Murder at the Mansion takes you, a distant descendant and sole heir to the family fortune, back to the fateful night of a lavish party at the old Blackwood estate, following which Lord Blackwood’s body was discovered. The crime was never solved. Can you put the suspects under the microscope to discover who did it, where and with what? Sift through the evidence, listen to witness statements, and step deep into a world of mystery and intrigue. Sift through the evidence and step deep into a world of mystery and intrigue!
	60 minutes
	2-6 players
	Difficulty level not stated
	£15 per team
	Play at home (based in UK)
	escapehunt.com
	Played by Daiman, Paul and Bharath
	May 2020
	Completed in around 60 minutes

Theming

6/10Compared to The Treasure of the Aztecs, this game was a bit more fleshed out. By the very nature of the theme, the story was more compelling and the puzzles mostly fit the concept well. That said, this is still a PDF game, albeit a nicely designed one despite the obvious limits of the format.

 Daiman

7/10This nicely designed PDF puzzle pack felt more cohesive and detailed compared to The Treasure of the Aztecs, although it is smaller at 16 pages long with 11 pages of puzzles. You need to sift through 13 pieces of evidence to work out which of the 5 suspects was the killer, which of the 5 murder weapons was used and which of the 5 locations the deadly deed was committed in. Only then can you bring justice to the Blackwood family and claim the inheritance that is rightfully yours! You need to print out 3 of the pages, but the rest can be viewed on a device if you want to save on printing costs.

Paul

6/10[score only]

 Bharath

Puzzles

7/10Complementing the story, the tasks you undertake in this game are mostly observation based. You are presented with a list of suspects and have to divine the guilty party from the evidence in front of you. Despite this, they still felt varied and robustly designed – we didn’t stumble through these puzzles like we did in Aztecs. It would be nice however if there were more interactive elements!

 Daiman

7/10You’re provided with a logic grid, which is more complicated than it needs to be, to aid you in collating the information that you garner from solving the puzzles. Most of the game is spent in the document itself, but you do need to go online to send an email, provide your final answer and view clues if you get stuck. You receive an automated reply to your email with an additional piece of evidence that is crucial to finding the killer. The tasks were logical and varied, with no real flaws. There’s a bit of reading to do, but it doesn’t get overly complex.

Paul

6/10[score only]

 Bharath

Enjoyment

8/10I think by now it’s no secret that I’m not the biggest fan of print at home games but I genuinely had a good time playing this. There was an actual sense of progression and the puzzles had a clear logic. It’s not a terribly unique theme but it’s done well.

 Daiman

7/10This was an enjoyable hour of sleuthing that satisfied my detective desires. Murder at the Mansion flowed well and found a nice balance of being challenging but not too difficult. But I’d have preferred it to have been designed so that it didn’t require being printed out as there are many people without printers who are now unable to play it.

Paul

6/10[score only]

 Bharath

Value

6/10I still struggle with the pricing of print at home games and £15 is a lot of money for something that you then have to print and cut out (although it’s slightly less necessary in this game compared to Aztecs). It’s an entertaining hour or so but, for what you get, it’s an overpriced one.

 Daiman

5/10Likewise with Treasure of the Aztecs, I feel £15 is pretty pricey for what is effectively 12 pages of puzzles that you have to print out at your own cost. This is more expensive than some online puzzle games I’ve played that contain dedicated websites with a lot more content. That being said, I enjoyed solving the Murder at the Mansion and lovers of whodunits would be in their element.

Paul

6/10[score only]

 Bharath

Overall scores