dV Games - "DECKTECTIVE: Nightmare in the Mirror"

Photo above is property of dV Games

Company: dV Games

Game: DECKTECTIVE: Nightmare in the Mirror

Country: Italy 🇮🇹

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬

Genre: Kidnapping, Mystery

Date Played: May 16, 2023

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 1-6 ppl) (Ages 12+)

Time: Unlimited (Suggested 60 Mins.)

Price: $16.99

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Danielle Dove has been kidnapped. Luckily, she was able to take a photo of herself in a mirror where she is being held captive. Can you find the clues, review the articles, interview witnesses, and find out where she is before it is too late? Along the way, you will also need to figure out why she has been kidnapped and piece together the story.

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Opening the pocket-sized game, you find a deck of cards that tell you not to shuffle them as well as a few red clips.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Starting the game off, the deck of cards you receive come in a preset order. The game is easy to setup as you simply go through the cards one at a time and follow the instructions. Once the game starts, each player gets a certain number of cards based on how many players there are. Each card has information that may or may not be relevant to the case depending on how you connect the cards. You are not allowed to share or discuss with other players what is on your cards except for the title while it is in your hand. On your turn, you can either play the card and share the information with everyone or discard the card. The twist though, is that each card has a point value assigned to it. You can only play the card if the point value is equal to or less than the number of cards in the discard pile.

At the end of the game, you are given a set of questions about the mystery and story. If you answer them correctly, then you get a certain number of points. The number of points will then determine how well you did in the game.

Knowing little of the story at the start, we found it fun to have mini eureka moments along the way as we discovered new plot points through the cards. Having played similar games like this except the clues were randomly distributed, the preset clues and point system to share them is what makes this game unique and more enjoyable than the rest. We also enjoyed that some of the clues would come in fragments. For example, the witness statements would come on 2 different cards. If a player played one half, you may need to decide if this is relevant enough to play the other half or at times, each half might not make complete sense until both were revealed. It was also fun to be able to build a mini 3D crime scene that would evolve through the game and make sense to the story.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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This was more a detective game than a puzzle game. There were no ciphers or cryptic puzzles. The game consisted of being observant and making the connections between cards and items. There are a lot of little details to notice but we felt there were fair connections that could be made if we had the right clue cards in play. Even at the end, after getting some conclusions wrong and reading the solution, we had to shake our head in wondering how we missed some key details.

Having played a few Deckscape games, this one had a nice escape room feel to it as there were some hunting around for information and referencing items to solve the puzzles. Some of the puzzles reminded me of those “outside the box” riddle books that you had as child that would trick you when you gave the answer. The answer is the most logical one out of multiple other options. There was one puzzle that did require some outside knowledge that if you have never done certain things before or have certain experience, you might not know the answer.

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This was a cleverly designed game. I usually shy away from detective games but the rules and the way the clues progress in a set order made this game enjoyable to play. The deduction aspect made sense and we loved that there were no red herrings in any of the clues. Paired with the correct cards, everything would lead you to a discovery. If you are looking for a light detective game, this one is perfect as we were able to finish it in under an hour. We played with 2 people which allowed easy access to everything but if you played with 4 people and kept everything out in the open, that would be manageable. The highlight of the game was being able to build the mini crime scene which evolved throughout the game to give us more information. This game may have sparked my love for detective games.

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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"!)

#MatthewLui #AtHomeGames #TabletopGames #Puzzlebymail #OneOffs #Mystery #Kidnapping #dvGIOCHI #Italy #Decktective