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Review
The Missing Ring is a charming whodunnit mystery where you take the role of a fourteen-year-old girl investigating who has stolen her Grandmother's engagement ring. The entire story takes place on Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day, ending with a classic reveal where you must accuse one character of taking the ring when the family gathers for Christmas dinner.
During the main portion of this choice-based game you are free to explore your grandmother's house and question family members at will. There is a rudimentary inventory system and your notebook usefully reminds you which leads you still need to follow up.
The game took me about an hour and a half to play through. The story was enjoyable throughout but there aren't really any puzzles to speak of - you simply need to click on all the hyperlinks in a reasonable order, which isn't too challenging! The overarching mystery itself is a good one. Even though I guessed the correct culprit, I didn't really have a properly developed theory as to their motivation. In hindsight, there were quite a few subtle clues, and the whole thing does hang together really well, maybe I'm just not too good at solving mysteries!
Ultimately, the strengths of the story are the brilliant representation of awkward family dynamics, the sympathetically described but quirky characters, and the protagonist's reaction to a series of uncovered revelations that are not necessarily related to the titular ring. There is a nice line in gentle, observational humour throughout and the story is rather touching in places as well.
Overall, a very enjoyable and engaging story, and a cosy (slightly) festive mystery, but it's rather light in terms of puzzles and challenge.
