with the source material will not find many surprises here. Agatha Christie-ABC Murders makes for lighthearted detective fare, where you can give your little grey cells a bit of a workout!

Ultimately, Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders is a perfectly competent point-and-click detective game, competently ported to Nintendo Switch. It's more difficult to deliver a "great detective" story in a way that feels appropriate to the character and the players than most people would think, but the developers have done an admirable job here overall. Just do yourself a favour and resist looking up a guide. Not all the puzzles are perfectly executed, but for this game to have the right impact on you, you really do want to be solving each puzzle without assistance, even if that does mean that you feel like your Poirot's IQ has dropped a couple hundred points.

While Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders has the right idea in terms of how to best present a murder mystery in video game form, it unfortunately misses the mark. Having to exit the game and come back after completing a few tasks really kills the immersion and flow. I also think not making use of the Switch’s touchscreen was a huge missed opportunity.

If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie, murder mysteries, point and clicks, or puzzle games and want a fun little gem that will provide a day’s worth of amusement without trespassing into darker territory, then Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders will definitely delight you.