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A few years ago I discovered the EXIT and UNLOCK game series and I fell quickly in love with the overall idea of living great adventures one puzzle at a time. My family shared the love for this type of games with me and we had a lot of fun solving mystery and collecting tokens from our adventures (I am looking at you Mystery Cave Advent calendar). The only small downside of this passion was that not all the puzzles were really suitable for my young son causing at time a bit of frustration. You can therefore understand my excitement when I get my hands on “Detective Society – Family Adventures”, a compendium of 3 whimsical mysteries very suitable for 8 years old detectives and their older sidekicks. The box came quite quickly in the mail thanks to Zatu and we had the chance to play all the three games one after the other over a weekend. Spoiler alert: we had a lot of fun and I would like to share my though on this nice little product!
Before we start, I would like to clarify that I will review the game as one although there are three different stories in the package:
1) The Missing Potion: “Professor Errol has lost his invisibility potion and needs your help to get it back before everything starts to disappear!”
2) Time Travel Trouble: “A time travelling clock has been stolen from a museum, and four of its artefacts have vanished from history. Can you work out who is responsible?“
3) The Smashed Piñata: “Gavin has had his birthday piñata smashed and you need to find out who did it! But the biggest mystery you need to solve is why…”
The stories and the puzzles of each chapters are obviously very different although the gameplay does not change much and reviewing them together makes absolutely sense. Let's open the box and see what mystery unravels before our eyes.
Let's Look For Clues
The game box is quite compact and it reminds of one of those book or DVD series grouped within a cardboard box. Each game then comes in its own separate box which prevents the components to be mixed.
Inside each box, you will always find a small card with a brief summary of the case and a QR code to start the investigation. In addition to this, each case comes with a collection of items that are useful to solve the mystery. I will not go too much in the detail of what you will find but I think it would suffice to say that I had a lot of fun wondering what clues might be hidden within the box. The range of items is actually quite impressive and they give the overall feeling of leads you can really find on a crime scene by looking for clues. Overall, all components are of good quality and perfectly fit for their purposes.
One thing that I really appreciate about this game is that everything you need to play is in the box, other than the occasional pen or scissors. One key aspect to flag: in order to play you will need a mobile phone or a tablet with an internet connection.
Is Your Mind Sharp Enough?
Detective Society – Family adventures is a narrative driven game with a good amount of interactivity. After scanning the QR code provided on the case card included in each one of the
boxes, you will access a video providing the background of the case and the first clue you need to look for or the first puzzle you need to solve. The players will also have access to a chatbot that will lead though the case one step at the time.
As we mentioned before, there is no order or numbering on the case clues inside each box. The players will need to check all of them in order to understand which ones may be of help at each step of the adventure. Depending on the case, you will have different type of puzzle including observation, pattern recognition, logic, wordplay, audio, maths, colours and deduction. Every game and adventure offers different challenges and the players will need to go through them one at the time. The chatbot will also offer some help in case you get stuck.
I Think I Know What Happened - The Butler!
Overall, I think The Detective Society: Family Adventures, is a very good game for a family night especially if you are looking to introduce your kids to puzzle games. In that sense, the level of the challenges and the graphics of the game feel very inclusive for your little ones and the theme touched by the story are definitely designed to be suitable for 8+ years old.
The other aspect I loved about the game is how immersive the story can get. It all starts when you open the adventure box and you try to catalogue what you find. And it continues with all the videos and audio provided through the game. The constant interactions with a chatbot is a really nice touch as it helps to get the players to feel part of a greater adventure.
In terms of gameplay, all the games in the pack felt well balanced for young players. A couple of puzzles were probably not as straightforward as we thought at first glance but that added interest to the game. This is quite a key aspect for me as having a game too simple will inevitably result in a loss of engagement and the fun shifting to boredom.
Last but not least, I think the overall physical components were of very good quality and well designed. In most cases the physical components are used to provide information and there are just a few cases where you had to manipulate them in order to proceed. This felt a bit as a lost opportunity also considering the game is designed for young players that may love more interaction and once you have solved the mystery you cannot play it again.
The only real negative aspect I found is that the game is too short as three cases are not enough to satisfy a family of gamers. I hope there will be more chapters released in the future as this is definitely a type of boardgame I would love to see played and passed from family to family.
That concludes our thoughts on Detective Society – Family Adventures. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames. To buy Detective Society – Family Adventures today click here!
