Whispers in the West - Co-op Murder Mystery Review

Whispers in the West - Co-op Murder Mystery is, as the name implies, a detective game set in the West where you and up to three friends solve cases in the town of Brimstone; this point-and-click game was developed by Infinite Whys and published by Infinite Whys and Wings.

I have been a big fan of running around solving mysteries ever since I played Sherlock Holmes Chapter One with my wife about two years ago, so I was very excited to get my hands on Whispers in the West. In it, we meet a varied cast of characters throughout a few available areas, ranging from Mines and a Saloon to a Church, and our goal is to collect evidence and statements to confront the suspects with them.

I really appreciated the way the detective gameplay works — it's straightforward and easy to grasp. As you meet people and learn things, your "inventory" gets updated and can be used to further inquire about the folk around town. Some cases even progress through a series of days, with each one unlocking further developments, creating new opportunities to use the knowledge at hand. I very much liked the cast; it felt like they had down-to-earth reactions and feelings about one another, and their biases did sometimes get in my way, which felt very realistic.

The way each round works is simple: you choose from the multiple scenarios available, each being a different case, and then you choose the character you'd like to be. There are four characters total, each with their own perk that can help you solve cases; as an example, the Deputy can unearth more information from clues, and the Sheriff can intimidate people with his badge. The one I liked the most was the former, as I really liked taking evidence back and getting even more information from it! That being said, the cases aren't grave at all; in fact, one of the things I most liked about Whispers in the West was its humorous dialogue and mysteries. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but it does a good job of keeping you invested in who did what.

Thankfully, for those who aren't into playing with others, the game can also be enjoyed in single-player mode. I got to try it both ways after getting my wife a copy of the game so we could try it out, and while it works, I wouldn't say it's better in either mode. It was fun to investigate and share information between the two of us to theorise, but the gameplay itself was unaffected by it for the most part. The only thing I could think is perhaps multiplayer offers the ability to use the different perks to get information in different ways. 

Unfortunately, while I enjoyed what I got to play, it was very disappointing to see that most of the gameplay is locked behind DLC. In total, for buying the game, you get three different scenarios, two of them being tutorials. If you like the gameplay and want more, you have to buy the other cases; unfortunately, the ones in the base game are very short and not randomly generated, so I can only presume the same is true for the premium ones. The upside is that if you play with friends, only one of you needs to own the DLC for everyone to enjoy it, but it still feels like the base game is a prologue or a demo in comparison to the amount of paid content. 

I was surprised, as I had originally assumed that the locked scenarios would be accessible later through advancing through the stories, such as the score gained after you finish each one, but there’s no progression whatsoever. Once you’re done with a case, that’s it; you just move on. 

All in all, I am disappointed with how much there is to do in the game. Whispers in the West - Co-op Murder Mystery has a lot of potential: the dialogue is funny, the gameplay is entertaining, and the co-op is fun, but unless you're willing to fork up money for the DLC, you'll find yourself with a very short gameplay experience. The base game costs £4.29, but the DLC all go for £5.89 each, amounting to £33.74 for all of them. Unfortunately, for me who lives in Colombia, each new case would cost me $18,000 COP, which ends up being a whopping $92,500.