REVIEW: Bohemian Killing

REVIEW: Bohemian Killing

Bohemian Killing is a first-person courtroom drama developed by The Moonwalls and published by IQ Publishing.

Author: Sherlock Van Helsing

Steam: Released

Developer: The Moonwalls

Publisher: IQ Publishing

Genre: First-person Courtroom Drama

Release date: 21 Jul, 2016

STORY

Paris, 1894. You are accused of murdering a young girl in a hotel room. While in court, you have to relive that tragic night, trying to prove the judge of your innocence.
As a big fan of mystery novels and movies, this game perfectly captures the atmosphere and look of the time and the situation. The dialogue is very well written, and it goes very in-depth of all the details of what was found on the crime scene and what potential witnesses saw.

GRAPHICS

Made with the Unity engine, the game has some very pretty environments, with great textures and lighting. However, the animations and models of the characters are very poorly animated and textured, with some being downright ugly. Thankfully, most of the times you don’t see them, and you can easily look past that in future playthroughs.

GAMEPLAY

In the game you must try to prove your innocence, while also sticking to what some witnesses saw you do. Your best friend is your wrist-watch, which you should constantly check: when someone says that they saw you at the entrance of your apartment building, you can’t be reading a newspaper in the hotel. You have to be consistent in what you do, and you also need to find some defense evidence that will help the judge’s final verdict.
This might sound boring/not enjoyable, but the simple fact that time moves only when you do certain actions means that you have a lot of time to think what to do next. This is one of the better examples of walking simulator and mystery games that I have played, with a very compelling gameplay mechanic where almost every move you do changes the final outcome.

CHALLENGE

Finding the defense evidence and trying to be consistent with what happened is no easy task, giving you a lot of tension and making you think carefully on what to do next. While you can’t save the game freely, once you know what to do you can skip every dialogue and cutscene to get straight to the gameplay, so that, in case you get a death sentence or life imprisonment, you can replay the game without watching every cutscene from the start.

SOUND

The voice acting goes from pretty good to very mediocre, and some of the sound effects get pretty annoying. However, the orchestral soundtrack is very pleasant to listen to, and it amplifies the tension of what is happening during critical moments.

REPLAYABILITY

There are a total of 8 endings to unlock, giving the game a lot of replayability in future playthroughs.

Overall, if you like mystery/detective games set during the 19th century, definitely buyBohemian Killing: it is very well written and interesting, and the gameplay is handled very well. A very underrated game that more players should consider buying, especially once it goes on sale.

Story: 8.5
Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 8
Challenge: 8
Sound: 7
Replayability: 8.5

RATING: 83/100

Written by
Dead Parrot
Join the discussion

Archives

Calendar

September 2016
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  

About Us

Save or Quit (SoQ) is a community of fanatical gamers who love to give you their opinions.

See Our Writers

We’re always looking for new reviewers! Interested?