Carol Reed Mysteries

Lore & Background

The Carol Reed Mysteries were created by Mikael Nyqvist, who founded MDNA Games, a company named after the singer Madonna. The protagonist's name was chosen by Mikael's wife Eleen, despite his reservations about its association with a male English director. The first three games were made by the couple together; Eleen later took a consulting role. The games are set in Sweden but feature an English protagonist, forcing Swedish characters to speak English with a Swedish accent, allowing the use of friends and acquaintances as low-cost actors. Sarah Louise Williams, Eleen's sister, voices Carol Reed and plays Stina. Bjørn Larsen, who plays Jonas, was a colleague of Mikael at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. Bigge is an old friend of Mikael's. All cast members have other careers.

Reader's Guide

The Carol Reed Mysteries are significant as one of the longest-running adventure game series, noted for their unique photographic style and independent development. The games are exclusively available via the MDNA Games website, with the team preferring to work without American publishers. The series has received generally positive reviews from outlets such as Adventure Gamers, Just Adventure, and Adventure Classic Gaming, with scores ranging from 2/5 to 4/5 stars. The games avoid blood and shock effects, and Mikael Nyqvist has noted that if shot at night rather than in sunny summer days, they would be classified as horror games. The series' legacy lies in its consistent, low-budget production model and its dedication to a simple, non-barrier interface, using a custom framework called EgoVenture since 2021.

Did You Know?

• The games are set in Mikael Nyqvist's hometown of Norrköping, Sweden, and use local history as a backdrop.
• Carol Reed's in-game apartment is Mikael's real-life apartment, and the dacha seen in the game is Eleen's summer holiday house.
• The location of the in-game 'Dead City' was an abandoned leper colony in Arico, Tenerife, Spain.
• Mikael Nyqvist shoots field surveys starting at 4:00 am to avoid people and capture good lighting, retouching any unavoidable people out of the photos.