Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders will put players on the hunt for an ancient serial killer in May
On the case
Upcoming point and click adventure game Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders takes players all the way back to imperial China, where there’s a serial killer to be caught. The good detective must investigate for clues, solve puzzles, and re-enact crimes according to his theories in order to figure out what happened and eventually track down the murderer. And, according to the trailer below, play a few rounds of Go while they're at it.
Di is investigating his way through the time of “the first and only female empress of China, Wu Zetian,” who I somehow managed to learn nothing about during two years of University-level Chinese history, but, of course, remember well from Civilization V.
It sounds like there’s plenty of personal and political intrigue wrapped up in the case, as he must “overcome his own inner demons and his allegiance to the previous emperor” while also figuring out “the connection between the murder victims and the capital's many political secrets.”
Detective Di Renjie was a real figure of this time, and despite once being stitched up for treason, he was apparently very well liked by the empress after a long service in her court. He’s been immortalised in historical fiction many times, though it’s not clear what parts of his real life, if any, developers Nupixo Games are planning to draw from in their interpretation of the period.
Curious historians will be able to find out when Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders releases on May 1st on Steam.