The Mermaid Mask offers a captivating murder mystery aboard a submarine

SFB Games, the studio behind Tangle Tower, has released its latest point-and-click mystery, The Mermaid Mask, for Nintendo Switch, PC, and PS5. Detective Grimoire and his partner Sally return for a case involving a submarine captain found dead in a locked room, his body lying beside a cauldron from which blood seeps across the floor.

The game presents a colorful lineup of suspects, including a grumpy author struggling to write a sequel to his hit novel, an actor playing the lead in the novel’s film adaptation, a young woman who performs elaborate illusions, and a man who studies dreams. The submarine setting adds an extra layer of intrigue, since the confined space makes a locked-room murder seem all the more puzzling.

Like other visual-novel-style crime games, The Mermaid Mask revolves around conversation, exploration, and puzzle-solving. Rooms are filled with clickable objects, and the voice acting is strong enough that players may want to examine every detail just to hear the characters’ responses. Puzzles, such as turning dials in precise patterns or arranging skulls on a shelf, help break up the dialogue-heavy gameplay.

According to the review, newcomers do not need to have played Tangle Tower to enjoy the story. The Ace Attorney-style confrontations are highlighted as a satisfying feature: once enough evidence is gathered, players can challenge suspects with observations or accusations, often breaking through a carefully maintained facade.

However, the review also notes some familiar issues with the genre. Presenting every clue to every suspect can become tedious, and certain evidence must be shown in a specific order for the story to progress. The hint system only appears about halfway through the roughly ten-hour playthrough, and at times the reviewer found themselves stuck, resorting to guesswork to move forward.

Despite these frustrations, the finale—beginning with a classic parlor-room scene—was compelling enough that the reviewer had trouble putting down the Steam Deck. After finishing the game in a three-day stretch, the reviewer felt like closing the final pages of a thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery novel.