Crimibox: Dossier Macdeath – Episode 1 – Review
Follow Genre: Murder mystery, Detective
Players: 1-4 (or more)
Age: 16+
Duration: One evening
Distributor: Crimibox

Crimibox: Dossier Macdeath – Episode 1 – Review

Site Score
8.0
Good: Fun buildup, Well created
Bad: Chatbot is sometimes a bit tedious to work with
User Score
9.8
(50 votes)
Click to vote
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Rating: 9.8/10 (50 votes cast)

With the exponential increase of escape rooms all around the globe, it’s clear that people love working together to solve a seemingly impossible puzzle. These games allow people who aren’t into actual PC or console gaming to have their share of the fun, without making huge investments. While escape rooms can be fun, you’re often forced to plan entire days around them, as they are often not close to your home, especially when you’ve done all of the available ones in neighboring cities. Crimibox might not exactly be an escape room, it does work a bit with the same principle, as you’ll have to solve a lot of puzzles in order to uncover clues and find the person responsible for the crime and all of this in the comfort of your own home. This time we dive into the theater life with a special rendition of Macbeth, namely Macdeath. A very suiting name, when one is found dead in his dressing room. Keep in mind, this game is only available for our Dutch speaking audience.

Upon opening the box we were treated to a nicely formulated introduction, a discount card for future items and of course the actual contents of the box. We received a stress ball, a small flashlight and a good looking notebook as merchandise on top of the evidence of the crime scene: photos, theater program, overview of the ticket sales, etc. As this is part one of three, you won’t finish the entire case in this playthrough, but you’ll still have your work cut out for you. There’s a small tutorial on how things work, and the AI chatbot can be talked to via Messenger on PC or your Smartphone. While the game states that you just need your smartphone for the game, it is advised to have a computer at the ready, and for this scenario a printer for a certain part of your investigation.

It might be hard to actually know where to start with the case, but it’s best to read through the tutorial first, then examine all the documents in the folder and the box. When doing so, and linking some of them together, it’s advised to boot up the chat function on the Crimibase platform, as it pretty much tells you where to start. When doing so, you’ll notice that the chat bot can help you in a few different ways, as you can request to investigate items you found on the crime scene, but you can also call in people for questioning. The chat bot will often allow you, when getting longer statements, to get a written version after hearing the audio log. When you’re stuck you can request a hint, which can certainly come in handy. Sadly, when requesting a hint, the chat bot doesn’t really know how far you’ve made it, and it will always start off at exactly the same point, asking you the same questions over and over again.

When you’re finally in the zone, many conclusions will come naturally, and things become progressively easier to link to one another, especially when you get the hang of the chat bot functions. You’ll notice that many items of the case are logically built, and the game will also push you towards one direction, making sure you don’t miss (too many) steps for you to progress. Overall things are not too difficult, but even so, some difficult portions can also be skipped by guessing a couple of times, which isn’t necessarily fun, but it’s a viable option. Especially for a research part in this scenario, the game kind of expects you to print something, in order to properly conduct said investigation. Luckily, for those who don’t have a printer at the ready, you can simply guess a name a couple of times in order to bypass this event.

Conclusion

Crimibox: Dossier Macdeath – Episode 1 is a great introduction to a new Crimibox case, with a lot of steps to follow and a properly designed case. While some acting could have been better and a few mishaps can occur with the AI chat functions, you’ll be in for a treat with this nicely designed package. Even though you can tackle the case on your own, it’s actually the most fun to gather some friends and make it a fun murder mystery evening. We are looking forward to see how the rest of the case evolves.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 9.8/10 (50 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: +2 (from 4 votes)
Crimibox: Dossier Macdeath – Episode 1 - Review, 9.8 out of 10 based on 50 ratings
Ibuki


Aspiring ninja.

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