Dark Nights with Poe and Munro is the third full-motion video (FMV) game by D’Avekki Studios. The game is one of D’Avekki Studio’s FMV trilogy which includes The Shapeshifting Detective and The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker. The studio specializes in FMV experiences, which includes the Murderous Decisions dinner-party murder mystery game as well as the previously mentioned video game titles.

Dark Nights with Poe and Munro is about two radio talk show hosts investigating odd occurrences in the town of August. The two main characters Poe, played by Klemens Koehring, and Munro, played by Leah Cunard, are lovers and colleagues who manage to be in the middle of it all. The game has six more or less stand-alone episodes which took me about 3 hours to play through. The entire game is fully FMV, with a cast of fifteen actors and eleven guests just for voice overs.

Overall, I liked the game, and was especially fond of the high-quality cinematography and acting. This was the first time I had played an FMV game before, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was impressed with the production quality, which I found much better than some well-known games with similar mechanics (like the Dark Pictures series recently reviewed by Eve here). The shot types were varied, interesting, and worked to elevate the narrative, instead of being boring or distracting. There were also a wide variety of choices given each episode, which made the game fairly engaging. I really liked that at the end of an episode the game gave you a summary of your choices and how they compared to other players.

While I enjoyed Dark Nights with Poe and Munro, there was a little bit missing for me. One of my biggest gripes was the script, which was corny, campy, and more than a little suggestive. These qualities are not inherently bad in a script, especially an FMV script, however it had a tendency to fall flat for me. I think this was largely due to the characterization of Poe and Munro as not very likable. As previously mentioned, the actors did a great job, however, it was hard for me to connect with Poe and Munro as main characters when I didn’t know very much about them (other than that they are adulterers, operate a failing radio show, and are not particularly kind). I also found the episodes to be inconsistent in their quality, length, and magnitude of choices available. 

For $13 on Steam, I would recommend Dark Nights with Poe and Munro if you are a fan of FMV games or want an introduction into the medium. I would definitely be willing to try other FMV games by D’Avekki Studios in the future. If you are fond of weird and campy mysteries, this game will be enjoyable, however if you are looking for a scarier or more character-based FMV experience this game may not be for you.

I received this game as part of the Jingle Jam 2022 Charity Bundle available on Tiltify through December 14th. Read my announcement about this year’s Jingle Jam here.