The city of dreams has been painted red in Confidential Killings, a new release from Surefire.Games. Told through a stunning film noir comic strip, one investigator is about to discover that some people will stop at nothing to get what they want. Whoever is orchestrating this is always one step ahead, leaving you in a race against time.
- The Escapist recaps
- Stylishly sophisticated
- A web of intrigue easily tangled
- Experienced detectives need only apply
- Ask The Escapist
Confidential Killings takes you behind the glitzy facade to the grimy underbelly of the city, with you needing to collect clues, question witnesses, and deduce whose hands are bloody. As seductive as a femme fatale, this Steam title will suck you in and refuse to let you go until everyone has their answers.
The Escapist recaps
- Confidential Killings’ release date is January 12.
- Developed by BRANE and Lorenzo Boni, and published by Surefire. Games, Confidential Killings is a puzzle game.
- Although this point-and-click adventure is a 2D experience, collating and piecing together clues is similar to The Last Case of John Morley’s gameplay.
- Oozing with high-contrast style authentic to the genre it’s paying homage to, Confidential Killings is a captivating game.
- Although polished, the game is a slow-burn; its pacing is more akin to a visual novel, meaning those who prefer a sense of threat and urgency will find its gameplay lacking.
Stylishly sophisticated
Even if puzzle games aren’t typically your thing, many will undoubtedly show interest in Confidential Killings because of its stunning aesthetic. It masterfully captures the low-key lighting of classic film noirs, but with an 80s neon vibrancy; the result is an opulent treat for the eyes.
Although this is a point-and-click mystery, and thus a lot of its gameplay is static, subtle movement in the visuals further brings each scene to life; the body floating in the swimming pool, the mirrorball twinkling, all of these details create a deeper sense of immersion. And in a game where there’s no voice acting, these features become all the more noticeable and thus more powerful.
Although they’re worlds apart in terms of narrative and tone, Confidential Killings has a similar aesthetic mastery to that of Scarlet Hollow and Slay the Princess. Thankfully, there’s plenty of substance under the style, too.
A web of intrigue easily tangled
Initially, the scope of your investigation is small, but soon the number of key players ramps up, and so too does the volume of information you need to work through. This is both a blessing and a curse in Confidential Killings.
What first seemed to be a couple of unconnected murders soon becomes an interconnected gossamer of betrayal, ego, and self-gain. But, like with any web, it can become tangled if you’re not careful. This is why making use of the notes section of your journal is important; however, this gameplay feature, while useful, is also a sticking point of Confidential Killings.
Having space to make copious notes is necessary in a point-and-click adventure like this, but having to make them manually can feel tedious once you have 60+ items to sift through. Furthermore, if you’re playing on the Steam Deck rather than with a keyboard and mouse, typing notes is less convenient. Playing on PC, then, is the way to get to the bottom of the mystery.
As such, Confidential Killings would be greatly improved by a hint system. Granted, if your reconstruction is wrong, the game tells you the story makes no sense, but that’s the only hint it’ll give until you’re only a couple of clues away from getting it correct. That will prove too hands-off for some players, with the note-taking and reconstruction’s lack of symbiosis causing a disconnect between player and game.
Experienced detectives need only apply
While Confidential Killings’ gameplay is relatively simplistic, this isn’t a catch-all puzzle game; due to its stripped-back features, experienced detectives are preferred for this curious caper. The developers have created an unusual predicament for would-be players: on the surface, its gameplay is accessible to many, yet without those crucial quality-of-life extras, the narrative can become muddled.
Even more so due to some minor localization issues that create stilted language that can unintentionally mislead, or, at the very least, confuse you. When a sentence is awkwardly structured, it can make placing the right clues in the right spot unnecessarily difficult.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t give crime-solving a go – on the contrary, Confidential Killings is an indie title anyone remotely curious about it should check out. Stunning, detailed, and passionately made, it has many redeeming qualities. Still, test-driving the game via its demo before committing to the full game is advised. Peeking behind the curtains of Hollywood is tantalizing, but if you don’t keep your wits about you, it’ll end in disaster. And in a murder mystery, that can prove lethal.
Ask The Escapist
Although this game isn’t hard to complete, some players many finer elements of its gameplay challenging, especially if they don’t take notes.
Confidential Killings is a PC game available on Steam only, at least for the time being. Although a demo was released on itch.io, the full version is a Steam exclusive.
The Escapist reviewed Confidential Killings’ Steam release via the Steam Deck and can confirm it runs well. However, as this is a point-and-click designed for mouse and keyboard, the controller layout automatically selected doesn’t feel intuitive.
If the life of a tenacious detective still calls to you once the final case is solved, experiences like The Duck Detective are worth playing. Although those adventures are better described as cozy games than murder mysteries, they’ll still challenge your powers of deduction.
Last Updated On: Jan 12, 2026 7:00 pm CET