May is here, and that means a return of Celebrating All Things Mysterious, our new annual event where we celebrate mysteries.

However, this year it’s going to be a little different.

Much like with the shortened Celebrating All Things Romantic event earlier this year, this event comes at a time when I’m drowning in games to play. Not only that, but February’s contest resulted in a tie for first place in which both winners picked a game for me to review.

As a result, I’m still finishing up those games on top of everything else, and solid mystery games tend to run on the longer side. So! Instead of a new mystery game review with each post like in the past, this year’s Celebrating All Things Mysterious event will feature one mystery game review each week.

This more relaxed pace should make it easier to balance this year’s event while letting me take the time to savor these games as they deserve.

With that important change out of the way, let’s get into the event details!

Promotions

Drops of Death, the murder mystery romance game where any of the love interests can be the killer (it’s randomized at the start of each playthrough) is currently planned for an October 2025 release date! A new trailer will premiere tomorrow, so be sure to check that out!

Meanwhile, don’t forget that two of my pulp fiction stories star The Domino Lady, the masked vigilante from classic pulp fiction. In “The Domino Lady Takes the Case,” part of Domino Lady Volume 3, the Domino Lady embarks on a murder investigation after suspecting the truth of the case is being covered up. Then in “The Domino Lady Deceived,” found in Domino Lady Volume 4, a thwarted heist brings her into conflict with a thief wily and determined enough to be her match.

Contest

And yes, even though new posts will only be weekly, you can still comment on any Celebrating All Things Mysterious post to participate in this month’s contest!

Contest Rules

• No purchase is necessary.
• Only comments made between May 1, 2024 at 12:00 PM EST and May 31, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
• Each non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any Celebrating All Things Mysterious blog post, including replies to other comments, earns you 1 point.
• You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
• The top 3 point earners will win prizes.
• The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and the person with the third most points will pick third.
• In the event of a tie, tied winners will be contacted at the same time. A tie for third place will allow for more than 3 winners. If tied winners choose the same prize, duplicate prizes will be possible.
• The winner will be contacted by June 3, 2024.

Prizes

• Domino Lady Volume 3 (ebook)
• Domino Lady Volume 4 (ebook)
• Phoenix Wright Trilogy (gift sent through Steam)
• The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (gift sent through Steam)
• Apollo Justice Trilogy (gift sent through Steam)
• $35 Nintendo eShop gift card to use for either Famicom Detective Club game
• $15 sent through PayPal
• You pick a game for me to review!
• …and possibly more prizes to be added throughout May!

If you choose the review option, your chosen game must be something I either own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in June.

An event like this is an easy way for me to encourage myself to play some of the mystery games I’ve gathered over the years. So let’s find some great new mystery games and discuss them in Celebrating All Things Mysterious 2024!

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All right, this year we’re going to experiment with another themed month! Because what’s another genre we love around here? Mysteries.

There’s not a holiday paired with it this time, so I picked May for the sake of alliteration. (If I missed a better choice, do let me know.)

Promotions

I’ve worked a little in the realm of mysteries myself, with the biggest example being “The Domino Lady Takes the Case,” my murder mystery starring the pulp fiction heroine the Domino Lady, found in Domino Lady Volume 3.

(My subsequent story “The Domino Lady Deceived,” found in Domino Lady Volume 4, is not a mystery so much as a heist/crime story, but there’s some overlap.)

Another is Sacreya’s Legacy, my zombie detective story. It’s a free serialized novella, but it’s also one of my earliest published stories, so… keep that in mind.

(I keep telling myself I will one day revisit Sacreya’s Legacy, though it hasn’t happened yet.)

Announcements

Meanwhile, over in the world of video games, I’ll be working with Snowhaven Games to take over the development of the upcoming murder mystery visual novel Drops of Death, so stay tuned for more information about that!

Contest

Now, when we hold an event, that also means a new contest! Be sure to read the rules carefully, as they’re slightly different from previous events.

This year, the available prizes are:

• Domino Lady Volume 3 (ebook)
• Domino Lady Volume 4 (ebook)
• Phoenix Wright Trilogy (gift sent through Steam)
• The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (gift sent through Steam)
• Master Magistrate (gift sent through Steam)
• $15 sent through PayPal
• You pick a game for me to review!

(Is this all a subtle ploy to try to get more people to play The Great Ace Attorney?? …I mean, the thought crossed my mind.)

If you choose the review option, your chosen game must be something I either own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in June.

Rules:

• No purchase is necessary.
• Only comments made between May 2, 2022 at 12:00 PM EST and May 31, 2022 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
• 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any May Mystery Game Madness blog post = 1 point.
• Retweeting any of my May Mystery Game Madness tweets = 1 point.
• You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
• The top 3 point earners will win prizes.
• The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and the person with the third most points will pick third.
• In the event of a tie, tied winners will be contacted at the same time. If tied winners choose the same prize, duplicate prizes will be possible. A tie for third place will allow for more than 3 winners.
• The winner will be contacted by June 2, 2022.

You’ve got a month of mystery game content to look forward to and prizes to win at the end! This time, however, I’ll leave it open for one post a week to potentially be switched to a non-themed topic, so that we don’t run into another situation where we ignore exciting announcements for a whole month.

(I keep unintentionally writing murder mystery month, but that’s not necessarily true. I expect most will be murder mysteries anyway, but mystery games without murder are also viable!)

So let’s get talking about some mystery games! To kick things off, what are your personal favorite mystery video games?

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