2.0 out of 5 stars Full of red herrings and about as much fun as calculus homework I was really disappointed by this box, my first Hunt a Killer adventure. I enjoy many escape room-in-a-box type games, and part of what I love about the format is the chance to unlock secrets within the box - as you solve mysteries, you tend to uncover new elements, new ways to look at things, or items hidden in plain sight. This box has none of that magic - it's just a huge pile of paper and a couple artifacts, many of which don't actually have a direct impact on the gameplay.(The remainder of this review contains minor spoilers on game flow and artifact types, but does not spoil the game content itself.)Solving this mystery essentially boils down to reconstructing a detailed timeframe of events at the motel. That would be fun if it involved lots of interesting deductions and discoveries, but instead it's really just a matter of building a spreadsheet based on the data provided with a little assistance from the other documents enclosed.There are a few physical artifacts included, but even after successfully finishing the game and reading the full walkthrough on the Hunt a Killer site, we still didn't know why the plastic objects were provided - they were entirely unnecessary for the solve. The contents of the tin were also uninteresting, because they were mainly additional flavor and not used as part of the final solve; the only item relevant to the solve was… more paper.My expectation for a game like this is that objects would get recombined in interesting ways. For example, if I get an object with a hole in it, I expect to hold it up to another document to make a revelation, or if I get a plastic figurine I'm looking for ways to open or disassemble it, or affect it with water or heat or light. None of that potential is present here, unfortunately - the gameplay is entirely in paper artifacts and all the physical objects could be replaced by at most a paper photograph.Most egregiously, several documents in the game are explicitly listed on the web site as RED HERRING. This is pretty much a cardinal game design sin in this genre - every object provided should have a purpose, or should have clues helping you determine the information is extraneous. The game designers here seemed to be reveling in including red herrings as part of their experience, which really detracted from our enjoyment when there was already a ton of unnecessary information to sift through. As one example, the victim and one suspect had mailing addresses with the same street, city and state, but that seemingly important observation turned out to be irrelevant to the mystery.Finally, when we tried to pack up the game so another friend could try it, we discovered the padlock that goes on the tin couldn't be secured again. Whether it was intentionally single-use or simply failed when we opened it, we found this pretty disappointing; many competing games encourage you to repack and replay them, often going as far as to include a 'refill kit' in the box.We were excited to spend date night solving this mystery at first - but while we eventually stumbled into the correct answer through the process of elimination, we didn't find the final solve satisfying at all and felt that it came out of left field and wasn't sufficiently supported by the other evidence provided. There are lots of great mysteries-in-a-box out there, and unless you're out of games to play, I'd suggest choosing one of the other choices instead.  A standalone all-in-one mystery game from Hunt A Killer!
Hunt A Killer is a cool company which is known for subscription service games. Every month, they’ll mail you the next episode in a long mystery series. Murder at the Motel, though, is available exclusively at Target. Christina’s son just graduated from college and is in town to visit. Her daughter goes to college here. So rather than listen to the two kids lovingly/hatefully bicker incessantly, Christina cracked open Murder at the Motel and started to read the rules. Everyone was a little weary after a long day, but within 15 minutes, all four of us were passing clues around the living room! “Let me see the map!” This game is rated as “3/5 Medium Difficulty”. It took us the better part of an hour to sift through and discuss all the high-quality clues: printed police report, a motel room key, a napkin note, a hand-written journal, a music event poster, and, yes, a turtle! Finally, we each started to settle on our conflicting solutions. Then we tried to convince each other that our solution was correct. Christina’s son reached for the solution envelope, and read it. He did a good job revealing the solution. He didn’t blurt it out all at once, but he also didn’t drag it out for too long. He asked us a few questions, and then answered a few of our questions, and then it became pretty clear to the rest of us that Christina got it right. But there’s no shame in losing to the actual mystery author in the family. Plus, it’s a cooperative game, so I can be glad she’s on my team! 1 or more players. Thought Fuel Supply is reader-supported. Sometimes, when you buy something after clicking a link here, we earn a commission. It costs you nothing extra and helps us keep the lights on. Thanks! Thought Fuel Supply is reader-supported. Sometimes, when you buy something after clicking a link here, we earn a commission. It costs you nothing extra and helps us keep the lights on. Thanks! |
Murder at the motel lock code
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