Mystery — the night of it

Nobody wrote this case in advance. The night is played out once, and a death from that night becomes the case. The killer, the hour, the place and the witnesses are all read back from that record, so an alibi that holds really does hold, and no two clues can disagree.

That is why you may see "no case on this seed". It means nobody died that night. Press [New case].

The screen shows which day you are on and how many there are. Searching a place or questioning a person each take one day, and when the days run out the case goes cold. Deciding what to do first is the whole game.

• Search a place — weapons, traces, someone who saw something. Some places hold nothing.
• Ask where they were — that person's alibi.
• Ask about the dead — relationships and motive.
• Ask about someone else — what they saw, and what they say about that person.

What you find stops at what kind of person it was, never at who. A trade, a temperament. Only motive clues carry a name. Matching a trait to a person is what questioning is for, and that is half the investigation.

Findings collect under what you found, testimony under what you were told. A statement later shown to be false stays on the list with a line through it. It is never removed, because who changed their story is itself a clue.

When something you were told conflicts with something you found, an option to confront that person opens. Catch someone lying twice and they may say it themselves. Confrontation only opens once you already hold the contradiction, so alternating between searching and questioning pays.

You can name anyone at any time, but a charge needs evidence to stand on, and the screen tells you how much you hold. There are five endings.

Naming a suspect closes the case on the spot. You cannot take it back or keep investigating.