Put your Photoshop skills to work in Adobe’s #PsMystery Halloween game

The year is 2398. The place is deep outer space. After completing its mission to collect organic matter from Ceres, the IXS FarStar prepares to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere on October 31. However, there’s trouble on the horizon as Commander Nova Ryder informs you that Pilot Maladie Harbinger has suddenly come down with a mysterious illness. Your mission is to collect clues to diagnose and cure the condition so that the IXS FarStar and its crew members can return to Earth safely. The twist? This mission requires your Photoshop skills.

No, it’s not the opening to a Choose Your Own Adventure book, but part of Adobe’s #PsMystery challenge, a Halloween-related game where you’re given clues on various platforms to help the IXS FarStar’s crew diagnose and cure the pilot. Hints, such as the first Photoshop PSD file clue shared recently on the Photoshop Facebook Page, will appear each day of Halloween week, encouraging fans, sleuths, and Photoshop pros to flex their PS skills in uncovering the clues buried in the layers. In addition to the multi-layered PSD files being presented as clues, updates provide a closer look at the crew’s quarters, the ship itself, and additional crew member information.

According to the Photoshop blog, another clue is scheduled to be revealed at “17:00 Zulu Time tomorrow.” But, based on the most current update revealing an exceedingly dire situation aboard the IXS FarStar, you might want to hurry and get to work sooner. Three crew members, including Commander Nova Ryder and Mission Specialist-Medic Spike Arashi, now suffer from the mysterious illness,  and to make matters worse, Pilot Maladie Harbinger has somehow gone missing. There is currently only one healthy crew member, Raz Kalinkov, who is available today to answer your questions on the Photoshop Facebook page.

The space puzzle follows last year’s Clue-like murder mystery game. Make sure you keep an eye on the Photoshop blog and Facebook page for comments, theories, and clues to help solve the #PsMystery. After all, the IXS FarStar, its crew, and all of humanity are counting on you (and your Photoshop skills).