Murder by Numbers

Mix the story-telling of visual novels with investigative mechanics that use Picross puzzles, and you get Murder by Numbers. Developed by Mediatonic of Fall Guys fame, the story sees Honor Mizrahi working with her robot SCOUT to investigate a series of strange murder cases. Though the puzzles are fairly limited due to their inherent nature, they combine well with the aesthetic to offer one of the more unique mystery games out there.

I Am Dead

I Am Dead is a game about, well, being dead. It’s actually about museum curator Morris Lupton who’s recently passed on. However, a volcano is set to erupt on the island of Shelmherston and it’s up to Morris, along with the ghost of his dog Sparky, to stop it. How do you ask? Why, by venturing across the island and discovering different ghosts, using X-ray vision to dissect the surroundings and ultimately piece together the island’s big mystery while making cheery observations throughout. Equal parts adventure, puzzle, exploration and humor, I Am Dead is a charming title with an unorthodox premise.

Recently, we sent across some of our questions about the game, its development, and what the developers have in store for its future to the folks at Amanita Design, hoping to catch up with them and look back on things now that Creaks is out in the hands of players. You can read our conversation with the game’s artist and lead designer Radim Jurda below.

"It was clear from the initial reactions to trailers that there are people who will enjoy the audiovisual experience, but it wasn’t clear to us if the game as a whole will impress them until it was out."

Congratulations on the launch of Creaks! How does it feel to finally have your game out there, and for players to be responding to it in such positive fashion?

Thank you! It feels great, and it’s a huge relief. The game was in development for eight long years and it’s the first released title of our dedicated team within Amanita Design. As the release date got closer, we were getting more nervous about how the game was going to be received. It was clear from the initial reactions to trailers that there are people who will enjoy the audiovisual experience, but it wasn’t clear to us if the game as a whole will impress them until it was out.

The beautiful art style of Creaks is one of the game’s most notable aspects, especially at first glance. How did you land on that look for the game, and what inspired it?

The aesthetic is based on book illustrations, traditional animation and painting techniques, that I and my friend and co-artist Jan Chlup explored during our studies at high school and later at university. The art styles that appear in Creaks are actually our favorite techniques, and it was exciting for us to make them come to life in a game. We draw inspiration for our world from different sources, for example, the part of the mansion that we call Palaces was inspired by various collections we observed while visiting several European museums. Many of our colleagues at Amanita grew up in the same environment, attended the same fine arts schools, so naturally, Creaks fits into the studio’s general aesthetic. I also desired to introduce this style to a genre that’s different from Amanita’s usual production.

The world that Creaks is set in as something that has drawn a lot of praise from players. Can you talk to us about how you went about conceptualizing it, and what primary goals you had in mind for it while doing so?

The story begins similarly to Alice in Wonderland, as our hero finds a small door to a vast, fantastic world. The world of Creaks has surreal rules, but in contrast to Alice, in which basically anything can happen, it’s built to be relatively logical and cohesive. We achieved that by using some motifs throughout the entire game. For example, the motif of looking for a book plays a big role in the main storyline, and it also appears in the collectible paintings and various statues. The key theme of Creaks is ambiguity, and my goal was to create a world that feels like a real fantasy place, but can also be perceived as a metaphor for the hero’s subconsciousness.

"The key theme of Creaks is ambiguity, and my goal was to create a world that feels like a real fantasy place, but can also be perceived as a metaphor for the hero’s subconsciousness."

Creaks constantly strikes a deft balance between storytelling and engaging puzzle-platforming gameplay, always focusing on both in equal measure. How hard was it to strike that balance, and ensure that both elements worked in harmony with each other?

From the beginning, we wanted to offer an adventure experience with a story, and the work on Creaks started with a very thorough storyboard. There are no words in the game, so we made the storyboard very detailed and tested it on our friends to see if the story is understandable just from the pictures. When designing the puzzle gameplay for Creaks, we noticed it could be a bit difficult for players to solve riddles all the time, so adding those story cutscenes or mechanical paintings brings the elements of relief and reward between each puzzle section. Creating each district of the house was quite challenging as we were trying to put the gameplay and story rooms together in a nice and frugal composition.  

What were the biggest challenges you faced during the development of Creaks?

One of the biggest challenges was maintaining focus and trust for the game throughout so many years of development. There were moments when it was challenging to find a passion for working hard every day. Luckily, we didn’t expect it to take so long, so after a few years of development, I thought it would take like one more year, and then we are done. But it actually took many more years. Good that we didn’t know it at that moment! Maintaining the focus would have been even more difficult…

Since the game’s launch, is there any particular bit of feedback or criticism from the community that stands out to you and that you are considering addressing with future updates?

Some people were missing a hint system in the game if they got stuck on a puzzle, but I like it when games bring people together, and those people help each other solve the riddles. There were requests on our Discord server for adding numbers to individual scenes so players can refer to them more easily when they are giving hints to each other without sending spoiler pictures. It was a great idea, and we are preparing this small but useful feature for the next update.

"One of the biggest challenges was maintaining focus and trust for the game throughout so many years of development. There were moments when it was challenging to find a passion for working hard every day."

Of course, Creaks hasn’t been out for that long, so I understand if this isn’t a question you’re prepared to answer just yet, but are you considering making new content for the game, or perhaps working on a sequel, especially given how positively people have responded to the game?

As you said, it’s a bit soon to tell. I need to rest now and give myself the freedom to think of ideas for some completely new games. Despite the many years I have spent in the world of Creaks, I like it very much and have got new ideas for interactions between the furniture monsters and even some new creatures sitting in my drawer. Let’s wait a bit to see if enough ideas and passion for a sequel will rise and if the players would like to see more of Creaks.

Given how close we are to the launch of PS5 and Xbox Series X, have you given any consideration to bringing Creaks to next-gen consoles?

Of course, we would love to bring Creaks and our new and upcoming projects to the new consoles, but it’s a little bit early for us to be specific about that.

This world is big and intricate, as the wide shot during your descent makes clear, but, like any other hidden world, it’s filled with secrets, lore, and, of course, dozens of complex and satisfying puzzles for you to conquer. While its story may have you end up feeling like a side note in a larger, more interesting world, Creaks’ focus is on its rewarding puzzles, which are impressive in their diversity and complexity without being obtusely difficult. While there are a few missed opportunities, the main puzzles and entertaining interactive paintings make Creaks one of the more interesting indie puzzlers of the year.

"Light adds one of Creaks’ most unique gameplay dynamics. The monsters’ fear of light causes it to be a safe haven for you to stand under in sticky situations, and, because they won’t run through it, it can act as a barrier that keeps them in place."

In classic Apple Arcade fashion, where it was first launched, Creaks is segmented into many small pieces, called scenes, most of which correspond to a single puzzle. Puzzles in Creaks are pretty straightforward. Most of the time, you start on one side of a room and see a ladder on the other side, and your goal is to find a way to get to the ladder safely. Trying to stop you from getting there are monsters that will kill you instantly. Among these are everything from metal dogs that chase after you if you get too close to humanoids that mirror your every move, either in the same direction or the opposite direction.

The twist with each monster is their aversion to light. When caught under a light fixture, enemies will revert to unique household objects like a chair or coat rack. Some puzzles can only be solved by catching certain enemies under a light and standing on them to grab a previously unreachable ladder. Light adds one of Creaks’ most unique gameplay dynamics. The monsters’ fear of light causes it to be a safe haven for you to stand under in sticky situations, and, because they won’t run through it, it can act as a barrier that keeps them in place.

While there are only a handful of total enemy types throughout, the game is successful in diversifying how you have to treat each enemy in every puzzle. In some instances you may have to get a dog to chase you so you can jump down a ledge and sneak behind it before it returns to its resting spot, while in others you’ll have to get them to stand on a switch that activates something else in the level. It’s impressive how many different ways it gets you to use each monster and how consistently clever it makes you feel when you do so.

"Light adds one of Creaks’ most unique gameplay dynamics. The monsters’ fear of light causes it to be a safe haven for you to stand under in sticky situations, and, because they won’t run through it, it can act as a barrier that keeps them in place."

In its level design, Creaks opts to prioritize fewer monsters in its puzzles to retain its simplicity instead of trying to fit a bunch of enemy types in a single puzzle. Each enemy effectively has its own section throughout the game consisting of anywhere between 10 and 20 puzzles, which showcases both the full extent of their attacks and the fluid and emotive animations. Any given puzzle has at most two types of monsters, which ends up feeling like a minor missed opportunity to have so few levels that explore the interplay between monsters since these are the most unique. Scenes where you let a bunch of enemies interact while you sit on the sidelines are fun to watch and add further dynamics that you miss when dealing with a single monster. Later sections feel anticlimactic because they don’t put together everything you’ve learned so far and, instead, start to feel like more of the same.

What the level design lacks in interplay between monsters, though, it makes up for in increased design complexity. The harder puzzles aren’t always the ones with the most enemies to avoid, but often those with the most space to cross, usually with the most verticality and environmental changes and requiring multiple steps to complete. Even at its most difficult, Creaks luckily never becomes infuriatingly difficult, and it toes a thin line between giving you enough information to succeed and making you feel clever for figuring it out yourself. The beautiful soundtrack helps this. It, along with its uniquely pretty yet ominous art style, adds heavily to the game’s mysterious tone, but it also gives audible celebrations when you’ve done something to progress a puzzle. It’s not particularly subtle about it, but it’s rewarding to hear yourself making progress when you’re getting frustrated. While each of the 50 or so puzzles might take just a couple of minutes each if you figure them out quickly, the best feelings are the lightbulb moments after you’ve been stumped and finally figure out a solution. These happen often enough to keep you engaged, but there are enough easy levels to keep the pace from slowing to a halt.

Breaking up the series of puzzles are a litany of moving paintings found throughout, either in plain view or in secret collectible rooms. Occasionally, these turn into interactive paintings that force you to complete some self-contained task within the painting, like finding a correct musical sequence or jumping over obstacles. While these are technically optional, they are some of the highlights of the experience. Filled with robot-armed humanoids, every painting adds to the unsettling tone that the world exudes, and, while they have little direct relation to the story, they are fun and interesting ways to pepper in a different form of gameplay and give a little insight into this other world.

"What the level design lacks in interplay between monsters, it makes up for in increased design complexity. The harder puzzles aren’t always the ones with the most enemies to avoid, but often those with the most space to cross, usually with the most verticality and environmental changes and requiring multiple steps to complete."

Creaks’ story isn’t particularly straightforward, especially given how you enter the world, and it understandably doesn’t take center stage. After every few puzzles you’re shown a cutscene of a group of bird-people struggling with some unexplained problem, though it does this without any spoken dialogue. While you eventually understand the larger goal, it doesn’t open up until the last handful of scenes. What’s unfortunate about the overarching story is that the player-character feels like a side note in a plot centered around the other characters shown in the cutscenes. Even though you’re solving puzzles, you have few interactions with them, and it feels like you’re watching from the sidelines while they solve the problem, making your involvement only a coincidence. With that said, the story is well-paced and understands that the game’s focus is on its puzzles. The cutscenes it shows are necessary to understand the world and happen infrequently enough so that I was never tired of them happening. The story also wraps up on a fitting and enjoyable climax that makes sure the game doesn’t overstay its welcome in its 5-6 hour runtime, but still answers many of the questions you’re likely to have.

As an indie puzzle game, Creaks makes a surprisingly successful transition from mobile to consoles. While its story seems to want to tell something a lot bigger than it ultimately does, the puzzles are rewarding and challenging enough to keep you engaged without being irritating. Its level and character designs, despite feeling like they could’ve implemented more interplay between enemies, are impressively diverse and thoroughly explored, especially in its more challenging puzzles, and the paintings that break up the time between puzzles are highlights in themselves. Even through its flaws, Creaks is one of those games that I didn’t want to put down because I felt its mobile “one more puzzle” influences, which is how it succeeds in most of what it sets out to do.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.