Solve It - A visual novel Reviews

I have played and enjoyed many of the Haiku games (all of which were the puzzle oriented one). Therefore, this series I was unsure of since it wasn’t like their normal game style. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the novels were made. I have looked at other reviews that comment on the negative aspects of these kinds of games: having to purchase coins, waiting for keys to unlock the next section, picking a word choice and then regretting it instantly. These are all certainly irritating side affects of visual novels. However, Haiku games allows the player to work around said annoyances. To avoid spending excessively with real money, you can play through the game multiple times and continue to reap coins to buy that extra scene. Wait time is half an hour, which to be fair isn’t a very long time. I found it rather the perfect time increment to go finish something else before returning to the game. Over all, this game was and still is a very fun game to play through because I didn’t have to worry about missing out something (a common occurrence with other visual novels).

I’ve played several of Haiku’s other more puzzle-based games and while I enjoyed those, the Solve It series has to be my favorite. I love being able to choose the path of my investigation, and the questions and paths feel intuitive. I like the optional bonus scenes, and that they stay unlocked across playthroughs.

You can play the entire game completely for free as long as you have the patience for your keys to refresh (which goes pretty quickly as well).

The characters are all interesting and flushed out, and there is a surprising level of depth to the stories and the characters. Choices you make in one game can have a small effect in the next game (if you choose) and I love that as well.

I whole-heartedly love these games and I hope Haiku continues to make more because I’m excited to see how our favorite recurring characters continue to develop in the future.

The only thing I would like added is a short rewind button where you can go back to the previous bubble because sometimes I’ve accidentally clicked a scene forward and missed part of the dialogue. The good thing is that the most important information is spread across multiple screens and snippets of conversation so you don’t miss the big picture. However, I can tell a lot of care was put into this game and I want to get it all :)

TLDR: If you liked Episodes but want a game with a cohesive story, layered choices, and no ads, Solve It is for you!

So normally I never download & play games on my phone because they’re usually wack, BUT NOT THIS GAME. I was hooked right away. I love how it is setup, great story line & twists, maybe a few more options & different outcomes per character in the ending but even without its still a above average game & addicting. I love how the style is on how to navigate the game - super simple & honestly left me wanting to play more, please either add more to this series in SolveIt & let it continue on after you complete one or create a new app for each storyline but my advice is just continue it on one after another. Either make them different or include people from the previous one to make it a even more interesting storyline 😱 Would rate it 10 stars if i could!! So i had to review. Oh & thank you for making the new lives timer fast & barely any ads & for it being FREE & love how you can easily earn coins by being a good detective 😏

I really like all of Haiku’s games and was curious to see this new “visual novel” they were putting out. Honestly, it’s pretty good. If you’re expecting anything like the others, you’ll be disappointed because there are ZERO elements of collecting items and cracking codes through mini games. I would compare this game to Episode. It relies solely on the player’s choices, but does a good job of keeping the plot moving. If you’re into this kind of game, you’ll love Solve It! Couple minor issues: sometimes I would earn a few keys only to open the game and find out I had none. It would also glitch sometimes and speed through conversations or not let me pick buttons at all, though that may have been a problem just on my phone. My only issue with the plot line itself is that it was a little too suggestive at some points, with at least one cuss word thrown in. Would have been much better without that. Otherwise, good story and fun game!

Side note: when interviewing that girl for Herschel’s alibi, Logan says Matthew instead of Herschel.

Got pulled into the story and spent some coin because I couldn't wait for the keys to populate.
Nice change for a game, and enjoyed that the sleuth could make choices to have or not to have romance, with either gender characters.
I see a hint about some extended gameplay in another review, so I may run through it again to see if I can get more sleuthing points.
Really like that you have great female leads in many of your games.
I'm not a fan of the key system, I would rather pay a couple bucks up front. You have a pretty solid following, and some great games. Having to either pay or wait, on keys, to be able to play is a frustrating model of gameplay, and I avoid developers that use it. It is a bit better on the other style of games where a key unlocks a chapter, I just hate to see you go this route.

I have played (I believe) all of the Haikus games. I LOVE their adventure escape games. I’ve spent hours trying to solve them, and enjoying the dialogue, the puzzles, and the suspense inducing outcome. They’re always satisfying! I was a little weary about Solve it when I saw that it was a different format than Haikus usual games, but as I just completed the game, I have to say that I’m absolutely thrilled this game exists. It was such a beautiful game, with the art and dialogue, and introduces a different perspective than the adventure escape games. While I definitely still love the adventure escape games, and try to patiently wait for the next game to come out, I would be ECSTATIC if Haiku Games came out with another game like Solve it. 10/10 would recommend it. Keep up the amazing work Haiku!

I know I played a beta version, but I really enjoyed this game. The characters and story were really great and I can’t wait to play the full version of this!

The only 2 things I would tweak are: 1. I felt like I could never get enough points (sleuth dollars?) before the chance to use ALL of them came up. Either make points easier to obtain, rewards greater, or the option to use them less. 80 each time is a little much when you get 2-4 per interaction. 2. Make sure there is no way to do things out of order. There were a few times when I used a clue and the interaction told me information I already got elsewhere or led me to talk to someone I already had.

Other than those two minor things, I liked it. In fact, I’m going to play it again so I can have enough points to explore options I couldn’t the first time!

This is a very different game than the normal Haiku room escape games, just so you know, and I’m am saying that this is a bad game, it’s a great game. For what it is, a visual novel, the game is fun, and a good way to kill 15 minutes here and there. As long as you realize this is a different type of game than all the other Haiku games. I’ve played all of those, or all that are on SolveIt Store. Most visual novels, for me, are boring, this was an entertaining visual novel, with a lot of decisions that effect the ending/progress of the story. Altogether a great game for being the first of its kind from this company, also try out there escape games there all amazing, and basically free if you want them to be. Only reason I gave 4 stars is it costs too many coins to play certain extra “deluxe chapters”, or you don’t get enough coins for good decisions, the balance is off just a bit.

I have tried a couple of interactive story apps, and this is by far my favorite. I like that the choices are interesting and we do not need to spend money on diamonds for a chance at a better choice to improve the story. This story is already engaging and fun. I love the characters and the fact that the keys replenish within a few minutes.

Thank you so much for this game, please, please, make more engaging stories like this one and do not go the same route as the other interactive stories where you give up because the ridiculous amount of diamonds they charge for the choice and then they expect you to buy diamonds on top of it.

You did it perfectly and I love your game!

Most of the time when I download a new murder game or anything to do with crime and mystery I usually delete the same day BUT, with this game I actually enjoyed it. And the choices you make really do have an affect and I like that you can make a lot of choices without having to pay. The graphics are actually good and not poor, the storyline is just one of the best. It doesn’t take a day to finish it so it always leads you back to play more until you finish the case. Sooo download Bc you won’t regret it 🤝

I love Haiku's escape games, so wasn't sure what to expect with this new visual novel format. I will admit, it was pretty enjoyable and the story was just as well-done as all of their other ones. There is always some mystery going on, but in this one you are the investigator. There are no puzzles to solve, just options of what questions to ask and who to question. Nothing really that difficult, but it was interesting to see what would happen depending on what you did. Something kinda irritating though, is the developers seemed a bit hung up on sexual encounters. Like, if it was part of the story that was fine, but to keep bringing it up for the character you are playing as, was kinda weird. I would recommend this game, but not with that as part of it. Sorry.

Hi! I LOVE ALL your adventure escape games and cannot wait for the next one to come out- please hurry!!! At first I was disappointed because I thought this was going to be like the other AE games that I love. Then I found an appreciation for it bc it’s very different.
However a few tweaks- there’s not many coins awarded when it’s 80 to cash in...It should be possible to do every interaction if you answer everything perfectly (let’s call it “expert”), and there’s no way you earn enough coins to do that. On that note, I thought there’d be a juicy story when I did 80 coins to here his and Cindy’s story & it was disappointing- add more steam to it please!!! Anyways this was different & enjoyable but please keep making more of the original games with Kate!

I much prefer the puzzles and style of the adventure games. The key system is annoying enough in those games but atleast you get some solid play time in. The novel route was interesting enough but the key system ruins the mojo. When playing a game of this sort you want to keep a flow. Using a key for 3 minutes of dialogue is ridiculous. The format ruins the game. Break it into chapters. A key should give you more play. I just simply think this key system barely works for the adventure games but ruins this game. I have given you three stars solely to try and be supportive to your past work. It really doesn’t rise to the level of past games. I recommend if you skip this entry and play Trapmaker instead.

As all haiku games are, amazing! I can not seem to get enough of these games! Everything from beginning to end was just fantastic! Any payments in the game are completely optional. If anyone ever says anything bad about any games made by haiku, they really don’t know a good game when they see one! And best of all, no adds! Almost too good to be true! But I do have one question… if any payments are optional and you do not use adds, how do you all make a profit? You guys do not have to answer this question but I am just curious.

When an indie developer puts a game out for free with no ads, I’m already impressed and lower the bar a little but I didn’t have to for this game. I was captivated by the story and cheeky dialogue and the amount of clues and characters to discover kept the game really compelling all the way through. Scenes are beautifully designed and gameplay is intuitive. If you prefer not to wait (I finished the game in one sick day) you can spend a bit of money to play through. Thanks haiku for tickling my mystery itch!

I downloaded this game from another one of the games, and I loved it! The extra little parts of the stories were fun. All of it reminded me of the old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, but you couldn’t mess up the case (as far as I saw).

My only concern was sometimes having to restart a cheaper if my phone locked or timed out...not completely annoying, but could be confusing sometimes

I don’t find many games I enjoy solving crime cases, especially without hidden fees but this was exactly what I was looking for. A little more solving might have been nice but overall it was a good story line, unexpected and I enjoyed the overall experience. There were no hidden fees to be able to play a certain way which was definitely appreciated, as I find this aspect is very rare! Definitely give it a go if you like crime solving games. I would definitely recommend this game to those who do!

I really enjoy all their games. Not a bad one. They’re similar enough that the game play is easy to pick up but different enough to make them unique. The only thing I don’t like is how you have to use the right arrow to flip through text. I’m left handed so my hand is constantly crossing the screen. It’s a small thing but very annoying. A lot of other games you can touch anyway which is very left hand friendly. Just something I wish was changed

I’ve played all of the Haiku Games so far and this one is definitely my favorite in terms of the storyline. I enjoyed the different style of this game as much as the others. I used to play the games alone, but now a ton of my friends enjoy these games too and we all can’t wait for the next one to play together. This company deserves so much more credit than it has received. There is not a better escape game on the market. Can’t wait for the next game!!!

I’ve played all the adventure escape games much like most reviews here and this new format was quite refreshing! It was great to switch it up and date I say I love solve it just as much it even more than adventure escape. Don’t get me wrong, I’m waiting for more adventure escape but now I want more Solve it! There’s so many scenarios and you can replay it and try different options to see what events will play out.

I’ll keep an eye for more like from Haiku!