Detective Society is a UK based at home puzzle mystery adventure, where each month, over the course of six months, you receive a box in the mail filled with puzzles. In each box you must navigate websites, email characters, and even send text messages (or Whatsapp for international players). Each box follows a single overarching story but you have specific tasks for each box. After playing season three of Detective Society for a review on Escape The Roomers (episode 1, episodes 2-6), I admit I was intrigued on how the other seasons of Detective Society compared and decided to try it out. Let’s dive in!
Story:
The story of this season follows a young man, Timothy Lee, having inexplicably falling into a coma with no known cause. His doctor has reached out asking for help to learn more about Timothy as he parents are being quite tight lipped. As you begin your investigation you realise there is much more to Timothy's condition than people think and you start to get the sense time is not on your side.
I found the overarching story for The Silence of Timothy Lee to be quite fascinating. It was well paced and filled with some good “aha” twists as you move through each episode. If you enjoy mysteries filled with conspiracies and intrigue then Detective Society is an excellent option as they excel at building out their stories. Another thing I liked about this adventure was the little world building elements that went into each episode as you explored all nooks and crannies of the online platform. If you want to get the full feel of the immersion, send every email, every text, and click all the links - you never know what you’ll find!
Puzzles:
In terms of puzzling, I found this season had a focus of pattern identification, logic, tracking, and observation at its forefront. The best thing to do is review everything carefully first in order to help make connections between objects. There is a lot of online content to pour through that can really help your case but use the physical items from the box to help guide your investigation as those will be the clues to keep you on track. You often are trying to find names, locations, and evidence that you need to email to a specific contact which also act as your answer checker. There is a hint site available if you get stuck at all.
In this frame of mind, Detective Society follows a sub-genre of puzzle games that seek to treat you like a true detective where all the puzzles work to make sense in the world and your task is more in line with following trails and finding new leads. The puzzles are thematic and connect well with the progression of the game as you examine pamphlets to learn secret about companies or track security personnel on maps. I especially loved one of the last puzzles that combined interactive fiction, immersion, and logic puzzling all in one. Overall, the puzzles aren't difficult but the challenge lies within having a keen eye.
Customer Service:
I felt, overall, customer service is pretty good with Detective Society. The game took about 14 business days to arrive and arrived in thin cardboard boxes. From what I can gather the company made a switch not long ago from thin cardboard boxes to cardboard envelopes but I believe they are still making it through old stock so I had a mix of boxes and envelopes. The games themselves provide a good variety of paper materials with some physical components but the real prize is the pins you get with each episode. I will note one component in my first episode (a balloon) had a printing error that would have impeded my play but thankfully I was playing with a friend virtually who had a copy of the game as well.
The hint system for the game is pretty solid and easy to navigate but it is password protected so make sure to use the code on the square letter. I liked how they labelled each set of clues under a puzzle name to help guide players. I do wish they provided a reference to final emails for each mailing as I ran into an issue where one of the automated emails didn’t sent. A good thing to do while you play each episode is to be consistent with the email you use across all 6 episodes.
Conclusion:
Overall, I found the Silence of Timothy Lee to be an intriguing mystery adventure filled with twist and turns and surrounded with a well developed world players feel comfortable exploring. The online component of this game was well executed and was balanced with thematic puzzling. I would say this is a middle tier kind of puzzling experience for those more focused on the experience as a whole - puzzle, story, and immersion.This is a more pricier game but I felt it was worth it, especially if you are playing with friends. I am definitely interested to see what Detective Society has coming next and I am now planning to grab the first season as soon as I can.
Check out Detective Society here for more information!