Welcome to The Mystery Cartridge!
If you've found your way here, chances are you love a good story. And a good game. And possibly someone to enjoy it with, whether or not it's a multiplayer game.
Maybe it's a murder mystery where every clue matters. Maybe it's a psychological thriller that leaves you questioning everything. Maybe it's a cozy little game that helps you decompress after spending fifteen hours wandering through haunted hotels and abandoned villages.
Whatever brought you here, welcome.
We're glad you found us.
So... who are we?
We're Bradley and Amanda.
We're not professional streamers. We're not esports competitors. We don't race to be the first people on the internet to publish a review.
We're simply two people who love story-driven games and, over time, realized that some of our favorite evenings were spent sitting on the couch trying to solve a mystery together, or just come up with THE BEST NAME for the newest horse we captured in a recent Zelda game. (It was a big horse, so we named him Beef.)
Sometimes one of us is holding the controller.
Sometimes we're both trying to figure out what that cryptic note meant.
Sometimes we're arguing over whether a character can actually be trusted.
Sometimes one of us is driving down the mountain at 2am because the Internet is off at the house and we need a clue as to what to do next and we just have to finish this game before the sun comes up.
And occasionally...
Amanda is asking why there are so many mannequins in this game.
Seriously. It's become a thing.
Why We Started The Mystery Cartridge
Like many people, we read game reviews before deciding what to play. (Or we look at a trailer on the eShop and say, "That looks like fun!" and click through five pages of EULA and a few hours downloading the game.)
The problem was that most reviews answered questions we weren't asking.
Is the combat good?
Does it run at 60 frames per second?
Is the crafting system deep enough?
How many hours long is it?
Those are perfectly valid questions.
They're just not our questions.
We wanted to know things like:
Does the mystery actually keep you guessing?
Will this game make us talk about theories for hours?
Is it fun if one person watches while the other plays?
Is this emotionally exhausting?
Should we immediately follow it with something cozy?
Does it contain... mannequins?
Those were the questions we couldn't find answers to.
So we decided to answer them ourselves.
What You'll Find Here
The Mystery Cartridge is dedicated to games built around stories.
Sometimes they're murder mysteries.
Sometimes they're detective adventures.
Sometimes they're psychological thrillers.
Sometimes they're emotional journeys.
Sometimes they're cozy little games that feel like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket after spending several nights investigating haunted hotels. These are what we call palette cleansers.
If a game leaves us thinking about it long after we've finished it, there's a good chance you'll eventually find it here.
We Don't Review Every Game
There are already fantastic websites covering every major release.
That's not what we're trying to do.
Instead, we're building a home for games that make us curious.
Games that ask questions.
Games that reward paying attention.
Games where exploring a forgotten house is just as exciting as defeating a boss.
Games that make you say:
"Wait... did you notice that?"
Our Perspective
One thing that makes our reviews different is that we often experience games together.
Some games practically beg for it.
One person explores.
The other notices details.
Both people build theories.
By the time the credits roll, we've usually spent just as much time discussing the game as actually playing it.
That's a perspective we don't see represented very often.
A game can be wonderful as a shared experience even if only one person is holding the controller.
We'll tell you when that's the case.
We'll also tell you when a game is better experienced alone.
Our Review Philosophy
We're not interested in assigning arbitrary numbers because everyone else does.
Instead, we want our reviews to answer practical questions.
Is the mystery satisfying?
How memorable are the characters?
Does the atmosphere pull you in?
Would we recommend playing it together?
Is it worth buying now, or should you wait for a sale?
Every review also includes our Comfort Check, covering things that some players prefer to know in advance.
Things like:
Jump scares
Gore
Heavy emotional themes
Isolation
Creepy dolls
Spiders
And yes...
Mannequins.
Amanda's Mannequin Warning™
This deserves an explanation.
While playing Hogwarts Legacy too late one night, we decided one more quest and then bed. The quest we picked was "Minding Your Own Business" - a quest about opening a shop in Hogsmeade? Yes! That sounds short and easy...
It was not short, nor was it easy.
Turns out a poltergeist haunts the shop (which is why they wanted to sell), and in the ensuing couple of hours, the game throws all manner of insanity at you, one of which is an area full of mannequins just standing still... until you move to where you can't see them, then look back, they moved! It's like the ghosts in various Super Mario games. But there are so many!
I knew Amanda didn't like spiders, but mannequins? That was new (see, you can learn about each other when you play games).
Months, maybe a year or so later, we played The Suicide of Rachel Foster and we had played a large portion of the game and found it to be mannequin free, but, right toward the end, right when it was too late to say, "Nope!" and stop playing, there was a room of mannequins, fortunately they didn't move.
It's since become a joke. "Okay, I'll play this game with you, but does it have mannequins?"
So, now every review includes an honest warning if a game decides to populate its world with unnervingly human-shaped figures that absolutely, positively should have stayed in the department store after closing time. Did anyone else see the weird 1980s children's show, Today's Special, which featured a mannequin with a magic hat that made him real? Yeah, that show was weird.
Some readers will laugh.
Others will quietly appreciate the warning.
Both reactions are perfectly acceptable.
Palette Cleansers
One thing we've discovered is that not every great game should immediately be followed by another emotionally devastating masterpiece.
Sometimes you need to recover.
After spending twenty hours solving murders, uncovering conspiracies, or surviving psychological horror, it's nice to spend a weekend delivering mail, hiking through beautiful scenery, unpacking boxes, or helping friendly strangers.
That's why you'll also find reviews of what we've affectionately started calling Palette Cleansers.
These are the games that remind you not every story has to keep you awake at two in the morning wondering if you missed an important clue.
Spoilers
Back in 1997, Bradley was reading a supposedly spoiler-free walkthrough for Final Fantasy VII in EGM^2 and came across the ultimate spoiler for that game. It was two words and ruined one of the main points people talk about. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but if you've played it, you know what we mean.
So yes, we take spoilers seriously.
Our reviews are designed to help you decide whether a game is worth your time, not to rob you of the experience.
Unless clearly marked otherwise, our reviews will remain spoiler-free.
Because discovering the truth yourself is half the fun.
What Comes Next
Right now, we're just getting started.
Our library already includes games we've played together over the past few years, with plenty more waiting in the backlog. Primarily we will play and review games on the Nintendo Switch, as that is what we have, but many of these games can be found on most consoles.
Some of the titles you'll see reviewed include:
Life is Strange
The Suicide of Rachel Foster
Murder on the Orient Express
Hogwarts Legacy
Lake
A Short Hike
Heart of the Woods
Unpacking
As we grow, we hope to expand onto additional platforms, discover hidden indie gems, and work with developers and publishers who create the kinds of games we love talking about.
If you're a developer or publisher creating story-driven, mystery, horror, detective, or cozy games, we'd love to hear from you.
Join the Investigation
Whether you've come here looking for your next mystery, trying to decide if a game is worth buying, or just wondering whether Amanda survived another encounter with a room full of mannequins...
...we're happy you're here.
Pull up a chair.
Grab a cup of coffee.
Pick up a controller.
There's another mystery waiting to be solved.
Welcome to The Mystery Cartridge.
The investigation starts now.
— Bradley & Amanda
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