Deadbolt Mystery Society Review: The Deadbolt Mystery Society’s reveal of their newest box, Hacked, promised to feature a hacker we briefly encountered during the key of Easthaven Forest. it’s always interesting when Deadbolt Mysteries calls back to previous characters and locations, and Valley Falls and its inhabitants are always interesting to find out about, so our interest was definitely piqued by the desire Street Detective Agency’s somewhat reluctant team with Valley Falls’ most notorious hacker!
The puzzles were buried within plenty of papers, all of which were immediately accessible. Without gating, The Cabin felt initially overwhelming with no clear root or direction. We played The Cabin on a reasonably large table but constantly left like we were drowning in papers.
➕ Once we got past the initial volume of content, Deadbolt Mystery Society clued which in-play elements needed to travel together. This worked well and gave us how to approach the mystery.
➖ There was tons of reading. It felt sort of a chore instead of how to attach to the characters and their stories. With numerous characters, it had been hard to stay straight and impossible to be invested in their situation. We wanted to unravel the mystery because it had been a puzzle, but we didn’t care who lived or died.
➕/➖ Deadbolt Mystery Society had a superb concept. Although The Cabin needed gating and focus, with a touch more direction, it could definitely have created meaningful character/ mystery connections for the players.
❓ the worth may be a value judgment. the merchandise isn’t refined or fancy. You’re paying for the rapid production and fulfillment. I can’t say whether that’s an honest or a nasty thing; it’s an individual choice.
❓ Subscription games are tough to satisfy. We commend Deadbolt Mystery Society for delivering a monthly subscription with quality puzzles and interesting concepts. due to the pace of production, subscription games easily devolve into mounds of paper, and Deadbolt Mystery Society had a touch of that happening too. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s the character of the beast.
Tips For Player
Space Requirements: We recommend a bigger table or floor space.
Required Gear: Fixion pens, Boogie Boards, or more generic writing supplies.
Subscribe to Deadbolt Mystery Society, and tell them that the space Escape Artist sent you.
Verdict:
We had an awesome time working through the cold cases included within Hacked, and really enjoyed the decisions backs and interesting puzzling that was built into this adventure. Veterans of the Society are getting to love finding the various Easter Eggs that are worked into this box, also because of the challenging enigmas, but newcomers will find the good game flow and subtle, yet intuitive cluing provides a superb experience also.