Red Herring Games is a UK based murder mystery company that consists of online and in person murder mysteries events. They also have a monthly subscription murder mysteries series sister company called Cosykiller. I played their first season of Cosykiller some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed it for its challenge (those ciphers), story, and immersion. I had previously played a few other of their virtual murder mysteries, but this most recent one was part of my kickstarter pledge for the newest season of Cosykiller. I don’t hear a lot of people in North America talking about this company so I thought I would share.
How these virtual murder mysteries work is that they are, in fact, a weekend of adventure. Now, you can choose to only do the murder mystery session each night, but you have access to virtual escape rooms, trivia, quizzes, cooking workshops, cocktail hours, and lessons themed around the various characters (Ie. There was a dance lesson available as one of the characters was an experienced dancer). In addition, you receive a series of puzzles to solve that will unlock a secret vault with an additional clue to the story that might help you crack the case. For the sake of the review I am focusing on the murder mystery and puzzles.
Story:
The story of Murder on the Nile follows that you have just have travelled to Cairo, Egypt as the Great War enters its final chapter. In an Allied foreign services encampment you are staying in, you expect to spend your days relaxing in the hot air – a respite from the horrors of the war. Yet underneath the dancing, drinking, riding, card games and more there is something stirring and when a body is found you realize, even in this refuge, peace is not ensured.
I personally really enjoyed the story that unfolded in this experience. In particular I liked how you gathered the story through speaking with the characters. Over the course of the two hours each evening, you are visited in zoom break out 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. Characters are hiding things…but not always because of murder. Characters also can mislead but I found if you catch them on a lie they will be visible flustered so if they start huffing and puffing you know you’ve got them! I appreciated that the story was built in a manner that wasn’t solely focused only on the those involved in the murder. You got to see truly human characters and I love that in my stories. I also found the motive and story behind the killer to be fascinating and I was so proud of myself when I figured it out! Overall, if you love uncovered rich stories with multiple character studies then Red Herring provided an excellent experiences.
Puzzles:
In terms of puzzles, they are entirely logic based with a sprinkle of cipher. Each puzzle would solve for a colour and you can to assembly all the coloured shapes together to get an image that would provide you with the password. These puzzles take on a traditional approach and are much easier than their Cosykiller games – most likely because this experience is meant to be for more murder mystery lovers than puzzlers. I loved the colourful sudoku puzzle and I found the puzzles be smooth. There was one puzzle I couldn’t figure out but I was able to figure out the correct colour by solving the others and drawing conclusions. Solving for the password was a bit tricky and required good visual puzzling but I figure it out in the end because it fit the theme. I would say these are meant to be quick and lite puzzling with a good murder mystery clue at the end.
Customer Service:
Customer service was good. I did run into the issue where my box for this experience did not arrive in time – in fact it got held up by UPS because they cited the pen as needing an air gun license. The company and I were equally baffled. Thankfully Red Herrings offers two versions of the game, a physical copy that would be mailed to you (also included snacks and some keepsakes) or a digital copy you could print. The price difference in 10 GBP plus shipping . They did provide me with a discount for the troubles and I greatly appreciated it. Now that the box finally arrived, I can add that there is a lot of care put into assembling this experience and I love the tangible factor as you photos of evidence, copies of telegrams, and review. While the digital copy is good, I would say if you like immersion, go for the physical copy.
Conclusion:
Overall, if you love light puzzling, immersive theatre, and good old fashion detective solving you will find Red Herring Games Virtual Murder Mystery Weekend a wonderful and enjoyable experience filled with intrigue and secrets. The characters are well rounded, the deduction clues are well hinted, and the puzzles add an extra fun to the weekend. This is a great event to do with friends and you can commit to it as little or as much as you want. There is another one coming up in May and I am definitely attending again. Feel free to join and maybe we can all solve the next case together!
For more information about the online murder mystery weekend, check out here.
For more information about the more challenging puzzle subscription, see Cosykiller here.