Inspectors' Review:
We gots a crime to solve here!
Do you think it would help if we were literate?
Oooh, paper!
Did you ever hear the phrase, a picture says a thousands words?
Well...it seems these pictures do that :P
Boss' Review:
Unsolved Case Files is a US based company run by friends, John Carroll and Lou Wilson, who got the idea in 2016 to create products to sell to Amazon. After many failed products they noticed a growing interest in true crime and decided to create something that could imitate that without glorifying real killers…and Unsolved Case Files was born. This format closely follows murder mysteries and since I have been enjoying quite a few recently so I was excited to do in. Max Cahil is one of sixteen cases available to purchase.
Story:
The premise follows the murder of the newly appointed dean of history at Tubman University in 1995. Mr. Cahil was found dead in his office in the morning after spending a late night of work. The murder weapon is missing and none of the surveillance cameras caught sight of the killer. The police have narrowed down the suspect lists but it up to you to figure out what the murder weapon is and who committed the crime.
In terms of story, it had a good structure to it with suspects that have a nice mixture of alibis or suspicion. The narrative predominantly comes from interviews and testimonies but there are also photos, news articles, maps, and a menu that help narrow down the list. As you read through the case information and interviews, I felt I was getting a pretty good understanding of what was happening. I will point out I identified the killer pretty early on because of clues in the first objective but objective two and three made sense in terms of a police investigation. Overall, the narrative was simple in structure but worked well for the game.
Puzzles:
In terms of puzzle, this game is predominately deduction based. Essentially you are compiling information about each suspect and seeing if any clues around the crime scene would help tie one down more concretely than the others. Much of the deductions come down to careful observations – the photos are important! I felt there was enough clueing to help you along but there were a couple times where the submission format of the game threw me off. I had technically solved the objective but because I had discovered this a different route, I was unable to provide the correct pieces of evidence the website wanted me to provide. It took my a little bit to see what they wanted (and yes their pieces of evidence were good clues), but I felt like my way also worked but this may have to do with the fact this game relies more on concrete clues than theorizing based on photos and accounts. In this frame of mind, remember you need concrete clues, not just theories based on what someone said. In addition, there is one piece of evidence that requires spatial manipulation but I found photocopying the item and cutting it out helped me much better if your special awareness is not good.
Customer Service:
This game was purchased by a friend so I didn’t have any experience with the shipping part, but it was through Amazon. If you are outside of the USA, you can purchase directly from their website. I found their hint system to be a bit tricky as I would have liked some more clue options, especially because they don’t provide the solution. Instead it is locked unless you are to correctly identify the pieces of evidence needed. There is not outside information required to solve the game and the website is there mainly to help gate information using the objective and envelope reveals.
Conclusion:
Overall, I found Max Cahil to be a fun little murder mystery with a clear story line and a fun little twist. I appreciated how while the story was simpler, the goal to provide concrete evidence of the crime was at the focus of the case, which is different from other games I have played like Murder Mystery in A Box which are more theorizing. This is a good option for evening when you don’t have a lot of time but want to dig into a story and mystery without have to hurt your head. If you enjoy murder mysteries or are interested in trying one out, this in an easy option to find and there are plenty of scenarios to choose from!
Check our Unsolved Case Files here.