Review: The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Nintendo Switch)

The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a pretty average release on the Nintendo Switch. This hidden object game has its moments, but it’s an older port that suffers from typos.

This game is loosely (and I mean loosely) based on the famous short novel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s more of a reimagining, so if you were hoping for a story even somewhere near the original, you’d probably be bummed. That said, the game still has a fair amount of reading, and the writing is solid enough for what it is.

The presentation (London) is atmospheric but largely static. This is a game that appeared on the Nintendo DS over 10 years ago, after all. A bit of rain is the lone highlight amidst the still screens. The music is repetitive, but thankfully one of the tracks is pretty catchy.

This game mainly focuses on hidden objects and less on mini-game puzzles, the latter definitely being of the time-waster variety. Some hidden items have peculiar hitboxes, so you may need to click them more than once to register. Cobwebs will fill the screen if wrong clicks occur too often, but only for a few seconds. Hints are generous and rarely needed. This casual game isn’t challenging. 

What can make it occasionally tricky is misspellings. For instance, animal paws are listed as pows, and a doe is listed as a roe, to name just a couple of examples. Typos such as these, while not frequent enough to be the norm, are clumsy nonetheless.

There are a few unique aspects to this otherwise straightforward hidden object adventure. For one, it avoids the repetition of revisiting the same scenes. This makes it a slightly shorter title (four or five hours), but it’s better for it as far as I’m concerned. I also found it interesting how it incorporates some elements that the story predates, namely fingerprint analysis and security cameras. It’s odd and doesn’t necessarily make the game better, but it left me thinking at least.

The Mysterious Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde is entertaining as a hidden object game, but this port is sloppy. If you’re a fan yet to play it, wishlist it for a future sale. But know that there are better representations of the genre on the Nintendo Switch, including from the same publisher. Everyone else can stick with the well-known short novel.