I am back again with another Red Herring Games (UK based murder mystery company) virtual murder mystery! If you haven’t seen my previous review, check out Murder in the Nile. After enjoying my fourth virtual game with them I decided to sign up for the next one! Let’s dive in!
For context, this event takes place virtually over the course of a weekend (in the case May 7th and May 8th). They provide you with a schedule of things you can do from cooking and mixing session, cocktail hours, escape rooms, trivia and more, with the finale for each night being a two hour murder mystery. I will be focusing on the murder mystery but I will note they really upped the challenge level on their digital escape room!
Story:
The story of A Very Stylish Murder follows you attending a lavish birthday party of one Charlotte Styles, the second wife of a well off department store tycoon (his family history was available in a booklet in the box). While attending the party, William Styles, the much older husband, appears held up in his office with a few people coming and going from his office. At the end of the evening, Charlotte sends someone to call on Mr. Styles to attend the birthday celebration when he is found murdered in his office, a gun shot wound. No one is allowed to leave and everyone is sent off to the different sitting rooms to wait and you cannot help but decide you must solve this case yourself!
Once again, I had a lot of fun watching this experience unfold. In these kinds of murder mysteries, active participation is key to unravelling the story. Over the course of the two hours each evening, you are visited in zoom breakout rooms (usually about 12 people in the room) by various suspects to interrogate. As you meet with the characters you must tease apart the multiple stories going on to find the thread the follows the murder(s). Some characters will provide red herrings and some are hiding secrets not relevant to the case. Characters are not bound to always tell the truth but the best way to be blunt about information you gathered and if they struggle or avoid it means you are on the right track! In this case it was really need to watch for some characters admitting to lesser crimes in order to avoid notice on bigger ones! I also admire in these games the complexity of the characters they create. While there are some continuity issues that play about (likely because the actors don't follow a set script), the actors do an amazing job really flushing out their characters so things are not obvious at first. I would say if you enjoy immersing yourself in the story and being able to talk to characters then an experience like this is a perfect option!
Puzzles:
In terms of puzzles, you have the deduction game happening with the murder mystery but there is also a booklet included with a series of puzzles that will, once fully solved, reveal a password for a safe that contains an additional piece of evidence that can help you with the murder mystery. I found these puzzles to be relatively light. They relied on logic and pattern recognition. There was one puzzle I couldn’t solve but deduction allowed me to figure out what the answer could be. I would say these are an easier version of the Cosykiller games (mail ordered mystery experiences). Overall, I got about 40 minutes out of solving them and I highly recommend doing them with a friend for more enjoyment! If you get stuck there is a session during the weekend you can attend to get help.
Customer Service:
Customer service was excellent. I received a discount on this box because of a mishap with the last one and there were absolutely no issues with this experience. They used a different shipper and the game arrived two weeks earlier. You do have the option to order this as a print and play but I love how they provide snacks in the box and set it up so all you need is the box to start your adventure, even including a notepad and a pen. I would say if you like everything being prepared for you and some fun snacks, the 10 GBP difference between the digital game and physical game isn’t much but if you don’t need the fancy add ons and can print yourself, then I recommend the digital game.
Conclusion:
Overall, A Very Stylish Murder once again showed that Red Herring Games can provide engagement, puzzling, and a rich experience that left me finishing my evening wondering when the next event starts. I love the detail to the stories and I feel truly involved in the adventure. I highly recommend inviting friends so you can discuss and debrief as this really adds to the experience. I cannot wait for their next adventure! If you prefer more tabletop adventure, I recommend looking at their challenging puzzle subscription, Cosykiller, which you can find here!
For more information about the online murder mystery weekend, check out here.