You’ll alternate between characters and time frames, and you’ll have the opportunity to see how everything changes even as it stays the same. Two series’ of murders take place that share many of the same characteristics: all are gruesome, all show a progression of violence, all are toward women of questionable virtue. The problem is, these murders are a generation apart. Either our killer is an octogenarian with uncommon stamina, or a copycat is on the loose. Add to that the fact that the two people investigating the crimes just happen to be related, and it almost sounds strange to say that the game doesn’t have supernatural underpinnings.

There were many times that the game could have taken that direction, and yet it never did. The experienced gamer might be surprised by this. After all, we’ve been as conditioned to expect certain outcomes in our games as a prisoner is his daily ration of gruel. Instead, Microids chose the harder path, one in which misdeeds cannot be laid at the feet of the oft-maligned Knights Templar, the undead, or any of the other ubiquitous plot devices that comprise the industry standard. I’m not saying that secret society and conspiracy themes don’t rear their ugly heads, but they’re never presented as implausible or magical.