Screenshots
Watch trailer on Steam ↗Cold Case: The Red Dress Murder
Nessie Games · Published by Nessie Games · Official site ↗
Content notice: Description of violent acts, assault, homicide, and other criminal acts. Description of a cadaver.
Last updated 28 Sept 2026
A desktop-detective mystery where you’re tasked with investigating an unsolved murder. Scour case files and use logic and deduction to discover the truth of a thrilling story.
Delve into Cold Case: The Red Dress Murder, a simulation game where you investigate an unsolved crime by sifting through detailed case files and applying your deductive skills.
About this game
A woman in a red dress was found murdered and the trail has gone cold. It’s been 16 years and the killer was never caught. Now it's the year 2000, and the investigation just caught a lucky break: You.
Use your state-of-the-art computer to examine a series of case files and search databases to gather information. Then, using keywords you find in your investigation, piece together statements that explain what really happened. Evidence doesn’t lie, and it’s up to you to read between the lines to discover the truth.
Good luck, Detective.
Uncover the truth one word at a time
Each case file will require you to make a conclusion of what happened, how it happened, and who was involved. Use the information and keywords you've gathered to complete each statement to unlock new case files.
Information hidden in plain sight
Utilize databases to extend your investigation to discover key information not found elsewhere.
Investigate to the beat of your own drum
Get into the detective mindset with a music player full of themed music to help you focus.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 64-Bit
- Processor: 2.0Ghz Dual Core
- Memory: 6 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 510
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Your graphics card needs at least 2GB of VRAM
Recommended
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
InterfaceX Festival and Demo Update - Case File 3
Hello Detectives,If you didn't know, the InterfaceX festival is live right now! It features over 150 games (including yours truly) that revolves around taking place in a fakeOS. So if you like the Windows98 aesthetics of Cold Case then check out the event - you might just find your new favorite game!We're happy to announce that case file 3 for the demo is out! Thank you for being patient, this one took a lot of time to cook. Turns out, coming up with this type of story and puzzle is pretty difficult. We're huge fan of detective fiction (Agatha Christie, Doyle, Nancy Drew, CSI, Law & Order. You name it, we've watched/read/played it) so we tried our very best to craft an interesting mystery. We hope you enjoy the overall story. We've added a few quality of life features:You can now reorder the list of documents in Investigation tab. Simply drag and drop the link to where you want it.You can delete your save data from the settings menu if you wanted to play the game from the beginning again. There are more quality of life features that we want to add. But we're thinking we'll include it in the full game as they'll take time to develop and test.Lastly, we'd like to thank everyone that has played the demo. An extra thank you to the ones that gave feedback. And an extra extra thank you to the sharp sleuths that are helping other with hints (you know who you are ;) ). If you haven't already please follow and wishlist Cold Case and please consider leaving a review for the demo. Thank you! Cheers,Nessie GamesRead full article on Community Announcements (Nessie Games)AnnouncementsOfficial
Cold Case: The Red Dress Murder Demo is out now!
Hello, detectives,The demo for Cold Case: The Red Dress Murder is finally live! You can access two out of the three chapters right now. Chapter three is in the works and will be coming soon - along with some extras that we won’t spoil just yet.The year is 1990 and a body was discovered on a busy road in the small town of Bear Falls, North Dakota. Incidents like these are uncommon around here and unfortunately the trail has gone cold. This is where you come in. You play as Ramirez, a hot shot detective from Miami who just transferred to the Bear Falls PD. Put on your thinking-cap and scour through evidence, collect keywords, and piece together the details of what happened - all on your '90s-inspired retro computer.If you have any feedback, we’d love if you commented in the discussion board.We hope you enjoy the mystery so far!Good luck, detectives.Read full article on Community Announcements (Nessie Games)AnnouncementsOfficial
Demo sneak peak on Itch.io
Hello detectives,We’ve been hard at work preparing a demo. It’s nearly ready, but we want to do a bit more playtesting before releasing it officially on Steam. If you’d like to try what we have so far, you can play it right now in your browser on itch https://nessiegames.itch.io/cold-case-demoThis version includes 2 of the 3 chapters we’re planning for the full demo. These chapters are unique to the demo. You can think of it as a prologue to the full game, as we wanted to avoid spoiling the full game.We’re looking forward to your feedback and hope you enjoy it!Read full article on Community Announcements (Nessie Games)
