Wow, you turned static cards with predetermined actions into a compelling narrative driven by the player's connective analysis. I especially love the "this doesn't make sense" action to reassign intel, which turns the detrimental random nature of a deck assigning "contradictory" cards into a reinforcement of the unreliable narrative.
I love the length of the intel columns; slightly too long for 3 cards to perfectly fit, too short to comfortably signal that 4 cards are appropriate, but just long enough that you can cram 4 in there using the generous margins on the cards.
I don't love the "the autopsy confirmed it was poison" card because it doesn't really interact with any character. I get that it has to be in the deck for pacing, so as to not reveal the means ahead of time or slow down the finale with exposition you would have already figured out. ... on a second read, it's about an unrelated official's death, which could imply that the owner of the intel either wrote the report or did the deed. Wish I'd picked up on that my first go; maybe a "several weeks ago" would have helped.
Speaking of, I love how so many of the cards describe multiple actors, leaving it open for interpretation which blank is the actor you assigned that intel.
I don't love the CIA conclusion card; I flipped that first, read it like "CIA guy is in the backseat and quietly takes control of the car" and wondered how a car maybe swerving a little would cause chaos in the crowd. In hindsight, it's clear the lead car would veer off the road and crash without a driver, and that the CIA chap is in a different vehicle, but...
What a glorious game. You turned the formula of a "whodunnit" into the present tense, a "who's doing it." You've got all of the agency in the plot as you do in a game of Clue, where the dead guy will always be murdered, but instead of coming up with an arbitrary combination of items, you're forming deep connections with these people who started out just as interchangeable as Professor Plum and Captain Kangaroo. You're not solving the murder or stopping an assassination, you're unraveling the context. I won't be playing this game again, not alone, but I will be recommending it.
and the music is a great timer. This review took the entire 19:49 to write.
I really enjoyed this! Played it once a couple weeks ago and mulled over the results and played again this morning. Am amused that in both runs Mr Mauve was a stooge and Lady Lilac definitely a cop. The music selection is 👌 and I love it as a mechanic for judging time spent (12 minutes of interrogation in second game) I keep bouncing between “why aren’t the mechanics more enforced” and enjoying the chill-ness as if it were an in-person game. Like the freedom to messily place cards as I wish - wish I could draw some string between them like a real conspiracy theory board :D
While I’m not sure I’d play this one a third time, I like the format and could imagine enjoying other scenarios
Thanks so much for checking it out, glad you liked it! There's probably a nice middle ground between having the computer do the rules and doing them yourself. I'll have to explore that more. The red strings would have been a great addition!
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Wow, you turned static cards with predetermined actions into a compelling narrative driven by the player's connective analysis. I especially love the "this doesn't make sense" action to reassign intel, which turns the detrimental random nature of a deck assigning "contradictory" cards into a reinforcement of the unreliable narrative.
I love the length of the intel columns; slightly too long for 3 cards to perfectly fit, too short to comfortably signal that 4 cards are appropriate, but just long enough that you can cram 4 in there using the generous margins on the cards.
I don't love the "the autopsy confirmed it was poison" card because it doesn't really interact with any character. I get that it has to be in the deck for pacing, so as to not reveal the means ahead of time or slow down the finale with exposition you would have already figured out. ... on a second read, it's about an unrelated official's death, which could imply that the owner of the intel either wrote the report or did the deed. Wish I'd picked up on that my first go; maybe a "several weeks ago" would have helped.
Speaking of, I love how so many of the cards describe multiple actors, leaving it open for interpretation which blank is the actor you assigned that intel.
I don't love the CIA conclusion card; I flipped that first, read it like "CIA guy is in the backseat and quietly takes control of the car" and wondered how a car maybe swerving a little would cause chaos in the crowd. In hindsight, it's clear the lead car would veer off the road and crash without a driver, and that the CIA chap is in a different vehicle, but...
What a glorious game. You turned the formula of a "whodunnit" into the present tense, a "who's doing it." You've got all of the agency in the plot as you do in a game of Clue, where the dead guy will always be murdered, but instead of coming up with an arbitrary combination of items, you're forming deep connections with these people who started out just as interchangeable as Professor Plum and Captain Kangaroo. You're not solving the murder or stopping an assassination, you're unraveling the context. I won't be playing this game again, not alone, but I will be recommending it.
and the music is a great timer. This review took the entire 19:49 to write.
I really enjoyed this! Played it once a couple weeks ago and mulled over the results and played again this morning. Am amused that in both runs Mr Mauve was a stooge and Lady Lilac definitely a cop. The music selection is 👌 and I love it as a mechanic for judging time spent (12 minutes of interrogation in second game) I keep bouncing between “why aren’t the mechanics more enforced” and enjoying the chill-ness as if it were an in-person game. Like the freedom to messily place cards as I wish - wish I could draw some string between them like a real conspiracy theory board :D
While I’m not sure I’d play this one a third time, I like the format and could imagine enjoying other scenarios
Thanks so much for checking it out, glad you liked it! There's probably a nice middle ground between having the computer do the rules and doing them yourself. I'll have to explore that more. The red strings would have been a great addition!
This game is really cool, loads of fun
Thanks so much for checking it out :)