Unsolved murder mystery game - Cold Case Files Investigation - CRYPTIC KILLERS - Detective Evidence & Crime File - individuals, date nights & party games- "Murder at Merivale Manor"

So much fun to figure out, loads of different theories, lots of different suspects, kept us on our toes and was throughly enjoyed by the team! If you like mystery and brain twisters, this is for you!!

We picked this game up as two adults for a games night.First thing to say is that there is a lot of material here. There's all kinds of things including photos, articles, journal entries, police statements, newspaper clippings, e-mails, brochures, and so much more besides. Each item is carefully crafted to look like what it's supposed to be. The quality here is genuinely amazing.The game itself starts off being very, very difficult. There is minimal instructions, but that is sort of the point. You have to imagine that you've just stumbled across this file full of documents and your job is to piece things together and pick up the subtle clues that other people have missed.I would say that you should be up for A LOT of reading. I think that each player will need to read everything. My advice would probably be to read all the materials included in the file and then access the e-mail material (which you access via a phone/laptop/tablet) last of all. This is because if offers stronger clues that the rest of the materials and I think it might lead you to a solution sooner that you might like if you read it first.It took us around 3 hours to go through all the materials, read back over some of the bits, and then form our conclusions. I think that it's important to mention that when you access the e-mails there is a 'step-by-step' hints section and these hints are actually more like 'guides' and so if you get really stuck you can read these without spoiling the whole game for yourself.Overall, I loved this and will definitely pick up more in the future!

Very intricate! Could not have done it honestly without the clues, took two evenings around 5 hours total. The creators have some brain! Everything was included that was on the list. Recommend

We really enjoyed this immersive game! It was well structured, with an interesting plot. The quality of the evidence made us feel like real crime investigators. Highly recommended. This was the first game in the series that we’ve played, and we’d definitely be willing to try more. The evidence was clear enough for us to solve the case in a couple of hours.

Fun good quality lasts a long time

Excellent. My 13 yr old granddaughter loved itWe got the solution at our first attempt after two hours of working it out with all the paperwork

We've completed 3 of these games no as a family of 4 (2 teenagers) with the others being Millionaire and Miami. This one definitely sits in the middle. Takes a decent bit of time to sift through the clues but slightly obvious quite quickly who the murderer is. Still enjoyable hence the 5 stars, not a patch of Miami which is the best so far but maybe a decent one to start off with to get used to the style. Took us 2-3 hours to complete. Once solved you're given a full breakdown of the timeline and what happened which we hadn't full appreciated when we first started playing these games. Now we make sure we solve all the clues and understand fully what happened before submitting our answer. You get a good sense of satisfaction knowing not only that you identified the murderer but that you completely solved the case.

The Cryptic Killer files are so interesting. The evidence is all there and really well written.A lot of people think they could be a detective and now you can have a go!I thoroughly enjoy Cryptic Killers and finding who the killer is is very satisfying!!I really recommend Cryptic Killers.

Classical principle „cross out all other suspects and who is left is the killer”, no additional envelopes, case is linear, and too overwhelmed with texts you need to read, much of which has nothing to do with case

Absolutely love these mysteries! I admit, it's a TON of reading and connecting the dots, but that's what makes it so much fun. I'm doing these by myself, because it was too much reading for the hubby, and they take 4-6 hours to complete, mainly because I triple check my theories and I refuse to ask for hints. Can't accuse the wrong person!! Absolutely worth the cost! On my first mystery, I thought I'd try to keep them clean so I could pass them on to someone else. Finally admitted to myself that for $20, it was worth taking notes on the actual documents and keeping track of evidence that that way.I say go for it and grab one. What have you got to lose? I've completed Murder on Mt Mortimer and Murder at Merivale Manor. Both challenging and fun!!

Loved this game - my 13 and 15 year old dove right in with me, and we had a blast solving it. High quality "evidence", challenging but not impossible. Highly recommend and will be doing more!

Our family with grown kids and significant others did this cold case after Christmas this year. We are a diverse group with very different interests and participation levels. In a nutshell, this was a blast. Everyone participated reading through the materials provided and summarizing info to get the important facts. There were photos - very period appropriate taped on the walls and all the materials spread all over the table. The quality was exceptional. Newspaper articles looked authentic. Witness statements, etal were very realistic. It is necessary to logon to get “updated” evidence to be able to solve the mystery. We were able to solve it but it took a full 3 hours and was a fun challenge. The kids asked when we could do another one - always the sign it was good. I would highly recommend to anyone who would find this activity fun. Well worth it.

very tricky but great end would recommend