Cruise for a Corpse - WON! And Final Rating

Written by Joe Pranevich

One of you is guilty! But which one?

Last week, our Cruise for a Corpse had just about come to an end. Despite our best efforts, Suzanne and Hector had both been killed, although we discovered that the ship was smuggling explosives, that a mafia hitman was sent to kill Niklos, and that the captain secretly wants to be a railroad engineer. But how do all of these things connect? Who killed Niklos? And is he really dead? We’re about to find out! Raoul has gathered together all the remaining suspects and he’s about to reveal who the killer is.

After the killer is revealed, we’ll jump straight into the Final Rating. No need to wait another week when we only have around 20 minutes of play time left. So, let’s get right to it!

Cruise for a Corpse - Class Warfare

Written by Joe Pranevich

Attempted murder!

Welcome back! Last week, our murder investigation took a sharp turn as Raoul had to save Suzanne from drowning. Someone had damaged the deck where she liked to stand, causing it to collapse and send her tumbling into the sea. We have a number of good leads on who would want to kill Niklos (in short: just about everyone), but why target Suzanne? She wasn’t in line for the inheritance so what would be gained by her death?

This post will wrap up the rest of Cruise for a Corpse, excepting a final reveal of the killer in the next post. Who do you think did it? I’d love to hear your theories in the comments (no spoilers if you have played through already). This final section returns to traditional “adventure game” territory so if you found yourself drifting through some of the long sections of dialog and clue-searching, this is a good spot to jump back on. Just as I did last week, I’ll summarize the clues and the suspects at the end of this post to help you make an informed decision.

Ready to go? Let’s play!

Cruise for a Corpse - Death by Carpentry

Written by Joe Pranevich

Not dead, just drunk.

Last week, Raoul and I made some headway into our murder investigation by confirming that Niklos’s wife was cheating on him with his solicitor. We also know that Tom is desperately in debt, yet still buying jewelry far beyond his means to support that affair. As far as I’m concerned, this makes Tom and Rebecca as our prime suspects. And yet, there is still a lot more story to unravel. We also know that Father Fabiani has a gambling problem and may have extorted from his church, Suzanne is an alcoholic, Hector may be a former criminal, and Dick is a mysterious stranger that no one knows very well. Will the real murderer please stand up?

This week’s post covers the remainder of the “9 hours with no puzzles” that I mentioned last time and it has-- gasp!-- an actual puzzle so keep your eyes peeled. The game is pretty scatter-shot at this point in terms of the random things that Raoul is discovering, so apologies in advance that this post is all over the place. In the interests of full disclosure, I’ve beaten the game now and will try to wrap up the story next week. That means that you can be less careful with spoilers, but PLEASE do not spoil the ending. We’ll do something special with the final rating this time: I’m going to stop just short of the big reveal next week to give everyone a chance to chime in and pitch who you think did it. No cheating! It should be a lot of fun.

Since we’re now juggling nearly a dozen characters and you aren’t spending as many hours with them as I am, I’m also going to end the post with a quick summation of each of the suspects and why they might want to kill Niklos. If you want to avoid the play-by-play, feel free to jump to the end. Now, on with the game!

Cruise for a Corpse - Gambling Debts and Hidden Affairs

Written by Joe Pranevich

A very expensive clue!

Last week, Raoul and I dug deeper into the death of Niklos Karaboudjan, the wealthy patron who invited us on to his cruise only to die before we even met him. We found some interesting leads: that Suzanne and Niklos had a difficult relationship, that Tom made a shockingly expensive purchase even though he is having financial difficulties, and that Father Fabiani has a gambling problem. I do not know know how all of these clues will connect, but I can say one thing with confidence: the butler did it.

As the game settles into something of a routine, I am going to divide this post into two parts: first, I will discuss the routine and the way the game plays then document my play as usual. The game is extremely linear and new leads are revealed slowly through dozens of conversations, but the plot is pretty interesting and I’ve found it fun to try to keep track of all of the relationship and disputes that surround Niklos and his extended family. Some of the rest… is less fun.

Cruise for a Corpse - Looking for Clues (In All the Wrong Places)

Written by Joe Pranevich

Pardon me, sir. Why are you sitting on my bed?

Last week, Raoul and I tried to find our sea legs as we finished exploring the ship-- or at least as much of it as we could access. We spoke to a few of the possible suspects, but most of the passengers were missing or unwilling to talk to me. You would think that more people would be willing to talk to me, or at least seem somewhat concerned that there was a murderer in their midst. At any rate, the time was now 8:50 AM and it’s time to see what else is new onboard the ship and whether I could get into any previously locked areas.

The first change that I find is that there is now a mechanic in the engine room, but like all the other crewmembers on the ship, he doesn’t seem to have anything to say. Working my way from room to room, I discover that Julio is hanging out in our room now… but sitting on MY bed. How rude! I talk to him again and new dialog options about Suzanne have opened up; he tells me that she recently spent five months in the hospital and came out looking ten years older. I wonder what happened? I race back to Suzanne, but she doesn’t want to talk about her illness to me. Very suspicious.

Cruise for a Corpse - A Three Hour Tour

Written by Joe Pranevich

Jinkies! How will we solve this mystery?

Welcome back! In the opening moments of the game, we saw a Paris police inspector (that’s us!) unexpectedly invited onto a pleasure cruise by a wealthy businessman, Niklos Karaboudjan. The cruise had only just gotten underway when Hector, the businessman’s butler, rushes out of the owner’s cabin to grab us. Niklos has been murdered! I immediately suspect the butler (of course!), but when he takes us to see the corpse, we are both knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant. A few hours later, we wake up to discover that the body is gone! Hector runs off to inform the family of the tragedy, leaving Raoul (and us) free to investigate the crime. Let’s begin!

Right off the bat, I’m not sure how to report on this game. Mystery games aren’t always linear and viewing the same scene eight times from different angles might not make for entertaining reading. Since I know nothing about this game, I’m just going to write it as I go and if we need to adjust the format down the road then so be it.

Game 69: Cruise for a Corpse - Introduction (1991)

Written by Joe Pranevich

The butler did it!

Ahoy, adventure gamers! We have reached the third and final adventure game from Delphine Studios, one of the great European game development houses of the 1990s. While most of their games are outside the scope of this blog, the two that we have played, Future Wars (43 points on the PISSED scale) and Operation: Stealth (44 points), have been disappointing. So why am I still excited to play this game? Because in 1991, Delphine Studios also released one of the most cinematic platform games of the era, Another World (also known as Out of this World in the US). That game topped sales charts, won numerous awards, and was one of the first computer games exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was also a favorite of mine as a kid and well worth your time. With Cruise for a Corpse under development at the same time, did any of that genius rub off? Is this a lost classic? It’s time to find out!