Cold Case Inc. - "The Silence of Dawn"

Photo above is property of Cold Case Inc.

Company: Cold Case Inc.

Game: The Silence of Dawn

Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Language: English

Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻

Genre: Mystery, Detective

Date Played: November 25, 2024

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7/10

Size of Team: Unlimited

Time: Approximately 3-5 Hours

Price: $29.99

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In this scenario, players assume the role of detectives investigating the murder of Dawn Elizabeth Harper, the Creative Director at Innov8 Brand Architects in Bexford. What was meant to be a celebratory office party turns tragic with her untimely death. Colleagues, each harboring their own secrets and potential motives, become prime suspects. On top of this there is the crucial task of revealing who the mysterious “L” is behind the series of cryptic notes that are believed to be connected to the case.

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Back again with another great case, and just in time for Christmas. For those of you that are not familiar with the Cold Case inc cases these are very much realistic style case files type mystery games. These cases are kind of hardcore but highly rewarding. I always suggest you do these with other people as it makes for great fun bouncing ideas off each other, as well as cutting down the hard mental plugging of working through the case file. To jump right into this one in particular, it starts with a great plot device revolving around deciphering and identifying the mysterious “L” figure, who seems to have some kind of special involvement with the victim. This device is used to great effect as a kind of mystery within the mystery, directing the player to stay alert to any evidence that might be useful in identifying the mystery person. The core of the mystery itself is built around what I think is a great premise for a scenario: an office christmas party. Motives and means abound, and this case does a really good job of stacking up the evidence against everybody, while also presenting the player with a perplexing murder scene around an intriguing collection of evidence.

Photos above are property of Cold Case Inc.

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I think one of the more unique things that Cold Case does with their games is in its use of red herrings and ambiguous evidence, which I actually think is integral to creating a certain complexity in the surface of these cases, forcing the individual not just to linearly work through the consequential but to also sift it from the non-consequential or inconclusive. Most games are too linear in the sense that if they give you a certain evidence you know it has to have some significance - and so this giving acts as a clue itself, which is unrealistic and untrue to real life where things don't always add up. Just to go back to the original enigmatic figure plot device, I think it worked really well to keep the player attentively scanning and identifying little clues as to who this could be, and there are many. It also factors into the motive, giving it life, and acting as a kind of narrative reveal, which is great because oftentimes the motive is simply an afterthought and does not properly evolve with the game to really persuade the player of its dramatic reality. In this ColdCase game in particular I really thought the final solve and the development of the motive were beautifully intertwined. The final solution itself was quite clever and took a bit of circling as well as deduction from competing motives, as It had a certain knottiness about it because of certain conflicting evidence and working through just exactly what it communicated.. Sometimes things are less twistier than they appear - but that deciphering from out of certain hypothetical ambiguity of interpretation is part of the game, and makes it all the more realistic. Simplicity often lies in seeing through the deceptive appearance of complexity, I think is what I am trying to say.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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I am a fanatical advocate for this series of games, and they only keep getting better and more well crafted, and this case was no exception. They are in a league with the best of these hardcore realistic case file style games. You have to love the process, the exploration, the mental construction, and the hard mental plugging of the logicking, all of which is very rewarding in the end. Do not be daunted by the depth of these case files, it's worth the dive. I can only reiterate here that I believe the series will continue to grow and become more innovative in its use of puzzle elements and more layered in the depth of its mysteries. I think it's once again time to bring all the elements which have made the cases so good back home again and create a truly novel scenario for the next case.

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

Disclosure: We thank Cold Case Inc. for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

#AndrewWoods #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #ColdCaseInc #Detective #Mystery #UK