Dark Nights with Poe and Munro
Dark Nights with Poe and Munro
Game
Game2023
Murderous Muses
Developer D'Avekki Studios Ltd
Solve a sinister murder by spending three reality-shifting nights in a haunted art gallery. An infinitely re-playable murder mystery blending deduction, exploration, puzzles, collectibles and FMV. From the Steam store page
93 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Sep 15, 2026 · last updated Oct 9, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
68
Fresh
49 positive · 23 negative
95% range 57–78%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 49 | 23 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
51 of 74 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
68% recommend · 50 yes, 23 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 73 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (60 of 87 positive).
Players praise the FMV acting and writing but find the 3D exploration clunky and confusing. [1][2][3] Many reviewers note a steep learning curve with unclear mechanics and vague instructions. [4][5][6] The game is highly replayable with a random killer and deep lore, rewarding multiple playthroughs. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [1]
The FMV is great and the actors - and director - do a really good job. But the 3D aspect was a mistake. It's clunky, slow, and turns you off the game. Kinda feels some Unity assets were thrown together to be honest. A misstep in an otherwise great series of games.
- [2]
I played and really love every FMV games from this developer, but I cannot recommend this one. The FMV and acting are still great, but the game mechanics...man...they're ridiculously tedious and unnecessarily confusing, even with the added tutorials. It's like they intentionally made it as tedious and confusing as possible to make a playthrough longer than an hour. Though, I'd rather just have each run be an hour …
- [4]
These guys have never let me down and are the masters of the FMV game. One thing I will caution is that you might have to do some digging on forums as finding your footing in the beginning can be *very* confusing. Once you get oriented though, it's a fantastic little game. Definitely recommend this.
- [7]
A further refinement in D'Avekki Studios FMV format, replayability is better than their two previous investigate the murderer games, as instead of watching for just 1 difference in a persons behaviour each suspect has up to 3 different tells per playthrough. The lovecraftian horror backdrop sneaks up on you and the way everyone just knows about it and is ok with it makes for an amusing and different world. The …
- [9]
If you're a fan of FMV storytelling, Murderous Muses is a great addition to your game library and runs perfectly on the Steam Deck. It's a wonderfully made and seriously creepy mystery game that you can (and will want to) play over and over and over. The cast is marvelously macabre and the game is simply dripping with lore and hidden plot - which you'll slowly unravel as you play through the game's art gallery-based …
Summarised from 34 of the 94 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
68% of the 73 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Murderous Muses. The complaint that keeps coming up: confusing mechanics and unclear instructions at start. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 93 · most liked firstThe FMV is great and the actors - and director - do a really good job. But the 3D aspect was a mistake. It's clunky, slow, and turns you off the game. Kinda feels some Unity assets were thrown together to be honest. A misstep in an otherwise great series of games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →These guys have never let me down and are the masters of the FMV game. One thing I will caution is that you might have to do some digging on forums as finding your footing in the beginning can be *very* confusing. Once you get oriented though, it's a fantastic little game. Definitely recommend this.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played and really love every FMV games from this developer, but I cannot recommend this one. The FMV and acting are still great, but the game mechanics...man...they're ridiculously tedious and unnecessarily confusing, even with the added tutorials. It's like they intentionally made it as tedious and confusing as possible to make a playthrough longer than an hour. Though, I'd rather just have each run be an hour long where we can easily watch one clip after another, without having to walk a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I did like playing this game, but it took me a bit. There were times in my first play through that I didn’t understand the mechanics of what I should be doing and some extra things I wasn’t getting. The instruction video helped but I still missed some things. I knew what I was supposed to do – solve a murder, but it was some mechanics and rules of doing things that were vague. However, by the time I finished the first play that took me about 4 hours, I got it and my second play went much…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let me start by saying I really enjoyed all of this author's other titles. I always enjoy FMV from way back in the early days. This author has great production quality and it shows. Everything about this game speaks to me and was so promising. I love the thought of the museum, the paintings "coming to life", the rich character stories, the cozy nighttime exploring, the computers the speak to you, the mysterious elements, etc. All of the said, the game play itself was a complete mess. The…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →And interesting take on the genre. Really interesting lore for the island and it's interesting to find out about all the characters. Individual games are not overly long but there there is more to discover with replays and feels like a game you will want to come back to every so often for another look.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great movie, bad gameplay. To be honest I am super conflicted about my opinion on the game. Let's start with the good. You get all the D'Avekki goodness. These excellent British actors that (from a couch) bring you into a mysterious town which oozes atmosphere. You get all the D'Avekki tropes... Aislinn De'Ath playing a lady to die for, Rupert Booth voicing the policeman, Cameo-Girl gets a bigger cameo this time and so on. As a fan of D'Avekki, it feels like the family has yet again brought…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Find other reviews on [url=store.steampowered.com/curator/34183438/] MY CURATOR PAGE Another absolute masterpiece from D'Avekki Studios! Murderous Muses is a first-person supernatural murder mystery game where you must discover who killed Mordechai Grey by investigating portraits that you hang throughout the gallery. The portraits come to life and give snippets of information which you use to discover the actual killer among the 6 suspects. This isn't a premade story on rails like many FMV…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Weakest game from D'Avekki Studios. Graphics is .. Duke Nukem 3D, of course the videos is good quality, just the game world is really bad. GamePlay: Confusing af. Run around click randomly on anything, pick up some paintings and see wtf happens, or not. (Apparently the devs also figured out they needed to add more hints to what you are actually supposed to do) Puzzles: Stupid and extremely basic, and practically got no place in the game at all. All they do is give you a key to a door, and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really liked your previous games, for me they're even some of the best that the FMV genre has to offer. But this one doesn't hit my nerve at all. Shortly after the tutorial I already had no desire to continue playing. Too much "escape room"-esque gameplay + puzzles and too little FMV. In addition, both the story with all the different names and places as well as the puzzle mechanics completely overwhelm you at the beginning. I will not refund the game to support you, but hopefully the next…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Here's the TIGA Games Industry Awards 2023's shortlist. * BEST ACTION AND ADVENTURE GAME * Auroch Digital: Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun * Out of the Bit Ltd: Full Void * Pentakill Studios: The Occultist * Rain Games: Teslagrad 2 * Sloclap: SiFU * Sony Interactive Entertainment/Guerilla: Horizon: Call of the Mountain * Sony Interactive Entertainment/Santa Monica Studio: God of War Ragnarök * Supermassive Games: The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me * The…
neutral · AI labelView post →As much as I liked Dr.Dekker and the Shapeshifting detective (the videos, the gameplay, the need to take notes), unfortunately, It was so unclear what to do here. Right after the "tutorial" you are left with way too many rooms with weird menus on the walls, it's an information overload and it wasn't clear how to proceed. I'm used to weird, obscure, puzzly games. I'm sure the video content and the mystery is worth watching, though.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Preface: The game is less than $20, so don't go in expecting ultra amazing gameplay. Still, it's a fun game of thought and puzzles. If you like solving puzzles by writing stuff down on paper and connecting the dots, this game is perfect for you. And it looks to be repeatable with new combinations. I played for about 4 hours and completed one playthrough, and guessed the killer correctly! I could tell there was a lot more to accomplish, I am assuming through stuff carrying over to future…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Made me dizzy. No clear directions, annoyed the hell out of me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Murderous Muses" is a short (2-3h per playthrough) but replayable detective-style puzzle game focused on short video clips with real actors (FMV). It features an interesting narrative with cosmic horror elements, deliciously weird characters, and many surprises, but the graphics outside of the FMV content are extremely crude. 1. Story & Setting You play the single night guard of an art gallery that exhibits paintings of an artist who was murdered a year ago. While the circle of suspects could…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A further refinement in D'Avekki Studios FMV format, replayability is better than their two previous investigate the murderer games, as instead of watching for just 1 difference in a persons behaviour each suspect has up to 3 different tells per playthrough. The lovecraftian horror backdrop sneaks up on you and the way everyone just knows about it and is ok with it makes for an amusing and different world. The return of Aislin De'ath playing a different chracter to her normal femme fatale is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Huge fan of their previous games and this one is just as satisfying; seems like you get more and more of a larger meta story the more times you play and the murderer is random every run! Definitely a note taking type game! Beginning can be a bit confusing as you learn the portrait viewing mechanics/eye usage, but I picked it up easy enough!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New vid! My first playthrough of @davekki.bsky.social's Murderous Muses. Thoroughly enjoyed this game, even if I did get stuck 🙃 Caught the killer in the end though! 👇🏻👇🏻 youtu.be/CuJfc1ysuXU ☝🏻☝🏻 #youtube #fmv #streamer #voiceactor
positive · AI labelView post →I wish I could recommend this game, as I've enjoyed the other games from this studio, but I unfortunately can't. Most of the game was enjoyable, and the acting is great (just like all of the games by this studio), but what did it in for me was the game mechanics. More specifically the one of the blood orbs. Having only a VERY limited amount to spend on each of the suspects over the course of three nights was nowhere near enough. If you're like me, you only get to see about a quarter of what…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of those games that really needs a neutral option for review. If I had to go one way, it's thumbs down. Instructions for performing basic game mechanics are poorly explained. There's a patch now for how to drop off pictures for Sasha, but that shouldn't need a patch. The orb mechanic for investigating is fine for adding a mechanic to reviewing video clues. The issue is, you can't can't get enough orbs to even investigate half the suspects fully, which makes determining who did it a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"The change happened whilst I slept. Its details I shall never know; for my slumber, though troubled and dream-infested, was continuous. When at last I awaked, it was to discover myself half sucked into a slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about me in monotonous undulations as far as I could see, and in which my boat lay grounded some distance away." H. P. Lovecraft, 'Dagon' I've been in love with D'Avekki Studios since I first discovered Doctor Dekker years ago, so I can't…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Did you know there was a physical case files game for Murderous Muses, with more lore and more to explore? Talk to Ishmal the antiques dealer, visit the Undulating Hills and the Museum of Unnatural History and see what the six muses are up to now!
neutral · AI labelView post →I played this for about 90 minutes, really trying to get into it, but I'm not having fun. I actually enjoyed the start of the game the most, weirdly enough, despite the lack of FMV's. Things made sense and I got a bit invested in the lore. But after getting to the dream world and making it to the part where you put up paintings to watch FMV clips, it stopped being fun. It works like this: You put up paintings from one of the six(?) main characters on the wall. There's a lot of places where…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is very faint recommendation for fans of adventure games and detectives, but I don't want to soil this game with another negative review. If you are fan of detectives and fragmental horror stories - then this game is for you. Otherwise you would find yourself bored by repetetive nature and/or distracted by quite primitive graphics. Positives: like always, D'Avekki Studios got great FMV part with interesting and believable actors and overall, concept of "roguelike detective" is somewhat…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After almost three years, the highly popular Indy game developer duo of Tim and Lynn Cowles at last brings us their newest and most ambitious game to date. The much anticipated "Murderous Muses". Mixing the more conventional puzzle-based walking simulator model with the FMV Interactive Drama format which has made the Cowles (and indeed publisher Wales Interactive) a household name among Indy gamers, "Murderous Muses" takes the looping Lovecraftian murder-mystery format of previous titles and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Full review [url=https://www.backloggd.com/u/ohitspep/review/1452996/]HERE A little confusing from the outset, but once you get to grips with the game's various mechanics it becomes very fun, with the game's randomised nature providing a fair amount of replayability. Interesting gameplay with well-written and excellently-acted FMV sections. Aislinn De'ath is an absolute star and it's no surprise this studio keeps working with her.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I guess I'm stupid or something because I couldn't figure out what I'm supposed to do. This whole game has been a frustrating experience of me just roaming around clicking on things hoping something would happen. I like the developer's other games, but this one just went over my head. Ugh.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would call this a very unique version of the board game Clue. Gather means, motive, and opportunity to determine who the murderer is. The murderer changes each time you play. As you play, you learn more about the island of Mirlhaven and its inhabitants, slowly piecing together a picture of the rich lore of this world.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alright, let's get into this. SPOILERS, WARNING! Summary- You play a nighttime security guard in the Argenta Art Gallery, displaying an exhibition of popular artist - Mordechai Grey - a year after his unsolved murder. With the help of the six portraits painted of the suspects, you witness the memories of Mordechai himself in their conversations and unlock police interviews - making it your job to discover the murderer of poor, unfortunate Grey. But, he may not be quite as 'poor and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great fun! I don't usually play games when they've just been released, but my friend and I couldn't wait for this one after enjoying other games related to this - getting to know and love the actors (especially Rupert Booth) who all did a great job. We didn't really know what we were doing at first; there is a bit of a learning curve that could probably be improved with a few more instructions, but once we got the hang of it, we were all in. The story threads you can unveil are fascinating…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I will update this review once I have completed the game. I noticed yesterday that this game had a release date of this week, and I hadn't known it was coming out. I LOVE the rest of the games in this series and was very very excited to purchase this new installment. So far, there is a lot that I really like about the game, but one major thing that has impacted my enjoyment. I have pretty sensitive eyes and can get eye strain easily. The issue is this: the camera sensitivity in the game is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're a fan of FMV storytelling, Murderous Muses is a great addition to your game library and runs perfectly on the Steam Deck. It's a wonderfully made and seriously creepy mystery game that you can (and will want to) play over and over and over. The cast is marvelously macabre and the game is simply dripping with lore and hidden plot - which you'll slowly unravel as you play through the game's art gallery-based investigation, using a set of paranormal paintings to discover clues, reveal…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like your cases cold check out our new ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review for Murderous Muses Case Files - a supernatural case files game that's perfect for spooky season! "We have played a number of cold case files of different brands and this was honestly one of the best" murdermysterystore.co.uk/products/mur...
neutral · AI labelView post →Murderous Muses is a “day that ends in y” video game… great to play every day! 🤣
positive · AI labelView post →Enjoyed the other games from the developer, but found this one boring and difficult to understand what to do. The game drops you in after the tutorial without any clear instructions. Would not recommend this title.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you came here straight from The Infectious Madness, this may seem like a little bit of a letdown, as it is a more bare bones game. But I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere, art, and lore. As with Infectious Madness, the acting is also surprisingly good, for this sort of thing, although it isn't as big a part of the gameplay as the previous game. Still, I enjoyed it. But maybe wait for a sale. UPDATE: There's a lot more replayability than I realized. It's gone up in my estimation.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not as fun as prior D'Avekki game, gallery navigation needs much better instructions
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunately, after multiple playthroughs, I must sadly confirm that this game just doesn’t work. It’s not enjoyable, it’s not a good time. I will not hold this against D’Avekki who thoroughly entertained me before now, but this one frustratingly misses the mark.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I refunded it. Firstly, it was unclear to me what to do, secondly.... I don't know. Wales/D'avekki is normally my favorite publisher. It's more like storytelling than a game (not in the "story rich" sense). D'avekki is normally an innovator. This is more like a mash-up of Five nights at Freddy, some puzzle game, and FMV style. I was sad. I waited for this game for some time. Maybe if you enjoy puzzles more than I do, this is the FMV game for you. UPDATE: I tried again. It's just bad.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Murderous Muses is a 90's inspired FMV murder mystery set in an art gallery on the supposedly supernatural island of Mirlhaven and it is my absolute favourite title from the studio. As expected from D'Avekki, the acting and writing behind the story, lore and characters are all stellar. The suitably spooky and surreal full-motion videos do a great job of immersing you into this new world and cast. The fully explorable 3D hub-world of Gallery Argenta signals a slight departure from prior…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🥹 Smolls! THE @aislinnde-ath.bsky.social noticed my post! ❤️ LOVED your acting in the first Dekker, the Shapeshifting Detective and Dark Nights, as well as what we saw in Dr. Dekker 2! Everyone is acting so well but I just love how you portrayed your roles! (Haven't played Murderous Muses yet.)
neutral · AI labelView post →Now that I’ve finished Harold Halibut, for my narrative game needs I’ve picked Tavern Talk back up. Feels like a great October game. It’s debatable which RPG I’m about to start, after I finally finish Berseria. And for spooky, I’ve reinstalled some favorites like Murderous Muses and Oxenfree 2!
positive · AI labelView post →Murderous Muses is top quality FMV from the creators of Contradiction, Dr Dekker, Shapeshifting Detective and Dark Nights with Poe and Munro. If you enjoyed those previous games, then you may most definitely enjoy this one. Its a good game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →tldr; I think this is a great game and you should play it if you like puzzle games and an interesting story that comes together slowly and is rewarding once you have it all pieced together. More time in, More pleasure/understanding out So to the review. lets talk about the 2 major critiques I see about the game, is basically it's confusing and the controls where not spelled out. They are not wrong, but in my opinion they didn't give it enough time to explain it all out (which it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love the cast of characters, the story, and the secrets. If you like mystery or the devs other games, you'll most likely like this if you can enjoy the game play parts. It's not that bad once you get use to it, but the tutorial is confusing and there was a system I didn't know about until I looked at the achievements. The gallery is just to big for the game play they're trying to do, it makes moving around to slow even with the fast travel. I really recommend using the note feature in steams…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Murderous Muses is the first game from this developer I've played. I really do like the idea behind it and the gameplay is interesting to a point. The graphics are good, the acting, etc all pretty well done. Now the huge BUT: while i enjoyed playing the game the first time, and while i was excited for the case to be different each time (different murderer), even after playing 4 rounds i still don't fully understand why each of the characters would want to kill the painter, what the painter's…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll be honest, my first few hours with Murderous Muses were a bit rough. The game throws you into the thick of it with minimal explanation, leaving you to figure out the mechanics and overall objective on your own. The lack of a clear tutorial and the initial steep learning curve were my main initial challenges. I found myself wandering around the gallery feeling lost and unsure of what to do next. Additionally, the reliance on trial-and-error to solve puzzles and progress through the game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh this so interesting and so whisper
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →https://youtu.be/bmg1O08_cPs Well balanced cast of characters fill out the FMV segments quite well, yet the mechanics outside of the videos end up being fall less complete feeling.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →FMV supernatural mystery Murderous Muses becomes a tabletop case files game.
neutral · AI labelView post →It felt as if we'd missed something..or a great deal of somethings going into this, and maybe we had. There wasn't much objective or sense of direction going into the game apart from the obvious, so it felt a bit like we were running around in the dark. Once we were caught on, though, we hadn't stopped playing. That may be a good enough reason to recommend it, because it's been enjoyable enough to carry on (and we're not even done yet). Replayability is necessary to achieve all game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Out of all the games I've played when it comes to this studio, mechanically I like this one the best. Unlike some of these other reviews, I think the 3D sections are the best part of this game. Unlike Shapeshifting decectrive (which was a bit to passive for my tastes) and Dr Dekker 1 (which I found a bit too open-ended), the gameplay of this game provides a logic puzzle that is quite satisfying to solve. Reguarding the FMV cutscenes, I think this is their most intreguing cast of characters to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm writing the character of Father Damien for Murder in Pumpkin Falls (party game) and I *might* have pinched a line from Murderous Muses. Now the egg puns won't stop coming. Un oeuf is un oeuf.
neutral · AI labelView post →The 7th Guest (remake just came out on Steam!) Amanda the Adventurer 1 + 2 (skip 3) Duck Detective Escape from Mystwood Manor Inheritance of Crimson Manor Is This Game Trying to Kill Me? Isle Tide Hotel Killer Frequency Murderous Muses (d'Avekki Games in general) Tangle Tower
neutral · AI labelView post →#BusyGamer #Streaming - 1st 30 mins of @davekki.bsky.social Murderous Muses bit.ly/4rbGKR4 Couldn't really figure this FMV game out, but had some fun trying!
neutral · AI labelView post →After almost an hour in Murderous Muses, I will stop playing the game again. Although the setting and premise won me over right from the start, the major shortcoming is that the game doesn't explain to me what it expects of me. Well, that might be part of the appeal of puzzle games for some, but it doesn't work for me. I have a very limited time budget for playing and every gaming experience must therefore be measured to a certain extent by its efficiency/progress. The game, the puzzles have to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Murderous Muses is a captivating blend of FMV adventure and puzzle-solving, perfect for mystery enthusiasts. With endless replayability and intriguing procedural design, it invites you to unravel the secrets of Mirlhaven's dark gallery. Murderous Muses Full Game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG1uBYWnyRg
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So.. I do recommend this game as the aesthetic of this game with the paintings and the environment and music is very unique. It's also really cool that every time you replay the game everything changes, so it's almost like a new game and a new puzzle to solve each time, including a new murderer. However, the downfalls of this game, is how hard it is to figure out how to play within the first few hours. I've played it twice and I still only have 22% completion. I still haven't figured out many…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Delightfully unsettling like all D'Avekki games. Now with the liminal space of a museum to explore in addition to the eccentric FMV we know and love. Amazing amount of world building in a small package. One character is obsessed with lab-grown celebrity meat. Thanks to the random game generation system, I felt I only got to see a small portion of the story in one playthrough, and didn't have enough evidence to solve the mystery. I promptly looked up the solution and had it spoiled. Don't be…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good mystery with lots of replay value, though much of the deducing takes place in the first run-through as you try to figure out the rules. Quibble: solution requires you to believe suspects are always telling the truth - if the victim was stabbed and the suspect says they hate sharp objects, you eliminate that suspect, Clue-style. Three puzzles you must solve before finishing become repetitious. Ingenious use of paintings for context and atmosphere, and the acting is well above average for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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