Well, it’s been a couple of years, so naturally, that means it’s time for another Agatha Christie game! I’ve played nearly every Agatha Christie entry released within the past few years, such as The London Case, The First Cases, and The ABC Murders, with many of them being hit-or-miss (mostly miss). Still, as a lifelong, avid fan of Agatha Christie, I  can never say “no” when another entry is presented. This time around, we have Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile, once again from the studio Microids. Does this experience fare any better? Time to curl up our mustaches, get those little gray cells fired up, and find out!

As you might expect, Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile follows along its main source of inspiration, her novel from 1937, albeit not an exact one-for-one narrative. This video game adaptation is more of a loose reimagining, now taking place in the 1970s, with a longer, more expanded storyline, new locations, such as London, Cairo, and Majorca, as well as additional characters. Not just additional side characters, either, but a whole new secondary protagonist, Jane Royce, an up-and-coming detective with a lot to prove.

I have mixed feelings about some of these new additions. On the one hand, I really do like a lot of these new characters, and they certainly fit the more modern narrative in a much more satisfying way. I also greatly appreciate the inclusion of so many new locations, as it keeps the game feeling fresh and new throughout.

However, even though I appreciate the decision to change the time period the events take place in to now be in the 1970s, and most of it works well, seeing our introduction to the pompous, stuffy Hercule Poirot trying to hang out in a disco club owned by a friend of his is incredibly jarring and unbelievable, to say the least. Now, this setting fits the other young, funky protagonist, Jane Royce, much better. That said, while I don’t necessarily dislike Jane Royce, her character felt like it was forced. She has her own set of adventures and cases to solve that run alongside the same timeframe as Poirot’s. The cases the two detectives are working on do eventually converge at the very end, but her whole portion of the game feels shoehorned in to pad the runtime.

Even though the additional protagonist feels unneeded, the improvements to the gameplay are a breath of fresh air. The Mind Map has been refined, so now connections and deductions make logical sense, without having to brute force your way to make connections and progress the story.

There’s also a new Confrontation system, which makes interrogating suspects feel much more natural and organic. The same can be said for the crime scene timeline system, in which you piece together the series of events surrounding the crime. These sections also now make a lot more sense and help with fully understanding exactly what transpired.

I’d like to sing the praises of the puzzles as well. The Agatha Christie games have had a long history with puzzles, but honestly, most of them aren’t anything to write home about, or are even just blatantly frustrating. Thankfully, the puzzles in Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile are not only well varied but also a lot of fun to solve. I only had to use the hint system on one puzzle, and truth be told, I felt like an imbecile for not realizing one very simple yet crucial aspect of it until it was pointed out. That’s not to say that there’s no level of challenge to be found here, but rather that it strikes a good balance between delightfully challenging and accessible. None of the solutions are needlessly obtuse.

I must also applaud the graphics in Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile. Utilizing the same art style as found in Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express, the character models are well-detailed and have just enough of a cartoonish edge to make their individual designs stand out, reminding me of a similar visual style of The Walking Dead games from Telltale. The character animations are full of life too, making them feel like real characters instead of the stiff puppets they resembled in The London Case. The less said about that game, the better. As mentioned earlier, there are also a lot of new locations to explore, with a ton of diversity between them.

As far as the sound design, the voice acting is solid all throughout. Hercule Poirot is unerringly pompous, Jane Royce is fiercely funky, and the rest of the cast of characters all deliver just enough of their own personalities to make them distinct. The sound effects are also clean and clear. Now I will say that while the soundtrack is decent, there are a few tunes that are played on a short, repetitive loop, making them wear out their welcome before too long.

Microids seems to be finally finding their stride with these Agatha Christie games, and I couldn’t be happier! The story is compelling, even if it felt overly padded at times with the inclusion of another protagonist, the gameplay has been reworked so it feels much more satisfying, and the puzzles are a lot of fun without being overly complicated. This is by far the most fun I’ve had playing an Agatha Christie game in a long time. If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie, or even simply enjoy a detective/puzzle adventure, then I can’t recommend Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile enough.

Graphics: 8.0 Good graphics and character animations, with a surprising amount of locations to explore. Occasionally, textures take a moment to finish loading.	Gameplay: 8.0 The investigations are much more intriguing than in previous games, with a refined Mind Map, logical confrontations, and a more effective crime scene timeline system. Moving the protagonists still feels stiff.
Sound: 8.0 Solid voice acting all around. The soundtrack is decent, but there are a few tunes that are played on a short, repetitive loop, making them wear out their welcome before too long.	Fun Factor: 8.0 By far the best Hercule Poirot game to date. The puzzles are well varied and a lot of fun to solve, and the characters are interesting, but the addition of another protagonist, Jane Royce, feels forced and used to pad the runtime.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

A copy of Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile was provided by the publisher.