A Red Sky at Dawn
October 1941, Singapore. A dead body inside the former courthouse. Five witnesses who may be possible suspects. And a new detective paired with an unwilling veteran.
Can you unravel the mystery behind A Red Sky at Dawn?
Average first story length: 1.5 hours
Version 1.0.0 originally commissioned by Arts House Limited for Textures 2021.
Mouse:
- Left click to advance the story/select choice
- Right click to toggle autoscroll
- Middle click to access options
Keyboard:
- Space or Return to advance the story
- Arrow keys to select choice
- Return to confirm choice
- Control to toggle autoscroll
- Alt/Opt to access options
Try the web version before you buy to see if it runs on your computer. The desktop version includes:
- Save functionality
- Ability to use case points for modifiers (view details)
The web version may run on some mobile devices but is not guaranteed.
Windows Minimum Requirements
- OS: Windows 7 64-bit
- CPU: Intel 3rd generation Core (Ivy Bridge) or AMD equivalent
- GPU: Intel HD Graphics 2500
- Ram: 4GB
macOS Minimum Requirements
- OS: Yosemite 10.10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel 3rd generation Core (Ivy Bridge) / Apple silicon also supported
- GPU: Intel HD Graphics 2500
- Ram: 4GB
Purchase
In order to download this Murder Mystery you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- v1.2.1Oct 23, 2023
- v1.2.0Sep 17, 2023
- v1.1.4Dec 12, 2022
- v1.1.3Oct 13, 2022
- v1.1.2Sep 13, 2022
- v1.1.1Aug 13, 2022
- A Red Sky at Dawn Desktop Versions Now Available!May 19, 2022
- Version 1.1.0 Major UpdateMar 30, 2022
Comments
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Such a great immersive experience. Great writing basically capable of carrying the whole experience on it's own and frames just perfectly go along with it and give even more immersiveness into the story. Feels like I am just describing the genre itself, but the game really is that! Visuals correctly give a sense of space and setting. And only to support that, choices make sense and actually do matter. Love the story and it's dynamics, impossible to put down once started.
Version 1.1.1 is now available for Windows and macOS.
You obviously have a talent for writing, and I encourage you to try to make a living out of it. Im curious, did you ever take writing classes?
Regarding the game, it could use multiple save files and some fast forward option (autoscroll is not enough even at 0 delay) like other visual novels, because even if its one of the best written novels in this site, its also so uncomfortable to replay that it makes me not want to.
I also found a lot of bugs that trap you into loops repeating the same dialogue over and over. Some of the loops I found were car->japanese->doctor->car->etc and the game sending me back to interview the jap guy a second time after solving the case in a single day. It probably has something to do with a messy code and clumsy implementation of flags.
Last but not least, are there any other visual novels that you would recommend besides hotel dusk?
GG.
i like this game - but i can't solve the mystery..i'm just not really a puzzle solver, i guess. it's interesting to think that Singapore had all kinds of shady businesses in the past. I guess that no country is truly clean, but I've grown up in a nice era - in which Singapore prides itself on being good. Really interesting story- might come back to solve it. Thank you for this :D
I love the vibe this game has...also how many endings are there in total? I got the ending where Leong and Crawford couldn't solve the case :p
The main endings are whether you're able to solve the case or not, and if you did, whether you were able to find out the reasons behind the murder. However, starting a new case will change some parts of the story, so things may be a little different.
Hi everyone,
We would like to inform you that we have reviewed Red Sky at Dawn on Virtual SEA. You can find the review here. Please let us know what you think!
Thank you very much for the kind words and for taking the time to review. It was a pleasant surprise.
By any chance, was this inspired by the DS game Hotel Dusk: Room 215? Because the style/tone of it really reminds me of Hotel Dusk, in a very good way.
Not to mention the parallels between Kyle and Bradley from Hotel Dusk vs Crawford and his former partner, along with the backstory of what they were up to before going missing (Investigating some sort of illicit organisation and then allegedly switching sides and betraying the police).
All in all, this is honestly excellent. Only played it once and got 3 stars so far, but I'm planning to get to the bottom of this even if it takes all year :P
Yes, that was one of the very few visual novels I liked. Unfortunately, the developer Cing went bankrupt and I have not found another game quite like it since. So I decided to make one myself.
How are you progressing so far?
I love this game so much! I have been looking for games like this/in this style for a long time and am glad to have finally found one! (all this is to say..keep up the good work)
I just wanted to say that this is an all-rounded stellar mystery in writing, drawing, and production! The characters are all very compelling and the mystery spans far and wide. (I haven't cracked the case yet T_T) This is a masterpiece that reminds me of games like Detroit Become Human with such a complex storyline! Kudos to the entire team creating this! 10/10
P.S. Just wondering if future updates could consider including certain save points that the players can restart from, so that we can change specific choices rather than restart from the beginning :D? Cheers!
The forced save structure is part of the design. The story recalculates the scenarios and choice outcomes based on all actions accumulated thus far. There are ways to recover from bad choices as you progress, but the solution can differ from someone who did exactly the same things you did.
Just played through twice, both times earned only 1 (out of 5) stars and of course... didn't solve the mystery ))):
Anyone managed to solve the case?
Don't give up. You have to really pay attention to what is being said as every new case changes things a little, so there isn't a fixed solution.
This game looks really professionally made. Hats off to the creators! The art work is exceptional. I really enjoyed that.😊
Thank you.