Tangle Tower (game)

**Watch out!** This article may contain plot or ending spoilers. Read at your own risk.

*For the location in which the game takes place, see Tangle Tower (location).*

## Tangle Tower

### Genre

Point-and-Click
Detective/Mystery
Adventure
Comedy

### Platform

Windows
Mac
Nintendo Switch

### Release Date

September 19, 2019 (Arcade)
October 7, 2019 (Mac)
October 22, 2019 (Windows, Switch)
October6,2021(PS4 & Xbox One)

### Preceded by

Detective Grimoire
Secret of the Swamp

### Links

Steam
Itch.io
Mac App Store/Apple Arcade

**Tangle Tower** is an indie point-and-click mystery/adventure game and the third installment in the Detective Grimoire series. It was developed and published by SFB Games, and was initially launched with the Apple Arcade service on September 19, 2019, with later releases for Nintendo Switch and Steam on October 22, 2019.

## Summary

*Tangle Tower* follows Detective Grimoire and his new partner Sally Spears as they visit the mysterious Tangle Tower, home of both the Pointer and Fellow families, to solve the murder of Freya Fellow, who has seemingly been stabbed to death by a painting of her relative, Flora Fellow.

From SFB Games' press release:

> *Tangle Tower is a captivating mystery game designed by SFB Games. Investigate a curious murder case at Tangle Tower, an ominous mansion where secrets lurk in the darkest corners. The only suspect? A painting. Hunt for clues, interrogate eccentric suspects and untangle many brain-twisting puzzles!*
>
>

## Gameplay

> *See the Tangle Tower Walkthrough.*
>
>

*Tangle Tower* is a point-and-click game and can be completed entirely through a mouse or trackpad, or with the touchscreen on an iPhone. Players assume the role of Detective Grimoire as they interact with various suspects, collect clues in the various rooms and environments at Tangle Tower, and solve puzzles to unveil new pieces of evidence and progress through the game. When certain conditions are met, Grimoire can then question each suspect about something they're hiding.

## Characters

* Detective Grimoire
* Sally Spears
* Detective Hawkshaw
* Freya Fellow
* Flora Fellow
* Fifi Fellow
* Fitz Fellow
* Felix Fellow
* Penny Pointer
* Poppy Pointer
* Professor Pointer

## Plot

### The Beginning

Detective Grimoire and his partner, Sally Spears arrive at Tangle Tower in mid afternoon to investigate the murder of Freya Fellow. What makes the case unique is the painting itself as it looks like the subject of the painting, Flora Fellow, the matriarch of the Fellow family, is holding a bloody knife. Detective Grimoire makes the false assumption that the painting stabbed Freya, which annoys Sally.

### The Unfinished Painting

Soon, after investigating the painting, they investigate the crime scene, the rest of Tangle Tower and its inhabitants to solve the case. There is Felix Fellow, a dreamer and patriarch of the Fellow family, Fifi Fellow, his daughter and microbiologist, Fitz Fellow, gardener of Tangle Tower, Percieval Pointer, the patriarch of Pointer family and astronomer, Poppy Pointer, Percieval's daughter and pianist, Penny Pointer, an ornithologist and niece of Percieval Pointer and Detective Hawkshaw who is investigating a case on behest of a client.

They first collect the suspects' statements to establish a timeline of events around the time of the crime: Freya was painting Flora in Flora's tower, which was locked. Poppy had promised to attend an experiment with Fifi, but she forgot, which made Fifi sad, so the latter went to cry in her room. Meanwhile, Fitz was tending to the greenhouse with Penelope visiting him. Later in the evening, he went to the rooftop garden to do similar work there, and was joined by Poppy. Felix was in his room alone, doing his 'project'. Penny was in the aviary tending to her birds, Pointer was in his own tower and Hawkshaw was doing some investigation in the library. First, Fitz and Poppy heard an odd sound coming from Flora's tower, so they go to check it out, and Fitz broke the door down to find Freya dead and Flora alive. Poppy decided to tell Fifi and goes to Fif's room. Meanwhile, Pointer was heading over to Flora's tower and met Hawkshaw outside the library entrance. On her way outside Hawkshaw then met Penny, who asked if she's seen the professor, and pointed her the direction of her uncle. Felix hears Poppy coming down the stairs outside his room, clearly upset, and thought maybe Fitz had made her sad, so he went to Fitz's room to investigate. As Pointer ascends Fellow tower he hears Poppy and Fifi shouting in Fifi's room, and, not wanting to eavesdrop, waited for them to come out. They then went to Flora's tower together. Penny and Felix bumped into each other as Felix exits Fitz's room and Penny comes up the stairs, and went to Flora's tower as well. With the exception of Hawkshaw, everyone saw the dead body of Freya. Fifi and Poppy left to investigate the red substance on the painting, Pointer and Penny went back to their respective rooms, and Fitz went to the stone garden to inform Hawkshaw of Freya's death. Felix stayed behind to tend to his wife.

The investigation sheds some light into the crime scene, and it is revealed that the "knife" on the painting is merely an Inkdip bird feather which Flora kept to remember her lost pet. Not only that, the pot filled with blood was empty and used to belong to Felix, suggesting that the murderer filled blood in the paint pot as a distraction. The investigation on Pointer reveals that Pointer's career as an astronomer was fabricated and he's actually studying entomology. He had also been spying on Freya, suspecting her of having stolen his golden beetle, with his telescope, and when he happened to look through it right after the murder he saw Flora lying on the floor and Freya not at all (she was hidden by the easel and painting). Pointer also reveals he hired Hawkshaw to investigate the disappearance of his beetle. A diary is found in Fifi's room, but is discovered to be Freya's. The detectives also solve some minor cases like Fitz's activities in Pointer tower, Penny's message along with the red roses petals and the pink cassette tape that Poppy used to belong to.

### Unfinished Business

Soon, they find that Freya is been busy, as reading her diary reveales that she was doing some investigating of her own. They go to the gardens to find a device that detect sound and uses them to reveal a password. It appears to have been sent by Freya, though she is currently dead. Using the device, they find four short, simple melodies and use the password to unlock the hidden entrance.

### Underneath

Beneath the mansion, they find an underground laboratory which been used by Pointer. It seems he wanted to breed the golden beetle in order to be rich and give Poppy a better inheritance than Felix will be able to give Fifi. He may also have looked into astronomy only to investigate the astrological chemistry table.

There's yet another room below the laboratory, and Grimoire and Sally go down to the bottom of the lake to find further truth of the mansion and it's history. The bottom of the lake is bright and the water level used to be much lower. Not to mention, the lack of animals and plants at the bottom of the lake suggesting that the Remingtons may have come for ulterior motives. They check an old blueprint to find the former name of the mansion but also that there is a hidden room between Fifi's and Penny's rooms. With that knowledge, they investigate the entrance through the grand hall and find the hidden study.

### The Hidden Heart

The detectives soon find the hidden study and find that the place is actually the murderer's hideout. They find many important clues, including the final part of the murder weapon in there, and they find out that the mystery of Tangle Tower is connected to Freya's murder. With the murder weapon, they manage to deduce how the crime is committed. First the murderer planted the golden beetle in the gramophone to knock both Freya and Flora out, while the murderer was above in the attic, wearing earmuffs to protect herself from the golden beetle noise. Then, at some unknown circumstances, the beetle was triggered and knocked both Freya and Flora out, then the murderer used the crossbow to kill Freya and pulled the arrow back, using the red string, She then left the crime scene.

### The Murder

Sally believes there is one more clue to find in the painting and realizes that Freya planned to paint something yellow. It is revealed to be one of Penny's birds which implicates Penny as the murderer. Hawkshaw soon reveales herself as Penelope and her true nature. The detectives tie Penelope's hands and she confesses to the murder and reveals her motives behind it.

Penelope starts with her life in Tangle Tower, being neglected by her uncle, and ignored by both Fellows and Pointers, she starts to wonder about the people who could have stayed in Tangle Tower but didn't, her parents, Flora's two siblings and Felix's brother. She wondered where they'd gone and whether she belonged with them. She tried to find answers, but to no avail, as the older members hid the secret. When she was 19 years old, she felt a warmth through the wall by her bed, so intense it made the wallpaper peel off, and sheheard voices from the other side. She thought she was cursed until she found the study through the grand hall aquarium. While the study was completely empty, she did find the picture of the Ambassadors of Mystid Mansion. Driven by her curiosity and desire to belong somewhere, she started her search for the ambassadors to uncover the secret of Mystid Mansion. While she managed to find all five of them, they refused to help her, as every ambassador was pursuing personal quests, such as Richard Remington hunting Boggy (see Secret of the Swamp). This infuriated Penny, and implies that she murdered them. With her lead dead, she returned to Tangle Tower defeated.

One day, Percieval Pointer started his research in astronomy. However, Penelope realized that this was merely a cover for his true project, the golden beetle, a piece of the "Era of Mystid Mansion". She doesn't know how the professor got his hands on it, but theorises he received it in the mail. Penelope decided she deserved to have the beetle for herself, so she stole it. This made Pointer very upset, and when Penny asked what was wrong he divulged some of his secrets. Pointer originally thought he'd merely lost the beetle, but Penny suggested it may have been stolen, something Pointer was very willing to believe. Penny then offered to hire a private detective, and donned the disguise of Hawkshaw the next day. In her new persona she was able to get even more information out of Pointer, as well as access to the secret laboratory and the lowest level of the mansion. Penelope was very disappointed to discover the professor is merely interested in the monetary value of the beetle, as ninety percent of its exoskeleton is made of gold. Penny on the other hand, was more interested in the remaining ten percent. She never says what that is, but cryptically states "I have what I need."

### The Will of Freya Fellow

However, Penelope based her Detective Hawkshaw design on a painting Freya had made based on a recurring nightmare, accidentally pushing Freya to investigate her, and in turn Tangle Tower's secrets as well. Penelope believes that Freya investigated to expose Tangle Tower secrets to free Fifi of her inheritance. However, Freya found the secret study and discovered Penelope's secret, so Penelope "had to" kill Freya. It is revealed the beetle was used to knock Flora out, specifically so she would not have to witness a murder, which would have added additional suffering. She also added the blood in the paint pot to help Fifi and Poppy cope and serve as a distraction.

Grimoire and Sally ask why Penelope hasn't left Tangle Tower yet, and Penelope replies that she needed to retrieve the beetle from the gramophone first. Her bird then triggers the beetle again, which knocks out the detectives. Penelope escapes the tower and forced to leave the beetle behind, as Fitz interrupts her. The game ends with Poppy deciding to free the beetle in honor of Freya.

## Development

*Tangle Tower*'s development was started several years prior to the game's release in 2019, though it was put on pause after Nintendo approached SFB Games to develop another game, *Snipperclips*. Once *Snipplerclips* and its expansion, *Snipperclips Plus*, was launched in 2017, development on *Tangle Tower* was resumed. Due to Apple Arcade's requirements, the game was translated into 17 different languages by Universally Speaking, allowing the game to be accessible to more players around the world.

*Tangle Tower*'s full list of supported languages is: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Turkish.

## Critical Reception

*Tangle Tower* received mostly positive reviews upon release, earning a score of 84% on Metacritic based on reviews from 9 critics. The game was primarily praised for its sharp writing, voice acting, music and unique art style, though it was also criticized for its rushed ending. Thanks to its score, the game was ranked 30th Best Nintendo Switch Game of 2019 on the Metacritic website.

## Gallery

* Promo
* In-Game
LogoTitle Card