KillerDoku: a murder-mystery sudoku that turns logic solving into detective work

Kai Nakamura — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 08:43:32 +0000

Found something fun this week and had to share.

KillerDoku is a sudoku game with a twist: every grid is a murder case. You are not just filling numbers — each deduction gives up a piece of the story, and finishing the grid means naming the culprit. The noir presentation (rain, case files, silhouettes) does a lot of heavy lifting, but the puzzles are the real draw.

What makes it worth your time:

Hand-crafted variants, not a random fill generator: grids from 7×7 up to 20×20, with extra rules layered on top.
A genuine difficulty curve from easy to nightmare, spread over three planets and 21 regions — great for a coffee-break solve or a long evening.
222 cases, 125 of them free, so there is plenty to try before spending anything (paid packs are $0.99–$2.99).
No install and no account: it runs in the browser and remembers progress locally.
Story you want to read, not skip: each case has a short setup and suspects, so finishing feels like closing a chapter instead of just clearing boxes.

Sudoku purists might flinch at the theme, but the deductions are honest and the mystery framing gives the grind a purpose. It is also playable in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

If you want to try it, the first case is free here: https://killerdoku.com/play/6a97f8ff908653c345ee3426 — and the site is https://killerdoku.com/ .

If you play it, I am curious whether the nightmare tier is actually diabolical or just slow. Happy solving.

DEV Community: Kai Nakamura

KillerDoku: a murder-mystery sudoku that turns logic solving into detective work