Bohemian Killing

Bohemian Killing isn’t the prettiest game in the world, but it’s certainly a fascinating experience. It delivers on both its concept as a good ol’ fashioned whodunnit, as well as its unconventional approach to storytelling.

61%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

stability, grinding

62% User Score Based on 276 reviews

Critic Score 61%Based on 6 reviews

Platforms

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About

Bohemian Killing is a single player simulation game with drama, mystery and thriller themes. It was developed by Libredia and was released on July 20, 2016. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

"Bohemian Killing" is a narrative-driven courtroom drama game set in steampunk Paris of the late 19th century. Accused of murder, you must utilize nearly endless possibilities to prove your innocence, through lying, finding evidence, or even acting insane. Developed by a real-life lawyer, this game provides an immersive and open-ended legal experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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62%

Audience ScoreBased on 276 reviews

story48 positive mentions

stability26 negative mentions

The game features a unique concept where players must lie to the court to avoid a guilty verdict, providing an interesting twist on traditional courtroom dramas.
The voice acting and music are well done, enhancing the overall atmosphere of the game.
There are multiple endings, encouraging replayability and exploration of different narrative paths.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and technical issues, including crashes and graphical glitches, which detract from the experience.
Gameplay can feel tedious and repetitive, with limited freedom in actions and a lack of meaningful choices that impact the story.
The controls are clunky and the game often requires players to perform unnecessary actions to advance time, leading to frustration.

story
150 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
64%
4%
The game's story is a unique blend of courtroom drama and interactive narrative, where players must navigate the consequences of a crime they have already committed. While some players found the repetitive nature of the storyline dull after multiple playthroughs, others appreciated the depth and freedom to craft different narratives based on evidence and choices. Overall, the story is engaging and well-executed, with multiple endings that encourage exploration and replayability, despite some criticisms regarding pacing and the need for more dialogue options.
- “Bohemian Killing has great storytelling and is one of the best detective games I've ever played.”
- “If you want an awesome detective game with a great story, then you really need to play Bohemian Killing.”
- “Having to piece a story while adhering to the evidence collected by the authorities is a very nice twist on the usual take on the game of deduction.”
- “Ultimately, I found the game’s story (and all its different iterations) rather uninteresting and dull, especially after the first few times through.”
- “Logic but boring to play several times the same story expecting to get all the right evidence for another ending.”
- “It's like following one storyline without options over and over and over again!”
gameplay
110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
62%
9%
The gameplay of "Bohemian Killing" is a mixed bag, featuring an intriguing concept where players defend themselves in a trial by manipulating their testimony, but it suffers from numerous technical issues, including glitches and long loading times. While some players appreciate the unique mechanics and multiple endings, many criticize the lack of guidance and the frustrating time advancement system, leading to a generally uneven experience. Overall, the game offers a compelling narrative but requires significant polishing to enhance the gameplay experience.
- “The gameplay is fun and refreshing for my part.”
- “Overall the gameplay of Bohemian Killing is very interesting; there are many different paths to take and several endings for those paths.”
- “This is one of the better examples of walking simulator and mystery games that I have played, with a very compelling gameplay mechanic where almost every move you do changes the final outcome.”
- “Many of the mechanics are janky, and I had a hard time figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing when I first played it.”
- “The mechanics aren't difficult, but the amount of glitches made it frustrating and impossible for me to complete the path I was on.”
- “I've literally just tried this game a couple of minutes ago and was struck by six loading screens in 10 minutes, of which less than 3 were actually gameplay.”
graphics
98 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
63%
10%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the atmospheric lighting and art style, while others criticize the overall quality as subpar, especially for a 2016 title. Common issues include distracting graphical glitches, such as a visible mouse cursor and character models that lack detail, which detract from the experience. Overall, while the game has its visual merits, many players feel it falls short of expectations, particularly in terms of animations and resolution support.
- “The soundtracks, conversations, and graphics were all so good.”
- “+ beautiful graphics.”
- “I love the art style, it's very pleasing to the eye.”
- “However, your character does not appear in reflections (even in mirrors), and there is no way to turn off the crosshair/dot. The inactive mouse cursor shows up in the graphics of the game distractingly as a small but bright visual glitch that floats around the screen depending on where you look.”
- “The graphics are subpar, and the opening murder scene has some atrocious character models.”
- “Even after finding a way to turn off the omnipresent filter that makes the whole game look washed out, the graphics are still low grade.”
music
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
73%
21%
6%
The music in the game is widely praised for its strong themes and orchestral quality, enhancing the overall experience, particularly in critical moments. While some users noted the soundtrack is limited to a single piece that repeats, many found it well-adapted and not overly repetitive. Overall, the music complements the game's atmosphere effectively, despite some concerns about voice acting being less impressive.
- “Fantastic music with a strong musical theme.”
- “A good game with an interesting concept and beautiful music.”
- “However, the orchestral soundtrack is very pleasant to listen to, and it amplifies the tension of what is happening during critical moments.”
- “There is only one piece of music that repeats the whole time.”
- “The music repeats.”
- “I'm in my 50's, and I had to turn off the music to be able to hear the actor.”
replayability
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
73%
9%
The game offers decent replayability primarily due to its multiple endings, with some players noting up to 9 different outcomes to explore. However, many reviews indicate that the novelty diminishes after the first few playthroughs, as the game revolves around a single case, leading to a sense of repetitiveness. Overall, while there is potential for replay value, it may not sustain long-term interest for all players.
- “There are multiple endings, which makes for nice replayability, and the author helpfully provided a guide to help players get to some of the more obscure ones.”
- “Also with 9 different endings, the game offers a decent amount of replayability for its price point.”
- “There are a total of 8 endings to unlock, giving the game a lot of replayability in future playthroughs.”
- “Once you unlock most evidence though, the replay value diminishes.”
- “The problem is that it's only one case which you can play multiple times to get different endings, but the novelty of this one case dies as soon as you get your first ending, so pretty much replay value dies as soon as you finish it.”
- “Only problem is there's very little replayability and beyond the first one or two playthroughs it just becomes a railroaded fetch quest.”
stability
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous players reporting significant bugs, glitches, and crashes that hinder gameplay and immersion. Many users found the experience frustrating, leading some to abandon the game entirely due to its technical issues. While a few players noted minor bugs that were manageable, the overall consensus is that the game is plagued by stability problems that detract from its potential.
- “However, it's so buggy that I eventually gave up without completing the game.”
- “The mechanics aren't difficult, but the amount of glitches made it frustrating and impossible for me to complete the path I was on.”
- “It just has one problem: I can never finish it, because it freezes and crashes all the game sessions... I hope it will get fixed.”
atmosphere
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
20%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its impressive graphics and lighting, creating an opulent and immersive environment, particularly noted for its Parisian setting and period authenticity. However, some players found the atmosphere less engaging upon repeated playthroughs, leading to a mixed reception overall. The intriguing narrative perspective adds to the atmospheric experience, appealing especially to fans of mystery genres.
- “As a big fan of mystery novels and movies, this game perfectly captures the atmosphere and look of the time and the situation.”
- “Intriguing choice of perspective for the narrative and a very atmospheric setting.”
- “The graphics and lighting are generally very good and atmospheric, enhancing the overall experience.”
- “Atmosphere 2/10”
- “Atmosphere 2/10”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, as the short gameplay length is artificially extended by the need to repetitively attempt various combinations to achieve different endings or achievements. This trial-and-error approach is criticized for lacking immersion and logical progression, often leading to a sense of wasted time rather than rewarding exploration or puzzle-solving. Overall, while the concept is intriguing, the execution results in a buggy and monotonous experience.
- “What was supposed to be a 'trial and error' approach, as a tedious substitution for a proper tutorial, turns out to be a massive waste of time for the player, forced to re-live situations in the mere hope that some correct random interaction with world objects will trigger some positive chain of events and therefore a positive outcome.”
- “Not to mention the tediousness of trying again and again until you find - more by chance or exhaustion of possibilities rather than thanks to logic - one of those combinations.”
- “Interesting concept, but tedious and buggy gameplay.”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The optimization of the game is polarizing, with some users reporting awful performance issues, while others find it runs smoothly even on older hardware. Overall, the feedback suggests a lack of consistency in optimization quality.
- “Well optimized”
- “Runs smoothly on my old laptop.”
- “Awful optimization.”
- “Awful optimization.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is initially amusing, particularly when engaging in silly antics, but this enjoyment diminishes quickly due to a lack of flexibility and variety. Players express frustration that the game fails to maintain its comedic potential, which detracts from the overall fun of experimenting with different actions for humorous outcomes.
- “It's just the frequency of it that's a bit off (to a point that it gets hilarious).”
- “This lack of flexibility gets very frustrating as the game misses what should have been its core objective: to allow the player to have fun screwing around as they try different things out to see what the (hopefully humorous) results will be.”
- “The game can be a little funny while doing silly things the first few times through, but this humor wears off quickly.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization model is criticized for promoting a sense of freedom and variety in gameplay, while in reality, it restricts players to a limited set of actions, leading to a feeling of confinement.
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report that the lighting in the game evokes a strong negative emotional response, with some feeling physically unwell as a result.

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61%Critics’ scoreBased on 6 critic reviews

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5h Median play time

5h Average play time

5-5h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Bohemian Killing is a simulation game with drama, mystery and thriller themes.

Bohemian Killing is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac OS and Windows.

On average players spend around 5 hours playing Bohemian Killing.

Bohemian Killing was released on July 20, 2016.

Bohemian Killing was developed by Libredia.

Bohemian Killing has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its stability.

Bohemian Killing is a single player game.

Similar games include Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders, Home, Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring, Uncanny Valley, Blacksad: Under the Skin and others.

Bohemian Killing

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