Dead Man's Phone is an innovative mystery game launching in spring

UPDATE:  Electric Noir shared exclusively with us that they will launch Dead Man's Phone on March 30. The whole Season 1 of Dead Man's Phone will be free on iOS and Android. The company has four more seasons currently in production (Season 2, 3, 4 and 5) and they will "explore hard-hitting contemporary issues in modern Britain." Electric Noir also shared with us that they want to become "the HBO of story games."

"A teenage boy falls from a London tower block. Witnesses say he was pushed. You are the lead detective with the victim's phone!"

The introduction to Dead Man's Phone is as mysterious and intriguing as it gets, but it's not the prime reason why we think this game deserves attention. Rather, it's the innovative way it approaches gameplay and storytelling -- an execution that feels fresh in an age of Clash of Clans look-alikes and Candy Crush-like cash grabs fill the app stores.

In Dead Man’s Phone (via TouchArcade), you play as a Scotland Yard detective who is searching through a murder victim's phone for clues as to what led to their death. What’s different about this game is that it plays as if your phone was the victim's, and it does the transformation very convincingly. The goal is to make the player feel like they're personally part of the investigation.

While Electric Noir were developing the game back in December, the company allowed young actors who play different characters in the game to capture footage for it themselves using their smartphones. This made the game more relatable to young people. Dead Man's Phone brings a believable representation of a youth’s lifestyle.

The game is reminiscent of A Normal Lost Phone, released by Accidental Queens in 2017. A Normal Lost Phone is a puzzle game in which the player finds a lost phone and similarly investigates the messages, pictures and apps inside. In order to uncover its owner’s mysterious disappearance you need to explore all of the data that you find.

Electric Noir’s new mobile game has been in development for over а year and had a beta testing period, after which it received a spot in the 2021 London Games Festival and a BAFTA nomination for Best Mobile Game of 2020.

The release will include Season 1 of the game, spanning 6 episodes. The first one will be 60 minutes long and free, while the rest will sell as IAP (In-App Purchase) episodes, each lasting 90 minutes. Every paid episode costs $4.99. Season 2 of Dead Man’s Phone is said to be already in development. The game will be released for both iOS and Android.