The Mermaid Mask: Crow Country Devs’ New Detective Grimoire Mystery Launches July 16
SFB Games will release The Mermaid Mask, the long-awaited fourth entry in its Detective Grimoire series, on July 16 for PC, Steam Deck, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, according to the British studio’s official announcement. The point-and-click murder mystery reunites the creators of Tangle Tower and the surprise horror hit Crow Country for a new locked-room case set aboard a submarine.
A Locked-Room Murder Aboard the Mortuga Submarine
The story follows Detective Grimoire and his sidekick Sally as they are summoned to the abandoned fishing town of Silkwirm-on-Sea to investigate the death of Captain Magnus Mortuga, found alone inside a sealed chamber of his vessel. His body lies alone inside a locked room, marked by a single fatal wound, yet no weapon can be found, with an ancient, barnacle-covered cauldron sitting at the centre of the chamber, its interior eerily empty except for deep, unexplained scratches.
Rumours swirl that the captain was either an immortal time-traveller or a cursed vampire, giving the mystery the folklore-tinged flavour that has become a hallmark of the series since its 2007 Newgrounds origins. In a hands-on preview published ahead of launch, GamesHub’s Leah J. Williams described the demo as “the closest experience to the fabled Ghosts of Pirate Beach I’ve come across, and it’s all the more delightful for its spooky, Scooby-Doo-style tone.”
Grimoire and Sally Return, Joined by David Menkin
Voice actors Edwyn Tiong and Amber Lee Connors reprise their roles as Grimoire and Sally respectively, having voiced the pair since 2019’s Tangle Tower. According to SFB Games’ official announcement, the murdered Captain Mortuga himself is voiced by David Menkin, whose credits include PRAGMATA, Final Fantasy XVI, VALORANT, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, with further cast reveals promised closer to release.
New 3D Clue System Replaces Tangle Tower’s Flat Objects
The biggest mechanical shift from Tangle Tower is how evidence is handled. Speaking to Creative Bloq, creative director Adam Vian explained that clues can now be rotated and examined from every angle, describing it as the first time the studio has built on an existing game rather than rebooting from scratch: “This is the first time we’ve done a Detective Grimoire game that hasn’t been a complete start-from-scratch reboot,” he said, adding that he still looks back at Tangle Tower’s art and thinks, “I don’t really need it to look better than this.”
Vian detailed the technical process behind the new objects, noting the studio built “a whole custom pipeline in Unity” where an artist paints textures to resemble a character’s hand-drawn paintings before a dynamic outline shader applies a wobbly coloured edge to match the 2D art style. Early hands-on impressions have singled out the feature as more than cosmetic; one preview called turning clues over by hand a way of making “physical investigation” feel tactile, arguing it brings “the genre closer to how detection actually feels.”
Delayed by Crow Country’s Surprise Success
The Mermaid Mask was first revealed in December 2023 under the working title The Mermaid’s Tongue and originally targeted a 2024 launch. That timeline slipped after SFB Games’ 2024 survival-horror title Crow Country became an unexpected hit. In the studio’s official press release, founder Adam Vian said: “We’ve been working on The Mermaid Mask for a long time – never before have we poured so much love and care into a single project, and it’s become something quite remarkable. In 2024, our survival-horror game Crow Country became a surprise hit, which diverted our attention a little longer than we’d initially intended (a good problem to have, as Crow Country was wonderfully well received). We can’t wait to finally share The Mermaid Mask with players this year.”
Crow Country’s momentum wasn’t a one-off distraction, either. The press materials note that Crow Country was hailed as a GOTY candidate in 2024 and maintained a user review score of 98% positive on Steam, underlining why the tiny studio chose to support and expand that game across platforms before returning to finish its detective series.
Available July 16 on PC, Switch, Switch 2 and PS5
Game Informer confirmed the firm release date during publisher Fellow Traveller’s Story-Rich Games Showcase, reporting that “it’s taken a few years, but the game’s sequel, The Mermaid Mask, is right around the corner,” with the release date revealed as The Mermaid Mask dropping July 16. A free demo remains available on Steam ahead of launch for players wanting a taste of the Mortuga Submarine before committing.
As with Crow Country’s simultaneous rollout across storefronts, The Mermaid Mask is expected to arrive day-and-date on digital platforms worldwide, meaning Australian and New Zealand players should be able to download it from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store or Steam at the same time as UK and US audiences, though local NZD/AUD pricing had not been published by SFB Games at the time of writing.
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