Murder on Space Station 52 [Review]
Made From Strings’ new adventure game is a hard-boiled space noir with a unique art style.
Murder on Space Station 52. Credit: Made From Strings / Dionous Games
Murder on Space Station 52 is an adventure game in the tradition of Tim Schafer’s classics, most notably Grim Fandango. It combines point-and-click mechanics with a distinctive hand-drawn art style to spin a sometimes funny noir tale about murder.
Edward Locke arrives at Space Station 52 to fill the position of repairman at the dilapidated station, which is long past its heyday. On his first job, he almost immediately discovers why the position was vacant—his predecessor, Oakley, was murdered, with a key jammed into a wound in his skull. Doubting the effectiveness of the authorities, he takes it upon himself to solve the murder and unmask the gruesome Keychain Killer.
Murder on Space Station 52. Credit: Made From Strings / Dionous Games
You control Locke through this linear adventure that’s divided into chapters. Each of the nine chapters plays like a stand-alone, little adventure game; when you start a chapter, you can’t return to the previous, and your inventory is emptied. It’s an interesting idea. By narrowing the scope of the areas you can explore, the game lets you focus more clearly on specific puzzles that you know rely only on items you’ve found in that area and not some obscure trinket you found at the beginning of the game.
The game plays like what you’d expect from a point-and-click adventure. Click to make Locke walk around, click on objects to use or pick them up, and right-click to get a description. The inventory screen allows you to select an item, which you can combine with other items, or click on an object in the environment to use the item on it. You can click on a person to speak with them and select dialogue options from a menu at the bottom of the screen. This is all standard stuff. The game isn’t making any leaps of innovation in the adventure game space, and that’s fine. I’m most thankful that the game includes a function to mark every interactive object in a scene, so no pixel hunting.
Murder on Space Station 52. Credit: Made From Strings / Dionous Games
The game features abstract puzzles, usually when interacting with a computer or machine, in addition to item combination puzzles. None of the abstract puzzles is difficult. At the start, Locke will say something that gives you an unsolicited, unsubtle hint about solving the puzzle, something like, “I need to power each node individually in order.” Later in the game, there are no hints. It would have been nice if I could ask for a hint if I needed one rather than be told what to do or be told nothing at all. Some of the item puzzles were a bit obtuse, but overall, few felt like nonsense and most were logical.
You access two screens from the pause/save menu—your murder board and your apartment. As you speak with characters and uncover clues, your murder board gets filled in, and near the end of the game, you’ll have to use the observations there to deduce the killer’s identity. The apartment is a bit of a waste of time. As you observe things in the environment, you’ll sometimes get points that you can spend to buy things to decorate the apartment. They’re collectibles that serve no purpose other than to encourage you to click on everything.
Murder on Space Station 52. Credit: Made From Strings / Dionous Games
Every character is fully voiced. You’ll hear the most from Locke, who provides a running commentary on everything he does and occasional narration in a florid noir style. The performances vary in quality, and there are moments where the audio peaks as characters unpredictably get loud, which is not the most pleasant experience when you’re wearing headphones. My general impression is that nearly every character speaks unnaturally slowly, and most of the performances are flat. This is especially jarring because the noir genre is often known for its fast-talking, quick-witted characters.
One of the game’s most notable qualities is its graphics. Murder on Space Station 52 is entirely hand-drawn. The environments look like they were drawn with ink and have a messy, sketchy look. The game’s scenes are mostly static; I would have liked some more animated touches to give more life to the world. The character art looks cleaner than the environment and is more detailed; the individual designs are also distinctive and full of personality. The characters are my favorite aspect of the game’s art.
Murder on Space Station 52. Credit: Made From Strings / Dionous Games
I finished Murder on Space Station 52 in about four and a half hours. If you knew the puzzle solutions, you would, of course, complete it far more quickly. I can’t say I ever felt attached to any character or particularly invested in the game’s story, both of which figure so heavily in the adventure. I would recommend Murder on Space Station 52 to adventure game aficionados. If you’re selective about the time you spend on the genre, you could skip this one.
Murder on Space Station 52 is available now on Steam.
Overall Score: 6/10
Played on: Steam Deck
