Santa Fe Mysteries

Gameplay

The series consists of full motion video adventure games, which use a point-and-click interface. The player has 5 days to solve the mystery, and 8 hours in each day; certain actions use up a portion of their time. The player must "listen to the usual suspects, order forensics and shoot photos", and create an arrest warrant by the end of the game.

Plot

In The Elk Moon Murder, a famous Native American artist named Anna Elk Moon is murdered in the American South West. In Sacred Ground, the wife of a local business man named Randa Tasker is kidnapped.

Development

The original concept was co-created by Shannon Gilligan, developer of the Virtual Murder series, and Sam Egan, one of the writers of Northern Exposure.

Programmer In Black wrote "I find it a pity that the game series didn't continue."

The Elk Moon Murder

The game received mixed to positive reviews. Allgame found the game thrilling and enjoyed its strategic elements. MacGamer thought the game was too short in length and too sparse of interactive options. Though Just Adventure concluded that the game was crafted well, they also thought its lack of puzzles made it less of an adventure game. Adventure Classic Gaming negatively compared the game to the "equally uninspiring Virtual Murder series" as a whodunit adventure, and the Police Quest series as a police procedural adventure simulation. Programmer in Black recommended Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora Directive, The Dame Was Loaded, The Broken Sword, and Gabriel Knight as games with similar detective story elements. PC World said the game is a "classic whodunnit with clever scripting and fine acting". Just Adventure noted that the game was interesting, albeit a bit too complicated, especially at the beginning. Coming Soon Magazine complimented the graphics, sounds, storyline, and reasonable price, while responding negatively to the rambling dialogue from suspects.

Sacred Ground

The game received reviews ranging from negative to positive. JustAdventure thought the game was a "slight improvement" over The Elk Moon Murders, while noting "[it] is not entirely easy to classify - somewhere between an interactive movie and an adventure game". In a 2001 retrospective, Programmer In Black wrote "For an older game, the game play here holds up well." Just Adventure said "There is one thing that [the game] absolutely, positively isn't: unique".