Sleuth

Sleuth

MS-DOS - Screenshot - Title.

Developer Eric Miller Publisher Eric Miller Published 1983-??-?? Platforms DOS Genres Puzzle, Passive puzzle Themes Law Enforcement, Mystery, Suspense Distribution Shareware

Sleuth is a mystery puzzle video game developed and published by Eric Miller for MS-DOS in 1983 being one of the first to use a shareware distribution model.

In the game, you play as a detective who arrives at a mansion where someone was murdered. Your goal is to question the guests and search for clues in order to find out who the murderer is, where the murder took place, and what was used as a weapon. Obviously, the game takes inspiration from the board game Clue.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. 282 moves, rank: "professional sleuth."
Finished	2023-09-24.

When I was a teen, my cousin Brian had one of those huge shareware game collections on CD-ROM and it included this game. If I recall, we only played it once, but it made a strong enough impression on me that I kept the game in my memory in order to replay it later. Over the years, I would occasionally remember it and try to find it, but I never searched very hard. While reading Shareware Heroes, the author described a text-based mystery game, and it made me think of the old game. A quick search online connected the two, and I finally got to play it again over 20 years later. I initially had a difficult time figuring out how to find the correct room, but, once I did, I was able to beat it.

Review

4	5	1	2	2

Best Version: MS-DOS

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• All the descriptions of the rooms in the houses and the various objects and people does a good job at setting the mood.
• Knowing that the killer is actively stalking you gets your blood pumping.
• Because the game is mostly silent, the sound effects are quite effective when they occur.

Bad

• I don't like how you have to find the magnifying glass before being able to search for anything. What kind of sleuth doesn't carry their own and relies on there always being one at each murder site? Also, because its location is randomized, it just creates unnecessary busy work. It can even be found in the secret room, which means, the simple act of getting it tips off the murderer.
• It took me a long time to figure out how to determine which room was the site of the murder. The instructions offer some vague advice which points you in the right direction, but it still took me several games to comprehend.
• Some of the possible murder weapons are silly. A backgammon set? An ashtray?
• The game feels unfinished. There is so much more that could (should) be added to it to make it a polished game like: random floor plans which must be explored to be revealed, characters that can move around the house instead of teleporting, killers that move items to try and cover their tracks, more than one mechanic for solving the mystery, a wider variety of names, items, rooms, etc.

Ugly

• Once you figure out how to play the game, you have to use the same strategy for every repeat play through. The game just picks between one of two houses, then randomizes the items in the rooms and which person is the victim and murderer, but the the mechanics always remain the same. This means the game has almost no replay value, and, after you beat it the first time, which took me about a half hour, there isn't much entertainment left in the game.

Media

Screenshots

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  Title screen.

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  Main menu.

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  First page of instructions.

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  The opening of a new game.

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  Searching a room.

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  Questioning one of the suspects.

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  Discovering a secret room.

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  Finding the murder weapon.

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  Trapped by the killer.

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  Accusing a suspect.

Videos

Game play.

Play Online

MS-DOS

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	The women have no personality and are interchangeable with the men.
Bechdel test?	Fail	The women never talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Race is never described, but it can be assumed considering the setting and names that everyone is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Download

The complete game of Sleuth was released as shareware while asking for a donation. This download also includes versions 4.1 and 4.5.

• Download (Info) - All versions.

Links

     

• classicreload.com/sleuth.html - Play v4.1 online.