Murder on the Marine Express
A downloadable visual novel for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android
Murder on the Marine Express is a kinetic novel and the first installment of The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa series.
The St. Joachim Academy for elite girls booked the maiden voyage of the new Marine Express submarine train, which runs along the ocean floor from the sunny California all the way to the Japanese coast. The journey seems to be the perfect opportunity to enjoy the beautiful underwater views, learn a bit more about marine biology and, ultimately, relax from the usual school life. However, the idyllic travel turns into a nightmare when one of the accompanying teachers is found dead in his room. Who could have killed the most popular and beloved professor in the academy?
Ranko Togawa, a grumpy student but with a great sense of responsibility, decides to investigate the events accompanied by her friend Astrid to clear the name of the main suspect in the case. Of course, it won't be that simple. As the number of victims keeps growing, the possibility of facing a serial killer becomes more real and chaos slowly takes over the train. Ranko shall make the most of her time to find out the truth and prevent the mysterious murderer from continuing to act unrestricted, though not all the answers in this mess will be to her liking…
Learn the secrets hidden in the Marine Express and find the culprit in this story of tragedy, surprises and lots of humor!
FEATURES
► A mystery visual novel with classic locked-space whodunit development following the style of popular detective fiction.
► A story in 5 chapters offering 3 hours of reading.
► Retro-feel graphics with pixel art in the style of old text adventure games.
► Large cast of charismatic characters with humorous dialogues.
► Side conversations on Ranko's phone which help to understand the situation on the train and know more about the students of St. Joachim.
► Texts in English, French, Spanish and Japanese.
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Purchase
In order to download this visual novel you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Also available on
Download demo
Development log
- The definitive version with new languages is finally here!Sep 01, 2022
- Version 1.04 is up!Sep 05, 2021
- Version 1.03 Up!Aug 08, 2021
- Version 1.02 Up!Aug 03, 2021
- Version 1.01 Up!Jul 31, 2021
- Murder on the Marine Express is available now!Jul 30, 2021
Comments
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I finished it on PS5 today. I enjoyed it. Nice little story for the price. Haifaa was my favorite character and I liked her music. I'm interested in playing the next game in the series if it comes to PSN. I would definitely like to see some quality of life improvements, though. Dedicated hotkeys for the log and phone would be nice, at least. I'd like to be able to scroll through them with the right analog stick.
It was a lovely trip, despite the murder.
Played in spanish. It is fun, well written, with a colorful female cast that is endearing. In the end, it feels like a good whodunnit.
Need more of Haifaa's adventures, as well as Ranko. Hope this becomes a series, it certianly has the potential to be one.
The Game release completes?
Great!
¿El Juego ya está completo?
¡Es genial!
i love this story concept, can't wait to see more !! :3
Thank you so much!! Hope to bring some news about the launch date pretty soon, it won't be a long wait. :D
Does this game have romanceable characters, how many and what genders?
No romance, pal. Just MURDER. >:D
It looks very interesting! I love the choice of music and the art style of the game! The chemistry between Ranko and Astrid is kind of interesting. The small phone menu looks like a small detail but it gives so much fun thing to experiment in the game. So far I haven't reach the murder part yet.
Wow, thank you VERY much for your comments and your gameplay video! That really made our day, your narration was so much fun. (lol)
Would you let us share it on our social media accounts? Like, pretty please?
Sure! That would be awesome!!!
Finally finished the demo! Its a nice demo since it kind of give a vague detail of what story to be expected in the full release. Can't wait for the full release of the game.
I love this game so much! Can't wait for the demo!
Awesome, I can't wait for the full version!
I just finished the demo and I loved it!
Can't wait for the full release!!!
Also, where can I give you feedback about the demo?
Hi!
Thank you so much for playing our demo. <3
You can leave any comments right here, but if you are thinking on leaving a long and detailed feedback to help improving the game, maybe it's better to write an email to hitogoroshistudio@gmail.com. Spanish is totally fine too!
Lo mando por email entonces!
Hi there!
We'd like the game to be in as many languages as possible so everyone could enjoy the story regardless of where they are from. Therefore, we are studying the best way to do so in order to ensure professional translations and a fair remuneration for the people who worked on them. We can't accept your offer right now but we're very glad for it, so we'll keep that in mind for the future. Thank you!