Last updated on December 13th, 2025 at 05:16 pm
Detective Di – Adventure Game Review
Detective Di is a Adventure/Puzzle/Entertainment game from Minh Tri Ta, first launched in 24th June 2020.
It’s rated 9+ and currently has 26+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Detective Di Stand Out
A thrilling point-and-click adventure game where you play as Di Renjie, ancient China's most famous and gifted investigator, as he tracks a serial killer in the heart of the Tang Dynasty's capital city.
STORY
Amid lingering political turmoil, the first and only female empress of China, Wu Zetian rises to power. Within months of her ascension to the throne, murmurs of discontentment and revolution swell as detractors and enemies begin plotting against her. It is against this backdrop that our protagonist, newly appointed investigating magistrate Di Renjie, must solve a gruesome series of murders–which will lead him on a collision course with the Imperial Court and the empress herself.
Will our young detective overcome his own inner demons and his allegiance to the previous emperor? What is the connection between the murder victims and the capital's many political secrets? YOU must uncover the truth…
GAMEPLAY
Playing as the legendary detective, players will explore this unique setting and unravel its narrative twists and turns using familiar adventure gameplay mechanics such as exploration, dialogue choices, interaction with objects and clues, and puzzle-solving. Additionally, we are introducing an original mechanic where you will be able to deduct and reenact the scene of a crime and put your theories to the test.
The pixel art style of the game is also an homage to old school graphics, but we've added our own visual signature and design sensibilities. The game contains over 45 locations (many spanning multiple screen widths), each one pixel-painted with care and attention to detail.
FEATURES
- Distinct 2D pixel art style
- Immersive story-driven experience
- Challenging and fun puzzles to solve
- Unique Chinese cultural and historical references
- Fantastic soundtrack with 13 original tracks
REVIEWS
“Nupixo’s debut offering Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a brilliant introduction to one of ancient China’s most famous investigators that does just about everything right.”
- Adventure Gamers, 4.5/5
“A no-brainer to pick up for anyone looking for a cerebral and emotional murder mystery.”
- DarkStation, 4/5
"Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a great way to showcase one of China's greatest detective minds, and bring him into the spotlight along with other giants of the mystery genre, like Sherlock and Poirot."
- Softpedia, 4/5
“The story will pull you in almost right away, and there’s no denying how beautiful the pixel graphics are and how well-written the dialogue is.”
- GameSpew
This Adventure game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Detective Di is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 10th July 2020
Recent improvements include:
- Minor bug fixes
- Store listing correction and optimization
- Age rating correction
Download & Availability
Detective Di is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We had been playing this Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders game and enjoyed it! The puzzles are challenging and we wanted to give you a high five for this game. Great job! We are having issues with the item in the inventory. We are in a stage where the detective meets General Zhang at the East Pier to ask questions. The key item disappeared from the inventory and we cannot find it after several attempts to search and swipe the inventory around. This key is for the makeup box in a room with a fan and surrounding candles. Do you have a workaround to resolve this issue? Thanks Update: the issue is resolved. Great game! We give 5-stars for it.
The attention to detail and beauty of the pixel art is really visually striking. We were captivated by it the entire time. Definitely worth the $. It was a decent length and the writing was really good too! So happy to have found this game.
UPDATED 12/12/2021: Ive changed our rating from 3 to 5 stars. The developers were wonderful with following up with our issue, offering us a solution that let us resume the game from where we originally left off. The glitch no longer occurred, and we (finally!) finished the game. Definitely enjoyed this game. We would love if there was a whole series of games following Detective Dis most impactful cases. Very, very much recommend this! ORIGINAL REVIEW: First, let us say that this is a wonderful game. Ive been playing it for the last few days and have thoroughly enjoyed opening it in our free time. So you can understand our frustration over how a glitch in the inventory mechanic has literally halted our gameplay. And we are using literally to mean just that. The glitch is that, one item that we used earlier in the game mysteriously remained in our inventory. The slot that item takes up is just enough for us to be unable to use another item we pick up later in the gameplay, because now its off screen. We cant scroll over. The inventory doesnt have multiple rows. Ive tried every type of swiping action, searched everywhere on Googleno help. Whats worse, our other saved games only go back to a certain point, so we will have to start the game over from scratch. Not an end-of-the world situation, obviously, but just a real bummer that took us out of the magic of playing through the first time. Again, no setbacks about the game itselfI definitely recommend playing it and will probably retry it from the start in a month or two. We just hope this glitch gets resolved somehow.
Very enjoyable P&C adventure game that got us engaged, with not-too-difficult puzzles, all with a compelling story with real historical figures. Its very refreshing to play a game in context of ancient China, it inspired us to read up on the actual people and what happened in history. We love the pixel art style, and the writing is good. Sometimes the puzzles feel set apart from the storyline, but thats like most adventure games. Id definitely play a sequel if there is one.
While not the hardest puzzles for a P & C adventure, the storyline is great. Lots of mood and atmosphere. Surprised this game isnt more popular! Voice acting would have pushed it over the top for sure, but still 5 stars for us.
We are very much enjoying this game very much. Wish there were more games like this in the App Store.
We previously posted a low rating thinking that the game had a bug. Mea culpa – we just didnt understand what to do. So we are now revising our review . It is enjoyable -and aesthetically very nice.
How can you save we have to keep restarting from the beginning.
Love this game and the story, but Ive started twice now. Both times when we come back, we cant load our previous game or resume. Please fix so we can finish. Im on an iPad.
Every time, we close the game we have to start over from the beginning. There is no option to save the game. Its also impossible to load the game since the button does not work in the menu.
Id like to give this 5 stars. We completed the first case, and some sort of dream sequence, but then we had to put it away for the night. It makes it appear as though you can pick up from where you left off, but you cant. Resume and Load Game do not take you back to where you were. It just hangs forever until you give up. You have to start back at the beginning. We wasted well over an hour playing this. The story and gameplay were pretty good, but we dont have the time to play the whole thing from beginning to end in one sitting (even if we knew how long that would be). Edit: There is contact info on the developers website, Ive sent an inquiry about this. We hope theyll fix this, but if not, Id like our money back.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.5.9
- Size: 965.24 MB
- iOS: 10.0 or later
- Languages: EN, ZH
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: Minh Tri Ta
Last updated: 10th July 2020 | Genre: Adventure, Puzzle | Developer: Minh Tri Ta