I've been on the hunt for a mystery solving game that's not as random and egregious as 211B Baker Street but with more game to it than Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, which is very story-driven but feels more like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure than a board game. A few years ago I thought I might have found it with Deadline, but that turned out to be a little too "gamey," offering up the worst of both worlds.
Several years later, my patience has finally paid off with Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, a game that combines just the right amount of compelling storytelling and light but effective game mechanisms.
The core game consists of five linked cases in which a stolen watch blossoms into a multigenerational murder mystery. Players work cooperatively, with a relatively small pool of resources that must be stretched to the limit in order to read as many clues as possible. However, some clues can lead up irrelevant blind alleys, so the players need to be analytical and careful about where they let the investigation take them.
The main game mechanism is a small board that tracks the hours of the day, the total number of days spent on the case, and the various locations that the players will need to move between in order to chase down clues. Time is an important resource in the game: following up on clues takes time, and so does moving between locations. Players can go into overtime, but it will negatively impact their final score.
Most of the clues are read via cards, but the game also has an online element, a website that players must use to log forensic evidence and answer a series of final questions about the case once all the available time has been used up. Additionally, the cases in the core game include clues that require players to look up background information and maps of the area where the story takes place. Normally I don't really like board games with a digital component (if I want to play a computer game then I'll play a computer game), but in this case it's not too obtrusive and can actually improve the immersion, as it's easy to imagine actual detectives using online resources to help solve their cases.
Of course, the fact that the game is intensively story driven means that there is little replay value (unless you have a very bad memory), but honestly I think the experience of solving the five cases is well worth the cost of the core box. The core game is a little intense as a starting point, but the publishers have since released a lighter introductory set (Detective Season One) and there are several additional cases available to add value to the game, as well as a few reskins: Vienna Connection (set during the cold war) plus Dune and Batman themed versions.
Rating: 4 (out of 5) a great mystery solver with a deep story and just the right amount of game.
- Detective: a Modern Crime Board Game official website
- Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game on BoardGameGeek