Photo above is property of The Deadbolt Mystery Society
Company: The Deadbolt Mystery Society
Game: Skeletons in the Closet
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Language: English
Type of Game: Tabletop Game 📬
Genre: Detective
Date Played: April 10, 2024
Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 1 to 4 ppl)
Time: Unlimited (Approximately 2.5 Hrs)
Price: $28.99 USD
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The kids are not alright...
Walter always suspected that someone within his inheriting family was greedy enough to kill him for his fortune, he just didn't know who or when. If he couldn't save himself, then he at least had enough strength to entrap his inevitable killer. And now, by his death, all the suspects have gathered to mourn - and be investigated. No one would have known any better than to think that his passing was anything more than natural if it were not for the very pointed message he left - which you now read understandingly - indicating that it wasn't. Honor the memory of the man through, and follow his direction from beyond the grave to find the killer Walter Hudson knew was coming.
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As always, a top notch production. They've come a long way to ensuring that every piece of the game meets a certain aesthetic standard, which we might term “puzzle art”; symbolically identifiable, logically intelligible, and artistically appreciable. The aesthetic do a great job of communicating the well worn theme and setting: old money murder mystery - with the spoiled children, snooty portraits, aristocratic old world decor, gold frames and dark grains, and remote twenty bedroom mansions, lurking with secrets, family crests, confidential envelopes, and a will that shocks the room. I tend to always classify each piece into two camps: they are either cartoony and campy, playfully macabre, as befits the lighthearted nature of the games, or like actually approaching something serious, grim and murky, which connects more with the murder theme which is universal to each case.
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Though the story is a bit well worn, I think it's a great premise for a mystery box, both thematically as a classical whodunit, with quite the added twist, and formally as the setup to a deductive process where you will be reconstructing the logic of the movements and means of the suspects, as well as identifying the logic of their particular character traits and connections to each other. In the game you are essentially following the trail of breadcrumbs left for you by the deceased in the hopes that the information you gather will allow you to properly deduce the killer. You can roam freely around the house, exploring the enveloped gated rooms and their mysteries, all while simultaneously using the map and the information you glean about each suspect to construct a portrait of the evidence. I like the fact that I can see in each Deadbolt box that there is an effort not only to come up with novel puzzles, but also innovative formats to the mysteries. From a formal standpoint this box is very satisfying. It simultaneously gives you the freedom to explore while also giving you a framework to piece all the bits of information you glean together, slowly building an image of the suspects in all their ignoble glory, using each to outsmart the one amongst them who thought they might be smarter than them all.
The second phase that awaits you once you collect all the requisite information introduces you to a more challenging series of interconnected puzzles, and then the final phase, which is very mechanically satisfying, has you put it all together, tracing the developments of the movement of the suspects based on a deciphering the cryptic information that encompasses all the little bits you've learned about them.
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The puzzles are a bit on the easier side, though what i like most is that the puzzles are not the only layer of the mystery, in fact you are taking all the narrative information you receive via the base puzzles to construct a second layer of evidence which will allow you to finally trace the path of developments in the finale. Again, I love this game setup, the combination of puzzle and narrative, the bringing it all back home at the end by piecing everything you've learned together. It incorporates the entire game, makes use of the whole process, making it build up like a story, while also expanding the deductive challenge to encompass everything. It's one part puzzle, another part good old fashion detective work, bringing together the two best sides of mystery game coin.
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The Deadbolt Mystery Society boxes never fail to impress or entertain, they have a good track record of consistently keeping it fresh. It's a mix of tried and true classic puzzles, all woven together in a satisfying game structure. In a way it's one of their more straightforward boxes, though from a structural standpoint very well put together and satisfying to play. I think Deadbolt is in a position where they have pretty much perfected the formula - but that what makes the games good is also what limits them in another sense, meaning ironically that the more they tend towards the mean in the design and challenge of their games, the more they miss the opportunity to innovate beyond what they imagine the experience the average consumer desires to have. This is a good problem to have, and I think now that the boxes have really caught on, they are the perfect candidates to push the genre forward, and create something of a new line of their mystery boxes that are out of their wildest and most inventive dreams.
(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 The Deadbolt Mystery Society 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.
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