Redrum Dead Diary Review

“Rose sees dead people. Unfortunately her visions have landed her in an asylum. You must help Rose to use her psychic powers and ghostly visions to solve a series of grisly murders and thwart the plans of an evil doctor in this pulse-pounding Hidden Object game. Warning: Redrum ^TM is an intense psychological murder mystery intended for mature audiences.”

-Big Fish Games

Redrum (read backwards, it spells “Murder”) is a 2008 puzzle game published by Big Fish Games. And it is every bit as intense, as psychological, as mysterious and as mature as it claims to be.

Story: The story is simple, yet gripping and interestingly presented. The premise is the same as that of Sixth Sense: Rose is a young girl, and she can see dead people. Well, not all dead people – only those killed unjustly, with mortal wishes left unfulfilled. But this gets her into trouble as her super-practical father puts her in custody of the aptly named homicidal maniac masquerading as a child psychiatrist – Dr Sigmund Fraud. From then on, it’s a matter of justice for all the murdered people in town and that of life and death for Rose. Help her solve gruesome evidence less crimes and save herself from the clutches of lobotomy and schizophrenia.

Ambience: Redrum is dark. It is gothic. And it is scary.

The startup itself will send shivers down your spine. The game scores brilliantly on this point – outstandingly vivid and horrifyingly impressive graphics, coupled with haunting, eerie music. And the cases, likewise, are of a different tenor – ghastly. Of them, A Fluid Circus, My Vain Hour and Colt King Iguana are particularly nauseating.

Puzzles: And here we come to a slight drawback – the puzzles are very limited. Basically, they’re of three kinds – hidden object, finding picture parts and anagrams. No- there are no interactive puzzles, which could’ve pepped up the psychological thriller atmosphere. The puzzles do get tough. Sometimes, they use pictures of the human anatomy and you’re asked to pick out a particular bone from hundreds. Trust me, that ain’t easy….

Animation: Animation’s there only at the beginning and end. Not very high class, but that shouldn’t be expected either.

Bottomline: The focal point of the game is its ambience – the music and the gruesome murders and the engrossing graphics. It isn’t much of a psychological thriller…. the puzzles also soon grow tiring. Play it not for the puzzles, but for the vibrant narrative.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Visit Big Fish Games for more info and for the trial version.

Visit Mininova for the full version.