Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game review

Game Review - Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Mechanics: Deduction

Game Difficulty: Difficult

Duration of the game: 2-3 hours

Number of players: 1-5

Best number of players: 1-2

Language: The game is unplayable without knowledge of English

I like crime stories. A good detective can be one of the most exciting ways to pass the time, but it's the 21st century and I'm not going to lie that I'm spoiled, so I want activities where I can not only passively observe, but get involved, so lately I've been paying attention to detective games. One of the hits of 2018 was Detective: a modern crime board game. Description without "spoilers".

Subject matter

The name says it all - the game is about 21st century detectives who solve realistic crimes. In the first of five cases, a suspicious watch stolen by the Nazis has ended up at an auction house, and players are tasked with figuring out how and why it got there. It really is a modern detective, where a lot of time is spent analyzing DNA or looking for information in court interrogation records. But the most stylish thing in the game is that certain information is highlighted and you have to search for it on the Internet. While playing the game, I learned about various historical events, studied Google maps and watched videos. I have never come across such a realistic involvement of real facts in a game before, and I have to admit, it was impressive!

Components

Basically, each of the five things consists of 35 cards, a funny little playing field, wooden markers to mark the time and days, and a whole stack of tokens. But that's not too important, my most useful component was an open file on the laptop, where I recorded clues, clues about various people, alibis, motives and various marks. A good fact recording system is indispensable in this game. But the most impressive component was a specially created website, which served as a police database, where, by entering the right information, you could access various conversations, files of people involved, where you could check blood samples and DNA. The website is very smart, well laid out and easy to understand, and has been a major lifesaver for me when I wanted to check again and again about the next thread or connection.

Mechanics

In the game, each thing is given a certain amount of time, for example 5 game days, of which you can work 8 hours of gameplay each day, and practically every thread, every card or moving between objects costs time. The cards simply contain descriptive text or an image from a crime scene, a letter, a document or a reference to be read on the police database home page.

The players agree together which are the most important clues and in which directions to dig deeper. And this very choice is critical, because out of 35 cards, players will only have time to look at half, so a large part of the game lies in the ability to evaluate what are the relevant clues and what are not. This is great because players are limited in time and thus the game becomes much more focused.

But that's not enough, at the end of each case players have to submit a report, during which they have to answer a couple of questions. The interesting thing is that there is no card that says that the answer to any of the questions is "X". Often it is up to the players themselves to piece together the evidence and figure out what really happened.

Out of five cases, I solved 4 acceptably, because in one of them I got too carried away with checking various intimate intrigues and, following the clues, created my own theories and deviated from the essentials, but time was inexorable, so my report was also a shame for the whole station.

The 5 things in the game are interwoven into a common story, with each subsequent one becoming more and more intricate and open-ended, there are more involved and more suspects, but at no point did I feel overwhelmed with information, it is added in exactly the right amount, and the players really get the "big picture". when all 5 things are solved. True, the game that has been started must also be played in a relatively timely manner, otherwise the information will be forgotten, and the work of the detectives will become significantly more difficult.

There is also one risk - I played the game solo and I coped with everything perfectly, but I think that the best number of players would be two, thus it would be possible to discuss various theories, three would also be ok, but more players would hardly be meaningfully possible for all get involved in the course of the game.

Multiplayer

This game has no multiplayer at all, which is to be expected, especially since the game costs 56 EUR, but there are expansions, and I think it's a very good, one-time 10-15h adventure that is worth it.

Rating

If you like to read detective novels, but it annoys you that you can never figure out who the killer is, then it is worth trying to put yourself in the role of a detective. I also recommend the game to those who are fascinated by the concept of Exit or other breakout games, this will be a completely different type of puzzle, where you can once again prove your logic and cleverness with your friends. Detective: a modern crime board game is a very good investigative game that has managed to create never-before-seen, unique database mechanics and integrate real facts from the Internet. There is a lot of good and innovative in the game, an overall great time and exciting adventure. Rating 9 out of 10.

You can buy the game in Brain Games stores on the 1st floor of Rīga Plaza or K. Barona Street 55, or in the online store: Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Board Game Geek rating: 8.2

Author: Kristaps Auzāns

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