It is a court-themed walking simulator where the main character committed a crime, and now he stands in the court trying to plead his innocence by adding some spice to the real story to gain the judge's trust. You can frame other people or just confess your crime. This game has nine endings and each one is really good and interesting.

Every piece of evidence you collect is important; it either shows that you are lying or not. The outcome of this game depends heavily on your choices.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1232298632

The main character, Alfred Ethan, evoked good emotions as he described every move he made before the crime happened. The voice acting was amazing, and the French accent was really good. The soundtracks, conversations, and graphics were all so good.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1232190147

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229699493

Pros:
+Good soundtracks.
+Beautiful graphics.
+Interesting story
+Well done narrative voice.
+Multiple endings.
+Steam achievements.

Cons:
-Short game

This game is a hidden gem, and I don't understand why people gave it a mixed review. It could be because it required lots of reading and listening to the testimony, but I do recommend this game.

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎'𝑠 𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒

Just to get this out of the way:
Gameplay-wise, this is a "walking simulator" for all intents and purposes.
You walk around and interact with items around you.
There are no direct puzzles and no action going on.

That said,
I love what this game was going for and the idea behind it!

Trying to uncover the mystery while simultanously building a believable alibi
is an interesting twist on things previously attempted in only a handful of other games,
such as Indigo Prophecy.

It's a fantastic concept -

- but the game is also somewhat rough around the edges.

The investigation parts of the game are narrated on the fly, with comments made
about almost every little thing you do.
For the most part this is good, but they did go much too far with it.
It got ridiculous hearing "then, I used the stairs" 3-4 times in a row,
while still going up the same stairwell.
Likewise, saying "then, I opened the door" for every time you do so
is reduntant and it does break the illusion simply with how ridiculous it is.

More importantly, as you are walking around, experimenting with the different interactions
and trying to build your narrative, you're never quite sure what consequences your actions will have
until after you perform them.
This would be fine if not for the fact that this is supposedly a man recounting the past.
A past he clearly remembers (or at least has to make others belive that he remembers), so
having these details obfuscated in such a way feels clumsy.
For example, if I had known that shaving would get my clothes covered in blood, I wouldn't
have shaved at that time. Instead, I didn't find that out until after the fact, and because of this
my alibi got needlessly convoluted as I changed into clean clothes and then had to figure out
an excuse for having bloodied them again at a later time.
The game is clearly intended for multiple playthroughs, and such things would be
more easily avoided when you have been through it a few times and know what to expect,
but I still feel that this should have been handled in a different manner.

Bohemian Killing also shows it's roots as a basic Unity-engine game on the technical side of things.
The control is quite sluggish, and I encountered a few minor bugs such as getting stuck on scenery for a moment
and similar hiccups.

Despite these flaws, however, I find the game as a whole quite interesting and
would love to have had more cases to play.

TL;DR version:

- Not many games handle you control over a murderer who is making a testimony. 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. Huge plus for that.

- Being able to be wrong while piecing a story is refreshing. Too few games let you mess up. I can recall only two or three other games in the same genre that allow you to screw up.

- More than one possible outcome and story combination, so there is quite a bit of freedom when making up your story.

- I like the accents, it does suit the location of the story too.

- Having the Judge appear during more important testimonies, asking you questions directly on the scene, is really neat feature. I mean, it feels unreal (in a positive way) and helps the narrative side of the game. I really liked that.

- Evidence files were very well done. The font, the visuals...

The actual review:

Bohemian Killing is a detective game in reverse.

You are the murderer. You got caught.

In traditional detective games you have to find pieces of the puzzle and fit them together to solve a mystery. In Bohemian Killing you are given all evidence gathered by the police at beginning of the game. With it in hand you have to make your testimony at the court - coming up with a believable explanation of what has happened.

But to make your story believable you must ensure it fits the facts: time, place and action. This is where Bohemian Killing turns into an adventure game. You present your testimony by walking places and performing certain actions. Sometimes the Judge will ask you a few questions, during such moments the game will "frezee" and screen will turn into black and white until the Judge gets his answers and the story resumes.

Bohemian Killing has a very interesting take on what you are doing: you don't create events. You are making UP a story (or, at the very least, the part where you are innocent). You CAN lie (which is usually what murderers do, don't they?) as long as nobody catches you on that. This also means that when playing for the first time you can mess up your testimony entirely, but in a game of deduction I find the possibility to be wrong to be A POSITIVE.

Game has its own internal clock, which tracks WHEN you do something - time is of the essence. Thankfully the in-game timer is fairly leisurely. In fact, it goes forward so slowly on its own that you will most likely find time-sinks quite useful. These are simple objects such as gazette or phone you can interact with. They serve as time-sinks and their purpose is to propel the timer to a desired moment in time. So don't be afraid that you will have to speedrun through the game because "the clock is ticking".

When starting the game gives you an attorney who does two things:

1. He reminds you of important events when they will appear, which helps planning out your next move or moves. It's very important when you start, not as much when you are on another run (it's nice that game features multiple endings and possible combinations in the story, which is a big deal because one full run can be fairly short in terms of playing time).

2. He gives you clues that can help you defend against the charges made by the prosecutor (by the way the prosecutor himself does really good job at introducting you to the game by explaining who you are, what you did and generally what's going on). The clues are a good way of directing you through the game, even if it can be a bit annoying at first that you have to explore the in-game world in order to gather knowledge of things "you" - the main character of the story - should know by now.

A side note on the evidence files themselves - I found them to be done very well. The font, the visuals... Suffice to say I liked going through them. The only flaw was no option to jump through different categories of evidences, which could help new players as some evidence is linked together, which forces you to jump back and forth between them.

I enjoyed the voice acting. The main characters' way of commenting on EVERYTHING he does gets annoying at some point, but it also does reinforce the feeling that you are testifying before the court. It's just the frequency of it that's a bit off (to a point that it gets hilarious). Another plus side of the voice acting is the actual French accent that fits well into where the action takes place (France) - it adds to the atmoshpere.

On the graphical side of things I can say that for the most part it serves its purpose, although the animations leave a lot to be desired (and I mean A LOT). It's fairly visible that everything was done by a very small team (or a single person, if I am not mistaken). The main reason why I am so forgiving about the visual side of the games is their gameplay. So if the graphics is very important to you - be warned.

The Bohemian Killing's biggest strength is how unique it is. It does have some flaws in terms of executing its excellent concept, but ultimately it was fun and interesting experience when I was pushing my brain cells to convince the Judge to my story.

Bohemian Killing is an adventure game by The Moonwalls developers where, as Alfred Ethon, a Parisian of the late 19th century, you are asked to produce a testimony about a killing you have presumably committed. The videogame shifts between the testimony itself, where you control the protagonist and interact with people and items from the murder's evening, and the courtroom, where the judge, the prosecutor and your attorney consider any new evidence brought to the case.

The gameplay can be best described as an hybrid between an adventure game and a walking simulator: you walk around the (small) map and interact with people and items in order to arrange a testimony in your favor. Time is also an important factor in Bohemian Killing: you have a watch to keep tab on it and means to advance it. This is due to the fact that the prosecution know that certain thing happened at a precise hour, so you must reconstruct your movements accordingly.

The main attraction of the game is discovering the multiple ways you can build up your own testimony, and see what verdict you can get for yourself. While getting a death sentence is remarkably easy, you can also try to get declare innocent or frame someone else. Replaying the game is a vital part of Bohemian Killing, and you are given the option to skip through dialogue you may already heard previously and ask your attorney to advise you during your testimony and give you hints about what to do.

Granted, Bohemian Killing isn't exactly such a big, multilayered adventure game, but, for its price tag, it does enough with its unique premise and can hook you up for several hours, especially if you are bent on unlocking all nine endings

In this game you will:

- lie in the courtroom to escape the guillotine,
- collect evidence and get some steam achievements along the way,
- listen to a very nice voiceover commenting on your every action (and I mean EVERY),
- use the stairs,
- have your own torture chamber in a secret room,
- fail at playing a piano,
- get beaten up by French bar patrons,
- drink a lot of champagne at every occasion because it's free,
- buy some fish from a vending machine (seriously),
- figure out what is so steam-punkish about this Paris,
- give a lot of credit to the author who managed to pull off this game all by himself!
- ...and then use the stairs some more.

I'm still trying to escape the guillotine. Very unique game concept, give it a try.

Bohemian Killing is unique in the fact that you kill a woman at the start of the game and in the next scene, you're on trial for that very same killing. The goal of the game is to lie your way out of being sentenced to death by the Guillotine because the facts of the case puts you at the scene of the crime.

Pros:
Graphics are decent
Non-linear
Real time
Well optimized
Simple controls
Developers are actively updating and answering questions
Multiple endings

Cons:
Very short
Clunky animations

There are nine different endings ranging from death to being able to frame someone else for the murder. The game keeps track of your decisions and depending on what you tell the court, it will play into the final decision by the judge. If you tell a lie that contradicts the facts of the case, the judge will call you on it and it'll count against you. If you tell a lie that fits the facts, you've taken a step towards exonerating yourself. This is the best thing about this game.

You have to take special care in keeping track of the time. Ten minutes in real time is ten minutes in game time as well, so you want to tell a story in a way that will fit the facts. If the facts say that someone saw you at the hotel at 10pm then you want to be at the hotel at 10 pm, however, there is some leeway so you don't have to be perfect.

The graphics are okay, nothing to get excited about but the animations are terrible. It doesn't look like much time was taken on the them. Couple that with the fact that it only took me about 6 to 7 hours to find all nine endings, well, this is obviously a very short game.

At the time of this review, Bohemian Killing was selling for $12.99. I don't think it's worth it at that price because of the short length of the game. However, I do recommend it, but I suggest that you wait for a sale.

I would say that this is a very intelligent game; it makes you think how to save Alfred Ethan (main hero) from the false accusation. It took me several attempts but I'm still trying to figure out how to get to the good ending.

I really like the storyline; which is splendid, and very dynamic; I like how it changes based on your choices during the game. There are some very good moments in the story; but I won't write about them because I wouldn't like to spoil the fun for other people.

Also the actor in the game is superb; but I think the dubbing is too quiet. I'm in my 50's, and I had to turn off the music to be able to hear the actor.

Graphics could be better, and people in the game look not very good either. But this is one of the most intelligent games I've ever seen. It's great because such games are rare now; when people like to play shooting games. Highly recommended!

Bohemian Killing is basically what could be a very promising start in a detective game. The game is rough, make no mistake about that. This is more like a beta. The characters move kind of sluggishly, the character models don't look so great, the game takes place in about 4 small areas, the game has a lot of loading for being so small, and the narration gets annoying quickly, because he narrates literally everything.

Despite all that I enjoyed this game. I got it on sale for $2, if i had paid more I would have been pretty upset though. I love the idea that you are charged with committing a murder and have to convince the judge by actual evidence that you are innocent. You have to constantly remember that as you tell your story you literally are doing just that, telling a story, you aren't going back in time to change events. So, if you tell the judge oh I didn't murder them I was asleep the whole time. Well that isn't going to fly, because witnesses and other evidence place you at the crime. Instead your goal is to read through all the evidence and then try and craft a reason for each one.

I think it's brilliant. The problem with this game is that everything is tied time, but you can't speed up time without doing specific actions. Those actions don't always waste the correct amount of time, so you can overshoot events quite easily. I found myself literally just standing around waiting for time to pass...and it's real world time. It's a massive flaw in the game. You should just be able to say, oh and then i just stood around for however long you want and speed to that point. The other problem I had was that despite the mutliple ways you can convince the judges, it is a bit limited.

The evidence the court has against you is very specific, so you really need to follow that when you tell your tale. I tried to craft a scenario where it was self defense in my bedroom, which was a deadend. Eventually, I realized the reason the game wouldn't let me do that was because evidence clearly shows the victim had no blood in your bedroom. It would be nice if i could have done that and then the prosecutor accuses me of lying and then shows the evidence that I'm lying. After realizing my mistake I still was never able to get the self defense innocent verdict I wanted. I had to use the hint option in the game to realize what needed to be done. The best I could get was a crime of passion, which was fine by me.

So overally a playthrough will take about 90min, but it took me 5hrs of playing to figure out how to get even that defense to stick. You just constantly run through the same crime over and over again. Quite frankly though, I really enjoyed this. I love Paris, so i adored the setting, the music fits the murder mystery motiff perfectly, and I was pleasantly surprised at the different ways you could end your testimony, even if i felt constrained a bit too much by the evidence. I really wish this developer would get a lot of money so they can make an actual budgeted murder mystery game, i think it would be quite stellar.

Until then #Worth $2, I just can't recommend it for more then that, it's still just too rough of a game and too short.

Overall the gameplay of Bohemian Killing is very interesting, there's many different paths to take and several endings for those paths. The world is beautiful and immersive, though I was wishing for a bit bigger area to roam around in. It's certainly big enough for the story, but I'd have loved to just wander about the streets a bit more, if for no other gameplay reason than to pass the time (which is an important factor in the game: certain things happen at certain times, and the time you do things affect your testimony)

One playthrough of the game is not very long, but I like to keep coming back to this game every now and then to do something different. The voice-acting is good, though I'd prefer actual French with subtitles over English with French accents.

It's a great little game, though I'd say the current price tag is a bit steep. If you find it for less than 5-7e or so, I definitely recommend it.

Intro and such
The game has an interesting setting and attempts a steampunk sphere placed in the later part of the 19th century. Additionally, it is placed in Montmartre, a very romantic scene/neighborhood located in Paris, France. For people new for the STEAMPUNK genre, it is basically a historic Victorian science fiction setting a fictitious universe where steam is the main power source. Additionally, I have to mention that, according to the description of the company on steam, this game is one of the first made and designed as a court simulation -one in the late 19th century that is- also made entirely by a lawyer. Whether that plays an important part in the game or not is for every player to decide, however, for us lawyers, it gives the game an additional flavor. Honestly, I did not feel the steampunk genre very much; or perhaps it was just not as obvious to me as it would to true fans.

Start and take-off
The game starts with a video of the main event; however, I found the initial instruction or hint a bit confusing< it stated “remember that you are not creating, you are lying about events that already occurred” (this may not be as literal as I wanted). Indeed, this is true, but it is a statement you are actually creating your statement, creating alibis, evidence and a declaration that may hold up together if done right and in the correct order. At the beginning it becomes clear that your lawyer will help you to attempt to get out of the case, although the first thing which becomes evident, even before the trial, is that you are guilty of the crime you are accused off.

Still good points for being different
I have not found a lot of games like this one, and not in a courtroom, and not creating a statement as you go, which I think is a superb idea. Other people who have player this game claim that it was poorly made, that it is full of bugs, however, I either got very lucky, or the bugs are hardware or software related. I have finished on of the game endings, one of 9 that is, and I did not encounter any bugs. I do recommend this game because it does things which others have not, and that, as a game collector I highly value. The story becomes history as you go through the events which happened on the night of the murder.

Can it improve?
Most games can, of course. This one is definitely no exception. Although it would probably alter gameplay, some more context is needed; the information that your actions are not retroactive throughout the game, as the story advances with your statement, should really be something you know before starting to make decisions, as the mere existence of more endings may not really make worth repeating the whole experience. It is somewhat short, if one runs through it, but this is not something I would change. I would change the way engages in gameplay, underlining some points, and perhaps warning the first time you make a choice which will have effect on the whole game.

France and Steampunk obviously combine
The music of this piece is well adapted, and it is not as repetitive as I expected it to be, although, I have not played more than once. The sound effects are fine. In general the game is well designed, the options are not obvious which is fine, and the story is well told. Perhaps the animations and the transitions to them could use some work. The technology used may not have had most of the budget, and perhaps the animations are forgivable, if one considers the kind of investment which is required to do a decent animation for one game. I think it is not fair to compare a game with a lower budget to big game franchises. It may be that the resolution and other specs could be improved for the PCs available today, but, first, a great segment would simply have to pass due to high spec requirements, and second, why have we all become so graphic dependent? Tweeks, as previously said, may always help to make small improvements, but I think that overall, the game is pretty well made.
Alfred Ethon
The main character you play has a ♥♥♥♥♥ background which understandably will play a role in the game. You cannot really like this guy; so, it was hard, at least for me, to empathize with him. One can feel nuances of racism in the game, although sometimes they contradict an insensitive and aristocratic being, there is also the discriminatory tenor in the game. This makes it a bit more interesting, but also perhaps more difficult to create a story which would help the defendant throughout the game. Sometimes one feels one does not really care a lot. This may be the reason why I got sent to jail on my first and only try, but it didn’t really and there as well.

Conclusion
I would recommend this game if you want to try a small but worthy-while (at least 60m) taste of “different”. Perhaps it would also draw attention of lawyers and other people with a law background or that simply enjoy something like this. I did like to be able to decide where to story goes. Attempting to influence a verdict is always fun, although there may be some ethical conflicts of some with this game.

This review was submitted for Gaming Until End, through the generous contribution of HellCow.