A Killing Affair - "Season 1 - Independence Day Killer"

Photo above is property of A Killing Affair

Company: A Killing Affair

Game: Season 1 - Independence Day Killer

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬

Genre: Murder Mystery, Detective

Date Played: March 28, 2022

Difficulty (based on 1 player): 6/10

Size of Team: 1-6 Players (Ages 14+)

Time: Unlimited (Suggested time 8 hrs)

Price: $170.00 (Set), $38.00/ Episode

Video above is property of A Killing Affair

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 - EPISODE 1

Welcome to Lovely, Florida! No time for sightseeing though as you are now the new lead investigator for the Lovely Police Department. Your first case files involve looking into the serial killer that has been plaguing the town for over 6 years. Starting at the beginning, you need to sift through the case files of Dolly Dobs and Mandy Moray, who were murdered on July 4th in 2014 and 2015 and see if you can eliminate 2 suspects from the case.

Inventory List for Episode 1:

• "Start Here" flyer

• Letter from Detective Trish Tate

• Lovely City map

• Sticky notes or notebook

• UV Light

• Photo page of victims and suspects

• Seashell found at the crime scene

• Bloody notes found at Mandy's home & Dolly's home

• Dolly Dobs' LPD file with a newspaper article and Irish pub menu attached

• Mandy Moray's LPD file with a newspaper article and text messages attached
  

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 - EPISODE 2

After eliminating 2 suspects in the previous episode, another victim was claimed by the serial killer in 2016 on the 4th of July. This time, they were found in their car just before midnight. Going through the evidence at the crime scene and following up on some new leads, can you eliminate another suspect as the notorious serial killer?

Inventory List for Episode 2:

• "Start Here" flyer

• Business card and letter from Detective Trish Tate

• Photo page

• Candle

• Independence Day giveaway

• USB photo

• Bloody note left at the crime scene

• LPD case file with July 4th daily agenda and a newspaper article
  

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 - EPISODE 3

As the case continues into 2017, this time the murderer hits closer to home where the victim is found in the park. During the investigation, a few more suspects are identified but after the last episode, you may have found an ally to help you with this investigation. With all the evidence presented, can you eliminate some more suspects?

Inventory List for Episode 3:

• "Start Here" flyer

• Letter from Detective Trish Tate

• Photo page

• Bloody note left at the crime scene

• Napkin and poker chip found in victim's wallet

• Bracelet found near victim's body

• Bar of soap and magazine cover found in victim's car

• LPD case file with a newspaper article
  

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 - EPISODE 4

With the passing of another 4th of July in 2018, another victim is taken. As the investigation continues, it is becoming certain that these murders are not random. But what is the connection between all of them? Hopefully, you can make sense of the evidence and figure out who the killer is before this coming 4th of July.

Inventory List for Episode 4:

• "Start Here" flyer

• Letter from Detective Trish Tate

• Photo page

• Skittles coaster

• Bloody note left at the scene

• Picture frame, bookmark, and sticky note found on victim's desk

• Pool party invitation

• LPD case file with a newspaper article, calendar, and fireworks stationary
  

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 - EPISODE 5

As this year’s 4th of July comes and goes and no victim is found, everyone seems relieved. The celebrations seems premature as a victim is discovered 5 days later. This case seems slightly different though, as there looks like the sign of a struggle and the killer has left more evidence behind than the previous murders. In the final conclusion, can you eliminate the last 2 suspects, discover who the serial killer is and what their motives are?

Inventory List for Episode 5:

• "Start Here" flyer

• Letter from Detective Trish Tate

• "Thank You" gift

• Keys

• Bloody note left at the scene

• Sticky notepad

• Freedom pin

• Project red ribbon and silly stationary with a sticky note from detective

• Wildflower Cafe's menu with a sticky note from detective

• LPD case file with a newspaper and lawn care order change
  

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞

Each box is labelled with the episode number for easy sorting. Each box will contain a personalized letter to you explaining the situation as well as the case file. Inside, contains important documents like the police report, autopsy report and interviews with different suspects. Each box will also have different evidence for each episode that was found in the area of the murder. On the hint and tips page of A Killing Affair, they will provide a checklist of what should be in each box.

🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

A Killing Affair created a fascinating world in this story, everything from phone numbers to websites to the conversations in the police reports. I could actually picture those people interacting in my mind. The tangible items were all high quality and really added to the experience as each item was also contained in an evidence bag. At the end of each box, you should be able to eliminate at least one person from the list of suspects (sometimes two), which will be stated in the letter. Once going through the evidence and believing you know who could not have murdered the victim, you go to the website and eliminate the suspects based on what you've discovered.

If you are into detective boards, then this is a game for you (the fact that they also sell a Detective Board kit on the website tells you something). I would recommend getting all the boxes together to allow you to move at your own pace. Once one box was completed, I needed to pick up the next one right away. Even if you do not pick up the next one right away, there is a small refresher about how the game works in each box. On the hint page, there is also a reminder for items and ideas that you may need to reference again. There is a lot of backstory which seemed like a lot of reading at first but really paid off as the games continued and I knew all the relationships between everyone.

🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

The puzzles were organic to the game. They made sense and made me feel like a detective as I was making the connections. They ramp up quite nicely as well over each box. The game included a nice introduction to common ciphers in the original box if you are not familiar with them. The bulk of the puzzles consisted of making the connections from items and people, deciphering codes and simply diving deeper into everything that you found.

The game’s hint system is helpful if you need it. Needing a password to log into the area, it would first have some reminders and tips of things you might need to reference from the past. They then had a layered hint system which would lead you to the solution if you still could not solve the puzzle.

🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

"Independence Day" was a true murder mystery game with a story that was told through everything provided. From the interviews, clues, websites, phone numbers, etc., A Killing Affair pulled out all the stops in making me believe all of this was real. The website says between 2-4 hours per box, but if you are a veteran puzzle solver/detective or have more people helping out, I feel like each box is closer to 2 hours. I would also recommend getting the whole season in one go to allow you to move at your own pace and let you binge the game, because you definitely will want to. If you want to experience an amazing world of detective murder mystery, then this is for you.

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Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game:

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank A Killing Affair for providing us with a sample of their game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

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