Dr Livingstone, I Presume?

About

Dr Livingstone, I Presume? is a single player puzzle game with a mystery theme. It was developed by Vulpesoft and was released on May 20, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

A strange letter from a friend sowed seeds of uncertainty. Now you travel around the rooms of Livingstone's house to find out the truth - what happened here after you left? Use logical thinking, puzzle-solving skills, and perceptiveness to delve into the house and unravel the mystery.

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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65%

Audience ScoreBased on 108 reviews

story22 positive mentions

gameplay5 negative mentions

The game features a strong and touching narrative with quality voice acting and an emotional story, providing a unique storytelling experience.
The graphics and audiovisual atmosphere are beautiful and immersive, with a well-crafted art style and relaxing, fitting soundtrack.
Puzzles present a good variety and some challenging moments, with intuitive and self-contained rooms that don’t require backtracking, and a helpful hint system that guides players without giving full solutions.

Controls are consistently criticized as clunky, finicky, and frustrating, especially the mechanics for opening drawers and turning keys, which significantly hinder gameplay enjoyment.
Many puzzles suffer from poor design including obtuse logic, inconsistent difficulty, and issues with item visibility due to cluttered visuals and lack of highlights, leading to tedious pixel hunting and guesswork.
Technical issues including bugs leading to soft locks, crashes, poor optimization, and problematic graphical settings (e.g., motion blur, unreadable textures) reduce game stability and accessibility.

story
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
53%
6%
The story is generally praised for its emotional depth, immersive atmosphere, and compelling portrayal of the friendship between Stanley and Livingstone, enhanced by strong narration and integration with puzzles. However, some find it lean, occasionally slow, and lacking in complexity or clarity, with a tone that may feel mismatched or underdeveloped. Overall, it offers a touching, historically inspired narrative that complements the gameplay, though not without some pacing and storytelling flaws.
- “The storytelling was top notch, voice actors were amazing, soundtrack was unexpectedly beautiful.”
- “Story starts like a standard mystery but then extends into something much more emotional and profound.”
- “Even though it's an escape room-like with some foreboding, it's just as much a touching story of friendship and reminiscing about the good old days, with Stanley constantly commenting on various items and documents scattered around the house.”
- “The story is also very boring and I could not care for either character, especially when I had to complete the game twice after missing a single item on my first playthrough.”
- “The narrator is very slow and the story doesn't have enough explanation to be understandable (and I read Henry Stanley's book!). The gestures for moving things are very difficult to accomplish, at least for me.”
- “The camera movement feels nauseating, the story feels almost pointless.”
graphics
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
41%
7%
The game's graphics are praised for their unique, atmospheric, and carefully crafted African-inspired low-poly art style that enhances the storytelling and mood. However, some users find the visuals overly monochromatic and cluttered, making objects hard to distinguish and puzzles more difficult, especially at lower graphic settings. Overall, the graphics contribute significantly to the game's immersive experience despite occasional functional drawbacks.
- “The graphics are very atmospheric - I have not seen any other production in a similar style, so it stands out from other games of this type.”
- “Lovely soundtrack, great graphical style, and solid voice acting make this a great experience to get lost in for a few hours.”
- “Pros: challenging puzzles, multi-step, some clever things thrown once in a while to throw you off the trail towards success, charming graphics and art style.”
- “The graphics aren't great as everything is often one colour which makes it hard to distinguish different elements.”
- “The graphic is ugly and the low poly & minimal use of colours made the game way harder to find an object that it should be.”
- “Sometimes because of this cluttered aesthetic though it was difficult to locate objects that just 'blended into the background'.”
music
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
33%
19%
The music in the game is generally praised for being beautiful, relaxing, and immersive, often incorporating African-inspired elements that enhance the atmosphere and storytelling. Voice acting is also highly acclaimed, contributing to the overall presentation. However, some find the soundtrack repetitive or forgettable, and a few note issues with certain music-based puzzles and occasional sound inconsistencies.
- “The storytelling was top notch, voice actors were amazing, soundtrack was unexpectedly beautiful.”
- “The music itself is well-done, and helps set the mood of the story (whether it's a jovial curiosity or a melancholic resignation) without being grating when stuck on a puzzle.”
- “[i] is an excellent escape room game, with an exquisite presentation: beautiful environments, high quality voice-overs for all of Stanley’s lines (one of the best voice-overs I’ve encountered in a game, I must say), immersive and chill African-styled soundtrack and puzzles of increasing complexity.”
- “Pretty boring, background drumming music is also questionable.”
- “Music is boring and forgettable.”
- “The music doesn't really fit the theme I'm seeing in the game.”
gameplay
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
66%
21%
The gameplay is frequently criticized for clunky and frustrating control mechanics, especially in key turning and interaction handling, which often hinder puzzle-solving. While the game features challenging puzzles and immersive elements, these are undermined by awkward, unnatural controls and occasional technical issues, making the overall experience tedious and sometimes annoying.
- “Nice first-person adventure, mostly find and use puzzles with a few mechanical ones, but it was quite a short game.”
- “Some of the puzzles can be quite challenging, also because the game mechanics can be clunky at times.”
- “If you're usually willing to have a little bit of friction in your gameplay, I don't think this will bother you at all.”
- “The key turning mechanics are horrible; you have to click and drag it in just the right way, and there are a lot of these throughout the game.”
- “Turning a key is half the game, and this mechanic is completely broken.”
- “There were a couple of times where I thought I hadn't properly solved the puzzle, but it was just the mechanics getting in my way.”
atmosphere
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
87%
13%
The game is widely praised for its unique and immersive atmosphere, combining distinctive graphics, fitting music, and well-crafted details that enhance the escape room experience. Its dark, sometimes creepy tone adds depth, while the overall aesthetic sets it apart from similar titles, making it enjoyable and engaging for players.
- “The graphics are very atmospheric - I have not seen any other production in a similar style, so it stands out from other games of this type.”
- “The music was lovely and unobtrusive, the atmosphere in each room perfect for the room's use.”
- “Huge respect to the game creators for taking care of all the details, which build a great atmosphere.”
emotional
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a heartfelt and emotional story centered on friendship, evoking strong feelings and even tears in players. However, some feel the serious topics are handled too briefly or superficially, which can diminish the intended emotional impact. Overall, its touching narrative and meaningful conclusion resonate well with many players.
- “It tells a heartfelt tale about the friendship between two men.”
- “The story was sweet and touching and the end was perfect.”
- “Story starts like a standard mystery but then extends into something much more emotional and profound.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is widely described as tedious and frustrating, with cumbersome controls and puzzles that often require excessive trial and error. This repeated effort can drain player patience, especially when precise input or adjustments are needed despite having solved the puzzle logically.
- “But as it stands, it's an experience that's pretty tedious at best and completely sanity-draining at worst.”
- “Some of the puzzles were so ridiculous that, even after you knew the answer, you would have to spend 'ages' with the tedious nonsense of trying to input it exactly. An example would be a puzzle where you had already found a key but then had to spend a large amount of frustrating time trying to "adjust" the key in order to make it fit a lock.”
- “The gameplay was mostly tedious.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game suffers from notable optimization issues, including stuttering, choppy performance during screen transitions, and inconsistent texture filtering. These problems persist even on lower settings, leading to a less smooth experience despite modest graphics demands.
- “Performance is a significant issue, with finicky movement and a lack of optimization typical of games developed with the Unreal Engine.”
- “Despite playing on lower settings, I experienced stuttering.”
- “Also, it's oddly unoptimized, causing the game to chug as I change screens from game to journal and back.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is problematic, particularly evident in the buggy clinic level, which frustrated players and disrupted their experience.
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game can be completed in a single session and offers little to no replay value, limiting its long-term engagement.
- “It can be finished in one sitting and there’s no replay value.”

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4h Median play time

4h Average play time

4-4h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Dr Livingstone, I Presume? is a puzzle game with mystery theme.

Dr Livingstone, I Presume? is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 4 hours playing Dr Livingstone, I Presume?.

Dr Livingstone, I Presume? was released on May 20, 2021.

Dr Livingstone, I Presume? was developed by Vulpesoft.

Dr Livingstone, I Presume? has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

Dr Livingstone, I Presume? is a single player game.

Similar games include Quern: Undying Thoughts, The Inheritance of Crimson Manor, The House of Da Vinci, The Initiate, The Escaper and others.

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