Photo above is property of The Detective Society
Company: The Detective Society
Game: Murder on the Moon: Countdown to Chaos
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Language: English
Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬
Genre: Sci-Fi, Murder Mystery
Date Played: December 22, 2024
Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 1-4 ppl)
Time: Unlimited (Recommend 90-120 Mins. per episode)
Price: $89.36/ Whole season (3 Episodes)
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Lunovos Industries has been leading the world in space exploration and currently has the first moon base established. With a crew of 12 doing research and studying the moon, they are gathering valuable data to shape the future. Unexpectedly though, you receive an urgent call telling you that a crew member has been found murdered. With the eyes of the world watching this mission, can you help solve the mystery and find the murderer before they strike again?
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Opening the box, we found 3 envelopes, each labelled with the mission number. We also encounter a board game quality, incomplete map of the moon.
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Before diving into “Murder on the Moon”, the game included a prequel titled “Countdown to Chaos”. This introductory game was designed for beginners, showing the basics of how Detective Society games work without explicitly explaining how to play. It started simple, with a letter and directions on where to start, and then built up from there. Once we completed it, we felt prepared to tackle the main mission.
When we opened the first envelope for Murder on the Moon, we found another letter providing the game’s backstory and a QR code. Scanning it led us to a chat with the main character, Rosalie Hardy, who guided us through the game’s challenges and what we needed to accomplish.
The game featured many highlights, especially the moon map we had to build and assemble. This was a puzzle in itself that we needed over the course of the game to solve other puzzles. Spanning three episodes, the story turned out to be much more intricate than we expected, drawing us in and keeping us engaged.
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The puzzles required a mix of deduction and reasoning, with plenty of variety to keep us engaged. Some challenges involved assembling pieces, while others required carefully examination of items and documents to find connections. The Mystery Society did an excellent job integrating the story with the puzzles, creating a seamless and immersive experience.
A couple of tips we want to offer is to make sure to thoroughly review everything, especially the websites shared through the chats. They contain more information than you think. Also, make sure to keep previous envelope content within reach. You will need them throughout the game.
The hint system was built into the chat and was well-designed and offered multi-tiered hints. While there were moments we wished it pointed us more directly toward the specific materials we needed to look at, overall, it worked effectively and complemented the gameplay.
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🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂
The Detective Society consistently sets a high bar with their games, and we found this one was no exception. The story created a world that was bigger than we would have guessed with puzzles that seamlessly flowed with the narrative. Each puzzle was engaging and challenging without overstaying its welcome. We played with 2 people but feel this game could be played with 4 people easily as stated on the box. This game would be perfect for any armchair detective, people who love narrative or a small group looking for an all day escape experience. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned puzzler, “Murder on the Moon” is absolutely out of this world!
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game:
Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(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 Detective Society 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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