The Mermaid Mask is a perfect vacation murder mystery

《人鱼面具》（The Mermaid Mask）：完美的度假风谋杀悬疑游戏

The Mermaid Mask, the next point-and-click game from Tangle Tower developer SFB Games, has everything you could ask for in a great murder mystery.

《人鱼面具》是《纠结塔》（Tangle Tower）开发商 SFB Games 推出的下一款点击式冒险游戏，它具备了一部优秀谋杀悬疑作品所需的一切要素。

It starts with a compelling setup: The captain of a submarine is found dead in a locked room, his body next to a mysterious cauldron with blood trickling across the floor. The colorful cast of suspects stationed aboard are delightful to talk to, including a grumpy author trying to draft a sequel to his hit novel, an actor playing the lead in a movie based on that novel, a young woman who puts on elaborate illusion performances, and even a man who studies dreams. The submarine works as an excellent setting that elevates the mystery — in a vehicle that already has such a small footprint, how does a locked-door crime happen in the first place?

故事的开端引人入胜：一艘潜水艇的船长被发现死在密室中，尸体旁是一个神秘的大锅，鲜血正顺着地板流淌。船上那群性格迥异的嫌疑人非常值得一探究竟，其中包括一位正试图撰写畅销小说续集的暴躁作家、一位主演该小说改编电影的演员、一位擅长表演复杂幻术的年轻女子，甚至还有一位研究梦境的男人。潜水艇作为背景设定非常出色，它提升了悬疑感——在这样一个空间极其狭小的载具里，密室杀人案究竟是如何发生的呢？

Like other crime-solving games, such as the Ace Attorney series, The Mermaid Mask is essentially a visual novel. As Detective Grimoire and his partner Sally, the returning protagonists from Tangle Tower, you’re primarily talking with suspects, investigating rooms, poring over objects, and solving puzzles. But each room is packed with nooks and crannies and knickknacks to click around on, investigate, and learn about, so there’s almost always something to dig into.

与《逆转裁判》系列等其他破案游戏一样，《人鱼面具》本质上是一款视觉小说。作为《纠结塔》中回归的主角格里莫尔侦探（Detective Grimoire）和他的搭档萨莉（Sally），你主要的工作是与嫌疑人交谈、调查房间、仔细检查物品并解开谜题。但每个房间都塞满了各种角落和细碎的小物件，你可以点击、调查并了解它们，因此总有东西值得你去挖掘。

The whole thing is backed by excellent voice acting; I often went out of my way to click on every detail I could find just to hear what the characters would say. The puzzles, which have you doing things like turning dials in exactly the right way or organizing skulls on a shelf, also do a good job breaking up what would otherwise be a whole lot of text conversations.

整部游戏配有出色的配音；我经常会特意点击我能找到的每一个细节，只为了听听角色们会说些什么。游戏中的谜题，比如将转盘调至正确位置或整理架子上的头骨，也很好地调节了节奏，避免了大量纯文本对话带来的枯燥感。

Even though I haven’t played Tangle Tower, I didn’t feel like I was missing any meaningful context. The Mermaid Mask borrows a tried-and-true model from other franchises starring a returning detective, like with Knives Out’s Benoit Blanc: You can come into this story cold without missing anything important, but Detective Grimoire and Sally are a fun hang that make a few nods to their previous work together.

尽管我没有玩过《纠结塔》，但我并没有感到缺失任何重要的背景信息。《人鱼面具》借鉴了其他侦探系列作品中屡试不爽的模式，就像《利刃出鞘》中的贝努瓦·布兰克一样：你可以直接进入这个故事而不会错过任何关键内容，同时格里莫尔侦探和萨莉这对搭档非常有趣，他们之间偶尔还会提到之前的合作经历。

Eventually, after you gather enough evidence about somebody, you’ll confront them in Ace Attorney-like sequences where you’ll be able to make observations or accusations that the suspect rather wished you wouldn’t. These were extremely satisfying; it always felt good to figure out a tiny detail that would break someone’s facade wide open. Whenever the opportunity to do another one came up, I couldn’t wait to jump in.

最终，当你收集到关于某人的足够证据后，你将在类似《逆转裁判》的环节中与他们对质，在那里你可以提出观察结果或指控，而这些往往是嫌疑人最不希望你指出的。这些环节令人极其满足；找出那个能彻底击碎对方伪装的微小细节，感觉总是棒极了。每当有新的对质机会出现时，我都迫不及待地想要投入其中。

I had a few issues with The Mermaid Mask, but they’ll be familiar to anyone who likes playing these sorts of games. Presenting every clue to every suspect to get their reaction can be tedious. It’s not necessary, but I didn’t realize that until about halfway in my 10-hour playthrough when I spotted the hint system that suggests what you might want to show someone. Sometimes you have to make your case by presenting evidence in a specific order, even if you have already worked out where it might lead, so that the characters can talk things out as the script demands. At one point, I ran out of leads to explore and couldn’t figure where to go next until I manipulated one clue in one specific way that opened up a bunch of leads. More than once, I couldn’t figure out the exact clue that would advance things, so I just brute-forced guesses until I could move forward.

我对《人鱼面具》确实有一些不满，但对于喜欢这类游戏的玩家来说，这些问题都很熟悉。向每个嫌疑人展示每一条线索以获取他们的反应可能会很乏味。其实这并非必要，但我直到 10 小时流程的一半才意识到这一点，当时我发现了提示系统，它会建议你该向某人展示什么。有时你必须按特定顺序出示证据来陈述你的观点，即使你已经推断出结果，也必须按照剧本要求让角色们把话说完。有一次，我用尽了所有线索，不知道下一步该去哪里，直到我以某种特定方式操作了一个线索，才打开了一连串的新线索。不止一次，我无法找出推进剧情的关键线索，只能通过暴力穷举法进行猜测，直到能够继续前进。

These roadblocks were frustrating. But that’s mostly because they stopped me from moving forward in a story that had me staying up way past my bedtime. When I reached the game’s finale — which begins with a classic murder mystery parlor room scene — I could hardly put my Steam Deck down because I wanted to see how all the pieces came together. When I finally finished The Mermaid Mask after a three-day tear, I felt like I had just closed the book on a satisfying murder mystery novel.

这些障碍确实令人沮丧。但这主要是因为它们阻碍了我继续探索那个让我熬夜通宵的故事。当我到达游戏结局时——以经典的谋杀悬疑“客厅揭秘”场景开始——我几乎无法放下我的 Steam Deck，因为我太想看到所有碎片是如何拼凑在一起的了。在经历了三天的沉浸式体验并最终通关《人鱼面具》后，我感觉就像刚刚合上了一本令人满足的谋杀悬疑小说。

The Mermaid Mask is out now on Nintendo Switch, PC, and PS5.

《人鱼面具》现已登陆 Nintendo Switch、PC 和 PS5 平台。