Normally when you play games in a given series you expect them to evolve in some way relatively slowly, maybe seeing major bumps with the change to a new generation, but not across multiple games in the same one. Taking on a new graphics engine, making new character models, and reworking something that worked before has to be quite an undertaking, so it’s unusual when you see jumps from game to game. Yet that’s what I’ve seen in the past few Agatha Christie titles, with the developers coming to the plate each time evolving their look and feel while generally maintaining the same state of overall play… for better or worse in some cases.

Death on the Nile is the latest adaptation of the chronicles of the world-famous Inspector Poirot, and weirdly enough the developers have chosen not just to continue to tweak the quality of their overall visuals. In this case they’ve gone with a very distinctive time as well, roughly placing it in the 70s. I have no doubt they had quite a good time putting together the requisite fashion and looks of the time, and right out of the gate the dance club you start out in sets the tone for the rest of the game visually. What further differentiates this title from the rest of the series is that you’ll also be following the adventure of a second character, Jane Joyce, who is on her own mission tied to the death of her friend.

Moving between these two, the game gets the opportunity to flex its muscle a bit more, putting you into different situations with slightly different beats, which keeps things from getting too stale. Of course, more variety is also a risk, so not all stretches of play work as well as others… but at least the variety helps elevate this from being a more stiff and strictly mystery-solving affair. Strangely enough, I continued to have some issues with the deduction and mystery-solving elements themselves, a carryover of frustration I’ve had with some of the past games. Quite simply, it really puts you into a box and expects your approach to solving things being concrete, following only the logic the game was coded for. While you aren’t particularly penalized for making incorrect attempts, the fact that a few different times I honestly felt like another option was superior made the whole mystery-solving process feel less satisfying. Still, on the whole this was still an enjoyable adventure, and it’s great to see the series continue to improve with time.