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Midnight Murder Club review: bite-size murder madness

by admin September 19, 2025

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Midnight Murder Club is a bite-sized first-person shooter with a unique premise that makes it worth trying out.

Set in a pitch black mansion, this PS5 exclusive (well, console exclusive) challenges you to track other players using only the light from a small torch and audio cues like muffled footsteps, the creaking sound of doors opening, and overheard conversations through proximity chat.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PC, PS5
Release date: August 14, 2025

When you have a full match of six players all using their microphones, the atmosphere is absolutely electric. There’s serious tension as you creep around, which always gives way to pure chaos once the shooting starts. If you’re looking for something to try on your next night of gaming with friends, then you can certainly do much worse for the modest $9.99 / £8.99 asking price. There’s even a ‘Guest Pass’ feature that lets your buddies join in completely for free, which is appreciated.

Unfortunately, the experience falls apart when you don’t have a dedicated group. Finding online matches is almost impossible thanks to a tiny pool of players just a few weeks after launch, and the few offline modes, while a decent starter course, won’t keep you entertained for long.

Lights out

(Image credit: Sony)

Midnight Murder Club offers a total of five player-versus-player (PvP) game modes, and while they follow the same general format, a few unique mechanics keep each one interesting.

The main mode is called Wildcards and features three teams of two players vying for the most kills. At the start of the match, every player selects a titular wildcard from a deck, each one boasting a unique effect. This ranges from simple bonuses like faster reload speeds and more effective flashlights to whackier options like a card that turns every gunshot into a loud jazz trumpet toot or another that gives everyone massive heads.

The chosen wildcards affect all players, leading to some enjoyably bonkers combinations. More cards are unlocked with each completed match, too, giving you at least a small reason to keep coming back for more.

Best bit

(Image credit: Sony)

Nothing quite compares to the satisfaction of nailing a foe using nothing but sound. Hearing footsteps and taking a risky shot only for it to instantly pay off is fantastic every time.

The other modes on offer are a standard free-for-all and team deathmatch, and more exciting ‘Thief in the Night’ and ‘Headhunters’, which see you clamoring to collect valuable skull fragments or destroying evil totems, respectively.

You start off each game armed with a basic revolver that has unlimited ammunition in most modes, but vending machines littered around the map give you access to more powerful machine guns and deadly traps like falling chandeliers. Getting gear from vendors doesn’t cost money, but rather produces a huge amount of light and noise – forcing you to weigh up whether the gear on offer is worth exposing your position.

Your flashlight presents much the same risk-versus-reward proposition. Levels are completely pitch black without it on, so it’s necessary to navigate unless you want to spend most of your time running into walls. Beams of light make it easy to track your location, though, and if you blindly shoot where one is coming from, more often than not, you’ll bag an easy elimination.

Dead silence

(Image credit: Sony)

Voice chat is a key part of Midnight Murder Club, and coordinating with your team is almost vital for success. It relies on a proximity chat system, where your DualSense Wireless Controller or PS5 headset is constantly broadcasting your voice to nearby players – whether friend or foe.

Turning off your flashlight and following the sound of other players’ voices for a sneak melee attack is a constant source of devilish satisfaction – particularly when you get to hear their panicked screams as you strike.

Although proximity chat can be a lot of fun, its inclusion does present some risks when you’re playing with strangers. I was particularly impressed to see an ‘Auto Scramble’ feature that automatically distorts the voices of anyone who’s not on your team.

You can still decipher general emotions, but individual words are impossible to make out – an innovative and practical addition that I’d love to see in other online games.

(Image credit: Sony)

Unfortunately, there are few opportunities to use this as the online matchmaking situation is dire. I’ve been trying to find matches every day for weeks, and it’s borderline impossible to find a full lobby.

To make matters worse, players frequently drop out of matches, and the peer-to-peer hosting means that massive lag spikes are common.

There are some single-player options here, like the ability to play Wildcards against bots or mow down computer-controlled enemies in the stages of the usually two-player Graveyard Shift mode, but they’re very limited, and you really need a large group of friends to make the most of it.

Although there is cross-platform support, players who try the game on PC will have to log in with a PlayStation account in addition to a Steam one. Given this is a PlayStation published game, this does make some sense, but it’s still incredibly annoying in a game that would otherwise be easy to pick up and play.

A few of the friends I had lined up to join me didn’t already have access to PlayStation accounts and weren’t willing to fork their email addresses over to Sony for what might be a single night of gaming, so they ended up wanting to play something else. When finding matches is already so difficult, this seems a bit like the developers shooting themselves in the foot.

All of this leaves Midnight Murder Club difficult to wholeheartedly recommend. It can be a fantastic time, provided you’re able to find a full lobby – which is almost impossible if you’re not playing with friends. It’s only really worth picking up if you have a group of five buddies eager to squad up.

Should I play Midnight Murder Club?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility features

There are a few accessibility features in Midnight Murder Club.

You can customize the colors of in-game teams to make them easier to see and invert your camera controls. Most button inputs can also be tweaked on PS5, allowing you to rebind them as needed.

(Image credit: Sony)

How I reviewed Midnight Murder Club

I played Midnight Murder Club for almost four hours on PS5 using the DualSense Wireless Controller and a pair of Final VR500 gaming earbuds.

In that time, I played a variety of matches online and explored all of its single-player modes. For communication, I relied on the microphone built into the controller.

First reviewed August 2025

Midnight Murder Club: Price Comparison

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Would-be Disco Elysium successor XXX Nightshift morphs from an isometric RPG into a third-person ski resort murder mystery

by admin September 18, 2025

Dark Math Games, one of the multiple studios staffed by former Disco Elysium developers to pop up and announce a very Disco Elysiumy RPG last year, have given their game a revamp. XXX Nightshift is now called Tangerine Antarctic, with the switch also bringing a shift from isometric perspective to third-person.

If you missed the recent flourishing of Disco spiritual successors created by ex-ZA/UMers, the others include Longdue’s RPG Hopetown and Summer Eternal’s mystery project. Meanwhile, Disco writer Robert Kurvitz and artist Aleksander Rostov are making something for a studio called Red Info, and ZA/UM themselves are working on a new CRPG called Zero Parades. It’s all very easy to keep track of.

Watch on YouTube

According to Dark Math Games founder Timo Albert, the pitch for Tangerine Antarctic is as follows: “Set at the World’s End ski village at Mount Hope, British Antartica, Tangerine Antarctic is the name of the in-game hotel, designed by renown Estonian architect Kaur St&odblac;&odblac;r, where most of the games’ action takes place. This is where you are stuck because of the blizzard and must solve the mysterious murders. And Tangerine Antarctic is one of the important characters of this true detective’s RPG.”

The switch from isometric to third person could be construed as an effort to distance the game from the ‘Disco Elysium successor’ label that’s been applied with various degrees of cynicism to all of the projects I mentioned earlier. However, as you can see from the freshly posted peek at a bit of Tangerine Antarctic’s dialogue above, it still very much looks like someone’s reinterpreted Disco’s homework.

Dark Math’s revamped Steam page for the game promises “deep single-player role-playing with seismic choices” and a “unique companion dynamic” that helps you solve those murders. The devs write that your “choices, substances, and experiences” will all “affect how you hear and feel the world”. It also boasts a “Dopamine Buffet”, which is described thusly: “Rehearse your moves. Dance through crime scenes. Drift through parties. Or find pleasure in completing the simplest chores. Get better with every action you take.”

So, you’re like Hercule Poirot with the ability to do the macarena whenever someone snuffs it, and also the power to do some “Marafet calculations to alter your time and space”. Sounds like it could be fun, but who knows with any of these games at this point.

Tangerine Antarctic doesn’t have a release date, but you can wishlist it on Steam.

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Solve your own murder and recover your brain in Blanksword, a roguelike RPG with a demo out today

by admin September 17, 2025

There are few occasions where a game tells me it’s combining two genres that typically don’t go together and it convinces me it’s worth paying attention to, but Blanksword, a roguelike RPG, is quite different. In it, you are Blank, an angel stabbed in the head, brain destroyed, who somehow managed to survive such an ordeal – albeit without any memory of who you were. And now, you are on a quest through a series of islands governed by “Literally God” in order to figure out your mysterious past.

Blanksword has been in the works for a little while now, but a Kickstarter for the game just went live today. Taking one look at the game tells you quite quickly that it’s “one of those” kinds of indie RPGs. You like, like Hylics, Felvidek, or the blueprint for many of them, and one that just recently got a rerelease, OFF.

Watch on YouTube

In fact OFF is quite an important frame of reference for Blanksword, as one of the game’s directors, Quinn K., was the original translator for OFF. Not only that, but OFF creator Mortis Ghost is responsible for the game’s lovely key art, and may even design an area of the game if the Kickstarter raises enough funds.

The mechanics sound quite interesting too. Combat, like many RPGs, is turn-based, and you pick up new moves as you go along, all of which vary from run to run. There’s apparently “hundreds” of moves to pickup, alongside different bits of equipment and items.

And then there’s that beautiful thing we call narrative design. With Blank not having a brain and all, you can pick up different Angelic Brain Parts, restoring certain abilities of his. One item might allow Blank to intimidate and heckle his enemies, another will give him the ability to tell if something smells bad. Others might let him understand more complex topics, or grant him the ability to haggle for better prices in certain shops. You keep these brain parts forever, but you can only use a few at a time to keep things balanced.

Best of all, alongside the Kickstarter the game has a demo out on Steam for you to try out. Truth be told, while I’ve had my eye on Blanksword for a good while, I somehow missed that it was a roguelike on top of an RPG. Playing the demo for myself, I soon figured this out, but the roguelike element blended really nicely with the RPG side of it. They aren’t genres you often see combined, and in some ways could even be contradictory, but in my short time with it, I think something quite interesting is being brewed up. Here’s hoping the full game pans out just as well.

Blanksword’s “one of those” indie RPG vibes make it feel quite well positioned for a future fanatical following, a thing that’s often both a blessing and a curse. That all remains to be seen of course, the game needs to get funded first.

A release date hasn’t been set just yet, but the team behind it has conservatively estimated a 2027 release window. You can wishlist it, and try the demo out, on Steam here.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

In Neurocracy, it’s up to you to solve a murder mystery through the internet’s greatest resource, Wikipedia

by admin September 14, 2025

You might not think of it as one, but Wikipedia is a game. It has untold numbers of characters and stories, each page an interactive slate with your mouse and hand acting as the choice maker for what you learn next, thus impacting your following choices. This is, admittedly, a bit of a wanky, thinkpiecey way of talking about Wikipedia, so instead of that let’s talk about Neurocracy, a game that could quite easily fool you into thinking it is another version of Wikipedia.

It first launched a couple of years ago now, in 2023, and started its third season earlier this year. In fact, its final episode for season three is coming next week on September 17th, so now seems like a pretty good time to get started with diving into it.

Watch on YouTube

There is is no main character in Neurocracy so to speak, other than you, and you are browsing Omnipedia, a very real but still fictitious website you can head to right now to view everything, though the full version of the game has a virtual conspiracy pin board you can use to unravel the mystery with – we’ll come back to that.

Omnipedia, according to its in-world description, is an “English-language online encyclopedia founded by internet entrepreneur Tony Hsiung in June 2049. Intended as “a general reference work and trusted source of information,” Hsiung initially conceived of Omnipedia as a successor to Wikipedia, which was discontinued in 2048.”

We’ve already learned a few things here – that we’re a good couple of decades into the future, and Wikipedia is dead. Gathering bits of information like that is the name of the game, though you’re after juicier pieces than that, as there’s a murder mystery to be solved. As you find actually useful pieces of information, within the full version of the game you can add particular links and bits of text to build this conspiracy for yourself.

I’ve only dipped my toe into Neurocracy’s world, it’s impressively expansive, though it does feel like the kind of thing you should add to slowly, with only the occasional day of falling through the rabbit hole here and there.

As mentioned, Neurocracy’s third and final season wraps up next week, September 17th, but you can pick it up on Itch.io now to start getting yourself ready for it.

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September 14, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Crypto Traders Profit From Charlie Kirk Murder as Debate Swirls Over Ethical Lines

by admin September 11, 2025

In brief

Crypto traders bought and sold a handful of Charlie Kirk meme coins after the conservative influencer was assassinated on Wednesday, generating millions.
The token creators and top five traders collectively profited more than $2 million, prompting meme coin traders to question whether an ethical line had been crossed.
Some believe profiting off death is too far, while others argue it’s unavoidable in crypto-based free markets.

Meme coin creators and traders profited more than $2 million following the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on Wednesday. It has split the meme coin-frenzied segment of the crypto community, with one side calling those gaining from his death “sickening” while others shrug at the long line of morally questionable tokens traders have capitalized on.

In the wake of the fatal shooting of prominent conservative activist Kirk, four meme coins were created and soared to multi-millions, with the largest peaking at a $36 million market cap. The deployers of these tokens netted more than $563,000 in rewards—royalties paid to the creators of the tokens—in less than 24 hours, according to data from Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun. The top five traders of each token have realized profits over $1.6 million, according to DEX Screener.

As trading for the tokens accelerated on Wednesday night, social media was set ablaze with people searching for and identifying those profiting from the death of the President Trump ally.

Some even suggested that the token launchpad Pump.fun should add filters that prevent the creation of coins that profit from shootings and violence. Pump.fun does have terms of use, a prohibited use policy, and an active moderation team, but such tokens do not violate any of its guidelines. Pump.fun did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

Pump.fun appears to have benefited from the frenzy too. PumpSwap, the decentralized exchange where its tokens trade, saw a significant spike in daily volume to $533 million—a three-month high. The platform, though, did not experience a notable increase in the number of tokens launched or revenue generated, according to data available on Dune.

“I think profiting off someone’s death, especially the magnitude of an event like this, is sickening,” Pump.fun livestreamer Jytol told Decrypt. “Personally, I don’t trade memes which involve death, racism, or bullying.”

“Anything is fair game”

A prominent pseudonymous meme coin trader, 0xWinged, called such critiques “virtue signalling,” suggesting the community is now drawing an arbitrary line that hasn’t been well-defined in the past. 0xWinged explained that he is both sad about Kirk’s death and would have traded the tokens—but was “sidelined sadly.”

“If it’s not me, it’s someone else making money. Meme coins are about reach and publicity. Kirk was the most viral event,” 0xWinged told Decrypt. “I think Crypto Twitter, having moderate right political views, saw Charlie not as a random victim but as a martyr for a greater cause. And the tokenizing of this event reduced his real-world achievements to a market cap.”

He added that he doesn’t think those profiting off the tokens have “any ill intent,” explaining that “anything is fair game” when it comes to meme coin trading. He also admitted there’s something “dystopian” about that.

Others think that dystopian feeling crosses a line. Loopify, a pseudonymous game developer and founder of charity CryptoGaza, compared the trend to investing in war stocks, which he believes exists “below the moral line.”

“My opinion: anyone who makes money off coins like that, you’re the problem with crypto,” pseudonymous meme coin trader WombatAF told Decrypt. “Death isn’t funny, memes should be funny, or a joke. Something you can just get over. Not death and crime.”

CT is full of the most hypocritical, racist, scummy people with no morals

But buying a Charlie Kirk coin is where they draw the line🤣🤣

— 🪐 (@bilal_m17) September 10, 2025

Crypto degens and profiteering

This is, of course, not the first time that crypto degens have profited from tragic events or ethically questionable spectacles—though the Charlie Kirk coins have sparked notably more outrage among meme coin traders.

Last year, meme coin traders pumped tokens based on unfounded rumors that Joe Biden had died… he hadn’t. This year, degens pumped a token called Swasticoin as they parroted antisemitic and Nazi ideologies. And, over the past seven days, traders profited from meme coins referencing the murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Solana token Justice for Iryna hit a $33.8 million market cap with the top five traders profiting $661,700 on the token. The deployer has earned $190,920 in creator fees, but appears to have donated part of this to a GoFundMe for Zarutska’s family. Equally, a token calling for the death penalty for the alleged killer pumped to $40 million, with the top five traders profiting $506,000 from it.

“There is a 9/11 token out right now [and] no one is mentioning it,” Pump.fun livestream clipper Barton Baste told Decrypt, adding that other meme coins are available that reference the deadly protests in Nepal. “What has happened there recently is extremely tragic,” they pointed out.

0xWinged said crypto’s right-wing base meant the death of Kirk felt more impactful than any previous tragic event that degens profited from—not that meme coin traders are against profiting from death.

The fact all yall were foaming at the mouth for the little Ukranian girl stabbed in the neck coin 24 hours ago, sent that shit to 30 mil, but a few shitposts today is where you draw the line is the most absurd thing I’ve ever witnessed. Disgusting lmao

— Lexapro (@LexaproTrader) September 11, 2025

An “oscillating barrier of tolerance”

The pseudonymous Scorched Earth Policy, who holds the title of chief of staff at the Milady-run Remilia Corporation, told Decrypt the situation is reflective of the “hive mind” of the crypto market. He doesn’t believe market participants draw static ethical lines but are instead moved by a “constantly oscillating barrier of tolerance towards distaste.” The more market participants there are, the closer it will represent the cultural consensus, he said.

“Each of these coins has their own specific context,” Scorched Earth Policy said. “Iryna could have developed just as much backlash as the Charlie coins if her story kept gestating. From what I understand, though, the main coin promised to provide money to her family. [But] that sort of thing is often used as a buffer mechanism to default grift resistance.”

Ultimately, the meme coin trenches are the rawest expression of free markets. With the invention of Pump.fun—and the launchpads that followed—anyone can create a meme coin for free, from their phone, in seconds. Then, anyone with a dollar in their digital wallet can buy that token, and then equally sell it.

“Personally, I feel nothing towards it,” Scorched Earth Policy said. “It’s tasteless to participate in something like that but it’s also naive to treat it like something that can be improved.”

It appears, for now at least, that meme coins pumping and dumping based on murders, disasters, and other ethically questionable ordeals are an unavoidable feature of permissionless markets, where cultural events are currency and their users are anonymous.

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September 11, 2025 0 comments

Esports

The Thursday Murder Club review: Starry cast makes this the Avengers of ageing sleuths

by admin August 22, 2025

The Thursday Murder Club is a movie mystery that’s perfect for armchair detectives who like their crime cozy and their comedy broad.

Published in September 2020, The Thursday Murder Club was TV presenter Richard Osman’s debut novel, and it quickly became a sensation.

The book flew off shelves, sequels followed – as did an acclaimed radio adaptation – and now the movie version has arrived courtesy of Netflix.

Home Alone helmer Chris Columbus directs, while the cast is filled with the best pensioners money can buy; a cavalcade of stars clearly having a ball bringing Osman’s weird and wonderful characters to life.

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What’s The Thursday Murder Club about?

Netflix

The Thursday Murder Club is set in a beautiful retirement community called Cooper’s Chase, where the sun always shines, and there’s everything a retiree could want, from support llamas, archery classes, and a jigsaw room, to life drawing lessons that feature hot men with their tops off.

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It’s idyllic and quaint beyond belief, but every Thursday, a group of residents commandeer said jigsaw room, and investigate cold cases from the past.

They start with an unsolved 1973 mystery concerning “the woman in white who fell out of a window.” But then murder rears its head in the present, via a fresh mystery involving dodgy businessmen and even dodgier gangsters, as well as the ownership of Cooper’s Chase itself.

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So using age and experience to their advantage – plus a healthy dose of cunning, and less healthy slices of cake – the Thursday Murder Club set about solving the case and saving their home.

Who is in the club?

NetflixRichard Osman flanked his Thursday Murder Club cast.

Each member of the Thursday Murder Club possesses a different and very specific set of skills, making them a bit like the Avengers of elderly sleuths, or a geriatric Justice League.

Helen Mirren is Elizabeth, the group’s leader, who very possibly worked as a government spy. Ben Kingsley is Ibrahim, a former psychiatrist who is usually the smartest person in the room. While Pierce Brosnan is Ron, a retired trade union leader who’s as tough as nails.

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They’re an investigative trio at the start of the movie, and our way into the story is through Celia Imrie’s Joyce, a former nurse who is new to Cooper’s Chase, and whom the club brings onboard for her medical expertise.

Brosnan’s dodgy cockney accent aside – the second time he’s offended our ears following the MobLand debacle – the Thursday Murder Club is cast well, and make a winning team when working together.

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But it’s Mirren who delivers the standout performance, not when she’s barking orders at her crew or the local constabulary, but rather when Elizabeth is with husband Stephen (Jonathan Pryce), who suffers from dementia. Played to perfection by the pair, their touching scenes are both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Mays bring the biggest laughs

NetflixNaomie Ackie and Daniel Mays play police officers.

But while there are sad moments spread throughout the movie, they’re outnumbered by some big laughs.

Accent notwithstanding, Brosnan gets some of the biggest, most notably when he’s glimpsed exercising with old dears in the pool, but also when scruffy Ron is fooling the coppers, or smart Ron is giving them a dressing down in his wedding suit.

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Other highlights including a cracking Queen Elizabeth II gag, a funny sequence involving the drinking of gin on a bus, and a shocker concerning the aforementioned life drawing that needs to be seen to be believed.

The movie also mines mirth from local coppers being outthought and outwitted by the TMC, with Daniel Mays hilarious as the increasingly confused and frustrated DCI Hughes.

Is The Thursday Murder Club good?

Netflix

The Thursday Murder Clubs is a solid murder-mystery that keeps you guessing until the final few reels, while Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcoate’s tight script ensures that the 118 minute run-time flies by.

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There’s the odd contrivance, involving a dictaphone, bunches of flowers, and an awkward boxing pose. While it gets a little heavy-handed at times, through literal blood on a character’s hands, and a sexism sub-plot that feels tacked on.

But the jokes come thick and fast, while the movie’s best scenes happen in the quieter periods, when touching on more serious themes of loneliness, ill health, and the indignities of old age.

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They’re fleeting moments, handled with sensitivity by Columbus and his cast, and they might just leave you with something in your eye when the credits roll.

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The Thursday Murder Club score: 4/5

The Thursday Murder Club is twee beyond belief, but it’s also a faithful adaptation of Richard Osman’s novel; one that delivers the requisite murder and mystery, as well as laughter and the odd tear.

The Thursday Murder Club hits Netflix on August 28, 2025, while you can head here for more of the best thrillers on the streamer.

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August 22, 2025 0 comments