The Mermaid Mask review roundup: Detective Grimoire's submarine mystery is one of 2026's best

The Mermaid Mask, the latest entry in SFB Games' Detective Grimoire series, launched July 16, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Switch — and it's already sitting among the best-reviewed games of the year on OpenCritic, with an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam to match.

The setup: Captain Magnus Mortuga of the Mortuga Submarine has been murdered, and Detective Grimoire and his sarcastic assistant Sally are on the case. The entire game takes place aboard the submarine, blending point-and-click exploration with puzzle-solving, dialogue-heavy investigation, and a series-staple fill-in-the-blank deduction minigame. There are around 50 pieces of evidence to collect, plus 3D puzzles used to crack locked boxes and hidden compartments. An optional hint system is available at no cost or penalty for players who get stuck. Raphael Benjamin Meyer's orchestral soundtrack gives every character their own theme and every minigame its own track — a level of musical detail the game could have easily skipped. A post-game art gallery with developer commentary rounds out the package.

The Mermaid Mask follows 2019's Tangle Tower and works as a fully standalone story — no prior knowledge of the series needed. Where Tangle Tower's ending was considered its weakest point by some, reviewers are calling this one's conclusion genuinely surprising and satisfying. Tonally, the game leans hard into screwball comedy — critics are comparing its energy to The Secret of Monkey Island and the Knives Out films, with Grimoire and Sally's banter carrying much of the weight. The voice cast is a consistent highlight: one character speaks with near-Shakespearean cadence, another with a low mysterious register, and a third with earnest enthusiasm that reviewers found genuinely endearing.

Critical reception is overwhelmingly positive across the board, with player reviews on Steam echoing the press consensus. The game is out now on all three platforms.