A Murder Of The Ages : An Ancient Battle For Revenge On The Fringes Of Reality

Get out your magnifying glasses and start looking for clues as we investigate the curious case of Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches and its connection to the murder-mystery genre.

This might look like the typical blog you expect from me, but I must warn you, it is not. Oh no, you’ll have to keep your wits about you for this one. Because this week we’re discussing a … (drumroll, please)… MURDER MYSTERY.

From the many stories of Agatha Christie to the dozens of detective dramas that are broadcast on TV, it seems people can’t get enough of a good old fictional murder. The question “Whodunit?” has long intrigued audiences, offering twists, turns, and revelations that make the genre compelling and successful. As the mystery unfolds, viewers engage with the story, trying to solve it alongside the protagonist, making the experience interactive.

The murder-mystery genre is nothing new in the world of video games, either. Think of 2014’s Murdered: Soul Suspect or the newer Shadows of Doubt. But what happens when we add the old and strange myths of the Celts to the mix? It turns what might already be a puzzling case into something much more, perhaps even worse and sinister. Because, can you fight the stuff of legend?

You can surely try! And Arberth Studios’ Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches (2008) presents you with the challenge.

In this blog, I will investigate (pun intended) whether Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches uses all the necessary elements for it to be classified as a murder-mystery and how it uses Celtic mythology to do this. If executed perfectly, it would result in something that feels familiar and uncanny at the same time. The world of myth and modernity would collide into a timeless and wholly new story. But before I get ahead of myself, let me first explain the premise of the game.

In The Welsh Countryside

Some of you might recognise the name Rhiannon from the Fleetwood Mac song. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this game is not a murder-mystery focused on Stevie Nicks. The game follows a teenage girl named Rhiannon who moved to the Welsh countryside with her parents, the Sullivans. Ever since arriving at Ty Pryderi, their new farmstead, Rhiannon has been hearing voices and seeing ghostly apparitions. With her parents not believing her and her friends living miles away, lonely Rhiannon starts to feel like she’s going mad. After realising that their daughter is not doing well, the Sullivans decide to leave their farmstead for an indefinite period of time. This is where the player comes in, who will be taking up the role of the sleuth in this mystery. The Sullivans have asked the player to take care of the home in their absence, but as soon as the player arrives, they, too, start to hear voices and see things they can’t explain. It seems the ghosts that haunted Rhiannon are coming after the player now.

Rhiannon Rings Like A Bell Through The Night

In order to understand how well this game adheres to the mystery genre and how it uses Welsh mythology to enhance the experience, we should start by unpacking the essential ingredients and components that make up a classic whodunit. For ease, I’m going off of the list posted on the Masterclass website. (As this website offers classes by actual authors, such as the famous thriller-writer Dan Brown, it seems trustworthy enough to speak on the genre’s behalf.) The website tells us that a good murder-mystery should include the following: a hook, a good atmosphere and setting, a crime, a sleuth, a villain, narrative momentum, clues, foreshadowing, red herrings and misdirections, and a good ending.

As the player enters the house, they can hear the galloping gait of a horse outside. This seems harmless enough, considering that the story takes place in the countryside. But this quickly changes when the protagonist finds a newspaper on the doormat that mentions the apparition of a ghostly white horse in the area. Spooky vibes are starting to kick in, and disembodied whispers start to enter your mind.

Throughout the game, this creepy atmosphere continues to build as the player hears more and more whispers, sees apparitions of ghosts, visions of dead bodies, and even receives disembodied warnings from the villain himself. By following the clues and interacting with objects, even going through Rhiannon’s personal journal and emails (you can judge for yourself how ethical that is), the player figures out that Rhiannon is the victim of an ancient ritual set in place by the legendary wizard Llwyd ap Cil Coed. The game reveals the villain about halfway through, which is in contrast to how the narrative usually flows in the genre. (More often than not, the villain is revealed in the closing act.)

Llwyd is a figure from real Welsh mythology, featured in “The Four Branches of the Mabinogi.” In the game, these legends appear as one of the interactable objects: a book discussing these exact four tales, grounding the game in genuine history. The stories recount the life of Pryderi, a key mythological figure, covering his birth, life, and ultimately his death. And as you might recognise from earlier on in the blog, the farmstead is called Ty Pryderi. Hinting at another mythological connection. The studio’s decision to include these types of realistic interactable objects and hints to Welsh history not only enhances the immersion but also shows that games are not merely entertainment but interactive tools for teaching. Those who are not familiar with Welsh (Or Celtic) mythology can learn a lot from this game. And those who do know a thing or two have the chance to see it laid out in a new and interesting format, a murder-mystery game.

According to the legends in the game, Llwyd once targeted Pryderi but failed, after which he vowed to leave both him and Rhiannon in peace. However, modern Rhiannon believes that he might have spared them in life, but took his revenge in the afterlife, trapping their souls. And as the player progresses through the story, it becomes clear that Llwyd’s revenge did not stop there.

The Death Of A Name

To backtrack a little, you might have noticed that I mentioned the protagonist experienced visions of dead bodies. It turns out Llwyd’s crimes are far worse than originally expected. Although the whispers and apparitions might initially be explained through Rhiannon and the protagonist experiencing a shared delusion, it starts to become impossible to cling to this explanation when bodies drop in front of your eyes.

As the player continues playing, they find evidence of not just one Rhiannon mysteriously dying on the property, but two! This is the point where the line between legend and reality becomes a little hazy.

You see, Llwyd needs to trap the souls of four women named Rhiannon to complete his ritual. Firstly, we have the original Rhiannon, whose soul was trapped after her death; then we have Rhiannon Boswell, who died in a mysterious fire at Ty Pryderi; and thirdly, we have Rhiannon Wallace, who disappeared whilst being part of a commune that lived at Ty Pryderi. Modern-day Rhiannon is meant to be his fourth and final victim, but it’s up to the player to prevent the ritual from being completed and save her life.

The clues that the player gathers along the way help complete the story of what happened to the other Rhiannons, foreshadowing what will happen to modern-day Rhiannon if Llwyd is not stopped. To stop the evil wizard, the player has to complete a sort of counter-ritual to create four orbs, each representing a different element: water, earth, fire and air.

“And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”

Despite the villain being revealed early on, the game never loses its momentum.  The increasing (although mild) jump scares produce a feeling of urgency. As if the player is running out of time to save Rhiannon. This remains present all the way up until the ending, making it hard to put the game down for even a second.

Whether this game can be seen as a classic murder-mystery seems pretty clear. It has all the elements, right? Well, almost all… The only thing that is really missing in this game is the misdirection and red herrings. The game offers no other suspects for the role of the villain or culprit, and doesn’t really mislead the player in any way about what happened and what needs to be done to solve the mystery. Although the game might have improved if the developers had added a little red herring here and there, keeping the mystery alive for longer, this game is still a great addition to the murder-mystery genre.

I hope to have shown you exactly why infusing a murder mystery with Celtic mythology results in an interesting game. Myth and reality start to intertwine until they’re indistinguishable from one another. Is Rhiannon losing her mind? Is the player losing their mind? Or are evil wizards, ghost horses, magic, and other mythological beings actually real? The game is filled with both real Welsh history and the myths of old, resulting in a game where the player may almost feel like they are stuck in a liminal space.

The murder-mystery genre often centres around historical periods, places, people or events. That is nothing new. But rarely does it include the mythological, which is why this game stands out as much as it does. The villain cannot simply be caught by pointing a finger at them and yelling, “J’accuse!” It actually involves the player going through the entire property in search of clues, making connections between the old objects from the myths and their modern-day equivalents, and literally performing magic themselves, before being able to save everyone. It is the perfect amalgamation of a historical mystery and fantasy.

Even beyond its entertainment value, the game helps revive and share a culture that has long been fading. Thanks to decades of dedication, Wales has managed to preserve its heritage. And games like this play a meaningful role in keeping that culture alive. So congrats to Arberth Studios for making this game and inspiring a whole new (by now perhaps already a bit older) generation of people to delve into the wonderful world of Welsh mythology!