CRIMESIGHT

First impression: Cool concept, but significantly too much RNG to be considered a logic or strategy game. The biggest offenders here are the random events and random movement. I won my first game against a level 30 something Japanese player by pure luck since a gas leak occurred right on top of his killer pawn and injured him so he didn't have enough movement to reach the victim. I had another game where I was playing as killer and on the very first turn I decided not to move my killer pawn for deception purposes, and the AI decided to randomly sprint in the complete opposite direction of the victim to a place with no food, and the victim sprinted in the opposite direction of the killer, so they were as far apart as possible. I proceeded to have to spend the rest of the game slowly trying to move my killer pawn back across the map as the victim kept moving away every single turn, which obviously resulted in my defeat. And that's not even mentioning the RNG in terms of fuse boxes and such where both sides are quite literally randomly checking points of interest and just hoping they find it first. Edit: Having played for a bit longer, my impression is even less favorable. So far, in the majority of my games as Sherlock, it feels less like a logic deduction game and more like an RNG simulator about finding food and fuse boxes. Checked four PoI with pawns that you know are 100% safe and didn't find any food? Sucks to be you bruv, now they can only move 1 square and are blind. Moriarty checked a PoI in the starting room and found fuse box on turn 1? Rip you bruv. The end game is especially bad. I fully know who both who the victim and killer are, and so the game just becomes about picking three pawns and walking them around together checking PoIs and hoping you find enough food not to go blind. There's also the serious issue that Moriarty can force a coin-flip draw if they feel they are losing. If time runs out and they haven't killed the target, you as Sherlock are forced to guess the identity of the killer, but if they just hard commit to using another pawn at the same time as their actual killer, there's no way to deduce which one is really the killer. They can even throw the match in by making the non-killer look more suspicious in an effort to create a draw. I don't consider this "mind-gamey" it's more just crummy game design. Why should intentionally failing your objective get you a draw, while trying to win and failing counts as a loss?

Really fun digital take on 'Clue' styled games with some interesting variation between games depending on board/types of players you chose to play with. 1v1, 2/3v1 and a bizarre 2v2 mode where one of the 'Good guy" detectives is actually a plant for the big-bad murderer. That last mode is probably the most enjoyable in my opinion as it adds another degree of fun to the already crazy amount of setup this game has going on each game. I'll update the review if my opinion changes after a few more hours, but so far it feels more like an addicting board game than really a "competitive" game.

Edit: Due to the game being shutdown in May of 2023 I could not in good conscience recommend this game. It's unfortunate that this game was in Konami's management. I think that making this game a tabletop experience would have been a better approach. This game will probably live on to be an excellent case study on the needs for developers to continue to work toward promoting their games before they are doomed to obscurity. Original: It's hard to put into words what I like about this game. From a gameplay aspect I really do enjoy the asymmetric concept they utilized for this game. One team has more action economy (Sherlock) whereas the other has board knowledge (Moriarty). This game is shock full of mindgames, and the randomization the game utilizes for the location of items that players need to acquire keeps every game interesting. The game is extremely replayable. I have not had a game where I felt the gameplay got stale since the board states can be so different due to the randomized elements of the game. This game ISN'T solvable, and that's honestly what makes it so fun. There are many elements of risk management as Sherlock that you have to live with at certain points, and as Moriarty the amount of work it takes to not make your actions too obvious is a challenge in and of itself. I haven't played this game with voice as of this review, but I can imagine playing this with a friend would be a blast! The theme is good for what the gameplay is about. There's no real in-depth story so if that's what you're looking for then really consider if you like the game for what it is. If you do play, PLEASE LEARN TO PING in multiplayer. If the Sherlock team cannot communicate you may as well forget any advantage you get due to your action economy. It also serves as a means to bluff your opponent(and friends). If you're thinking of just playing this game with one other buddy through 1v1, I think you'll scratch that strategy itch if you're looking for that kind of game. At a $20 price point I'd say the game is at a justifiable opening price at least for me. If this game was $10 then I'd strongly recommend you check it out. The only potential danger is there not being any players to match up with in the future through the matching system, so try to find friends! If only there was a guide to how to find those though.... >.< Edit

A neat game that will be permanently shut down with ZERO offline support after not even a year of support. No advertising or dev communication and almost 0 updates led to a pretty quick demise. ♥♥♥♥ Konami.

This game is not like Among Us. It's basically Clue but better. The gameplay is slow paced and very much feels like a boardgame. This isn't a bad thing, I just think people should know what they're getting into.

took our money and ran

(update after playing a few games as irene): for the love of god DO NOT PLAY IRENE. PAIN and SUFFERING are everything that you will earn from whoever is playing Moriarty and you CAN NOT FIX THE MISTAKES that the moriarty makes. I know the same goes for sherlock team but so long as you can move 2 PAWNS you can still fix you teammate's terrible board setup. The tutorial explains everything you need to know but you only get the hang of the game after playing several matches. Overall really good and fun game, the winning animation for both sides really gives me the chills and feels badass, not to mention the soundtrack that really makes the icing of the cake. If you're worried that the game has no players i personally have had no problems whatsoever finding matches in less than a minute. The conclusion is, buy it if you like the genre and concept of the game, it won't dissapoint you if that's what you're looking for by buying it.