Inspectors' Review:
Hidden secrets in a castle?!?!? Count us in!
Mr. Gurges should be paying us better with all the work we've done...
RIBBONS!
Paper quality is top notch as always.
I think you should read this...not sure why but it looks important.
Ohhh....invitations!
Boss' Review:
Dinner Party is the fifth game created husband and wife duo, Anuj and Orsi, who are the masterminds behind the tabletop puzzle company, Enigma Fellowship. Enigma Fellowship is a subscription-based puzzle service that provides a 2-3 hour narrative puzzle games every alternate month. The themes range from finding lost civilizations to diving deep into ocean waters. I have reviewed their previous experience, The Lost Knowledge, Scattered Cards, Submerged Sentinel, and Monsters in the Wild. After enjoying the previous four games, I was happy to receive the next two games together and couldn’t help but dive it as soon as I could. Let’s dig in!
Story:
The premise for Dinner Party follows a spin off from the second game, Scattered Cards, which takes place in the city of Sonneberg. During the events of Scattered Cards, and wealthy man, Enrico Fabricci went missing. He often travelled between his home in Sonneberg and his family estate in Tuscany, Castello Di Dolcci. With his disappearance, a large legal dispute has come about regarding the ownership of the estate and all its holding, including a well-off winery. Various members of the dispute, and the court appointed caretaker received strange invitations that seem to be quite the puzzle. Your boss, the president of The Enigma Fellowship, has tasked you to travel to Tuscany with the caretaker to visit the estate with hopes of uncovering the mystery behind these strange envelopes…and maybe settle this estate dispute once and for all!
I found the story to one of the best of this series so far! It had some great twists, good tension development, and all the materials worked well within the story. I would say with this experience to take the time to really inspect each piece of the game to gather more information – this will become especially useful in the latter half of the game. Enigma Fellowship also continues to add a narrative voice over to the game that I found to be really nice as I giddily open the envelop while hearing the story move forward. Overall, I felt engaged and motivated to keep puzzling through because the narrative really helped connect me to the experience!
Puzzles:
In terms of puzzles, I felt these puzzles were probably the smoothest set in the series so far. I would also add they are a little harder than The Lost Knowledge but still a fairly easy experience. I appreciated this as I’ve found I’ve been looking for more easier experience to play after a long day that don’t drain me. The puzzles consist of physical manipulation, observation, and math. I found the physical manipulation to be the puzzles that shined the most as they create quite a few moments of “aha” moments reveal in fun and exciting ways. Also the puzzle that incorporated an element of culture or theme befitting of the game for this experience I think worked really well with the climax of the game. Essentially, the puzzles are easy but really smooth with great sign posting, in addition the element of physical manipulation to reveal clues helped this game shine amongst the others in the series for me. Also, for those interested in the hidden puzzles I highlight recommend taking a dive was it was quite satisfactory!
Customer Service:
Customer service is something I also give Enigma Fellowship high praise for. They care for their players and really listen to them. They are quite active in the tabletop community and encourage players to provide feedback. In addition, each game they’ve sent me came with a little gummy bear treat as a nice snack while playing. Their hint system is now quite comprehensive with images to provide guidance for those need a little visual aid and are placed right below where the solution needs to be imputed so you do not need to struggle between sites for assistance.
Conclusion:
In the end, Dinner Party was a wonderful narrative puzzle experience filled with excellent “aha” moments. In a game like this, the experience takes precedence over the level of puzzle challenge but I liked that for a change. I also liked the tie back to previous games to show an interconnected world within these games. It paves the way for a potential crossovers across the games…maybe? I recommend this for people looking for a few hours of game play with a good story to follow along with and puzzles you can really get your hands on for an affordable price. I look forward to see what is in store with their next episode, Scattered Thoughts.
Check out Enigma Fellowship here.