OVERALL PRODUCT RATING: 2 Keys
A bloody murder has rocked Hollywood to its core; the fashion world has always been a cutthroat industry.
The 80s Were Killer tells a sordid tale about the gruesome murder of Kate and Louis Hansen, the heads of Hansen Industries- a prolific powerhouse in the Hollywood fashion world, and its aftermath. Private eyes pore over the case files, with a timeline of evidence that spans the better portion of the 1980s.
Over the course of the investigation, detectives will be faced with many questions. Who killed Kate and Louis? What was their motive? Is there something more nefarious than even homicide at play? Delve into the murky waters of the fashion industry, and see what mysteries truly lie beneath the surface of Hollywood glitz and glamor.
Killer Mystery games are presented as if they are television series. The overarching storyline found throughout is referred to as a “season,” with each package labeled as an “episode.” The individual boxes are further broken down into “scenes,” or the various envelopes inside. All parcels are clearly labeled as to which part of the story is currently being explored.
The scenes are all presented linearly (e.g. Episode 3, Scene 1 must be completed immediately before Episode 3, Scene 2), however the contents found within each envelope are not. To further complicate matters, very often, a clue will be provided, but its corresponding puzzle will be located in a different scene, or even another episode entirely.
Although the episodes are presented separately, they must be played sequentially. Therefore, this post will present them as one single review simply because they cannot be purchased or played individually. As such, this review will be structured a bit differently to feature just one combined general SCENIC section – as all five games have equal quality materials and graphics used. As well, in place of the traditional STORY and PUZZLES sections will be five mini-reviews – one for each included episode. Each individual game within the box will get its own score below, while the “OVERALL PRODUCT RATING” above is a combined average.
Being a home game, “Scenic” is defined from a graphic design perspective, as well as the quality, weight and feel of print materials inside the box, or in this instance, boxes.
As previously mentioned, each box contains a series of envelopes, one for each scene in any given episode. There are consistently a minimum of five scenes to analyze every time.
Each scene envelope is made of thick, sturdy paper, akin to a manila folder. Vibrant neon colors and bold, splashy patterns are festooned across both the front and back of the packets. A smoking gun and a bloody knife are also featured, hinting at the violence that has befallen poor Louis and Kate.
The evidence pertaining to the case is distributed between each scene. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds of individual pages found throughout. Most of the provided materials are printed on various kinds and sizes of paper (with nothing being larger than the typical computer sheet, or 8.5″ x 11″). Story cards are thick and glossy, resembling postcards. Crime scene photographs, both in color and black-and-white, the Hansens’ Last Wills and Testaments, receipts, advertisements, diaries, newspaper clippings, and much more are present and accounted for.
One thing to note is that the episodes are all unfortunately plagued by a lack of proofreading. There are spelling and grammatical errors throughout, mainly on the story cards, but also scattered amongst other pieces of evidence. In fact, the first time the EA detectives encountered such an instance, it was believed to be intentional, like it was part of a clue to unravel. The same error, which involves incorrectly spelling one of the victim’s names, is discovered to actually occur multiple times during examination of the case files.
A variety of other pieces of documentation are physically present outside of the contents of the scenes. Each episode contains at least one tangible object to aid in the investigation. Several of the clues also incorporate the Killer Mystery website, so access to a computer or smart device is required. Audio files, videos, and other crucial evidence can be found here, providing additional insight for detectives-in-training.
Episode one
RATING: 4 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: *not timed
John Hansen, a wealthy playboy and son of famous fashion designers Kate and Louis Hansen, is accused of murdering them. This season is packed with family secrets, corruption, jealousy, and — of course — murder. Follow the clues, narrow your suspect list, and uncover who really killed Kate and Louis Hansen.
The community of Cielos Con Angelitos, California has been traumatized by a serious crime, as two of their most prominent citizens, the fashion moguls Kate and Louis Hansen, have been found slain. The investigation into their deaths begins, but the police are quick to blame the Hansens’ only son, John, for their demise.
The episodes all shift to shine focus on one individual connected to the case. The primary perspective for this first one is Kate’s brother Barry, so his machinations and interactions with John, Kate, and others in the family are explored.
There is really only one true puzzle found in this episode. The vast majority is more preliminary background information on the case- details about the Hansens’ cause of death, an introduction to all of their close family members and associates, and the like. This episode also begins to show that not all is well behind the scenes at the Cielos Con Angelitos Police Department. Perhaps this case is not as straightforward as it initially appears…
Each episode concludes with a “Major Objective.” Bizarrely, the question asked relates to evidence that seemingly does not exist, at least not at this point. This lack of cohesion becomes more evident as the investigation progresses.
EPIsode two
RATING: 2 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: *not timed
John William Hansen has his life turned upside down when the officers of Cielos Con Angelitos suspect and accuse him of his parents’ murder. John constantly maintains that he is innocent of committing the crime. Is he truly guilty? Or is someone else trying to make his life a living hell?
John is the epitome of “spoiled rich kid.” He has had everything in life handed to him. He gets bad grades in school? He gets rewarded. He crashes the car? He receives praise and congratulations from his family.
Lately, it seems like the world is out to get him. He’s the primary suspect for his parents’ murder (actually, he’s the ONLY suspect- the cops don’t even want to consider someone else), mainly because he doesn’t have an alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the killings.
This episode utilizes the Killer Mystery website in a more prominent manner than before, and it is here that more challenges begin to appear. It is in these puzzles, however, that the quality of the investigation starts its downward spiral.
All of the online clues require an “access code”, which is usually provided outright, but occasionally gumshoes need to turn to an outside source in order to even obtain the information necessary to create said word or phrase. While none of the challenges rely on previous or prior knowledge, the fact that some answers cannot be found within the existing narrative can be aggravating. All riddles should be able to be solved only with the storyworld materials contained within the episodes.
Episode three
RATING: 2 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: *not timed
Leena and Lisa, the two other Hansen offspring, have always had a tumultuous relationship between themselves, their brother John, and their late parents. Leena, in particular, seems to be having a tremendous amount of trouble accepting her parents’ death. She believes John is the culprit, but Lisa isn’t so sure.
Leena is not satisfied with how the Cielos Con Angelitos Police Department is handling the investigation into the murder. She decides to take matters into her own hands, and essentially go rogue. She, like her brother, has a tendency of not being punished for negative behavior.
episode four
RATING: 2 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: *not timed
Jack White has been the private personal attorney for the Hansen family for years, kept on retainer to handle any legal troubles that might arise for Kate and Louis. His clients’ death seems like that might put an end to his employment, but he isn’t fazed. He will continue to serve the remaining family members for as long as it is in his power to do so.
Jack White is like a cockroach- kind of sleazy and gross, but never going away. Louis Hansen has kept him as the lawyer handling both his family affairs and his business empire, admittedly with a growing concern over Jack’s professional and ethical “standards,” or lack thereof.
Jack is very “buddy-buddy” with some of the higher-ups in the Cielos Con Angelitos Police Department. The PD has recently been placed under scrutiny, as the general public is not satisfied with how the Hansen Murders case is being handled. Some may think it’s a conflict of interest for an attorney to be so close to the cops investigating his employers’ deaths, but Jack doesn’t seem to care.
The “curse of the time-wasting” puzzles strikes again in this episode. One challenge involves taking one of the aforementioned decoded pages, and essentially reversing the cipher to re-encrypt the text! It serves no purpose to the storyline, and it takes an extraordinarily long time to even attempt to solve.
Another prominent flaw is that some of the tasks in this episode are printed in such minuscule font that it is almost impossible to see the characters. Private eyes need to use an extra-strong magnifying glass to enhance the visuals to a legible level, lest they want to give their optometrists some extra business.
episode five
RATING: 2 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: *not timed
The Cielos Con Angelitos Police Department is in disarray. Internal investigations are ongoing, as it appears the Hansen case has been gravely mishandled. As one of their own digs deeper into the details, she discovers that perhaps she is dealing with an issue that spans far greater than even the boundaries of the normally-peaceful Los Angeles suburb.
Episode five continues to cram details into each scene, whether they are relevant or not. One would think this finale would tie everything up with a neat resolution, but that is not the case. More and more characters are brought into the fold, along with their accompanying backstories.
The ending scenes are essentially anticlimactic. Characters do not suffer consequences for their actions, nor does the storyworld seem complete. New plots and characters are introduced up until the very end, but there’s no cohesion with the already-established investigation.
There are minimal puzzles in this episode, and what few there are make detectives want to hang up their badge. One such riddle actually repeats the mechanics of “reverse-solving” from the prior episode, the results of which essentially render other puzzles moot. The conclusions drawn do not lend themselves to any feeling of accomplishment, but rather leave inspectors questioning how something that takes so long to solve (literally almost a full TEN HOURS, in this instance) can be so fruitless in its payoff.
While there is an overall intriguing premise to the mystery, the execution is lacking. Detectives are left with more questions than answers, as there are numerous instances of sub-plotlines being introduced, but then abandoned, leaving a plethora of loose ends.
New characters and stories are added in up until the last scene of the last envelope, causing investigators to be overwhelmed with identifying what is actually essential to the case, and what is filler. There are also multiple times that a piece of evidence provided bears little to no relevance to the actual case at hand.
On a wide variety of occasions, it seems like the assigned tasks are only present for the sake of having riddles in general. The sleuths working the case can actually skip certain puzzles entirely and not have the overall plot be affected. (The EA detectives actually DID pass over challenges, as attempting to derive a solution only resulted in failure.) There are also several moments where the actual process to solve the actual objective not only is tedious, but takes an unnecessarily long amount of time to accomplish. This includes having to decipher entire pages’ worth of encrypted texts, or searching through every single scene envelope to find the most minute of details.
It is incredibly frustrating to be given a puzzle, only to find that the solutions are not only spread throughout the entirety of the season, but also may not even become relevant until a different episode. Unfortunately, this happens more than once. The evidence throughout is so intensely detailed that merely keeping track of all the information is a challenge unto itself, a notion which can be further exacerbated by the subscription format.
In somewhat of a baffling move, it was apparently decided to have numerous characters throughout the storyworld share names. There are at least two Lisas, two Janes, etc. This naming convention makes for a tremendous amount of confusion in trying to determine which person is actually being referenced.
On top of that, there are also a myriad of instances where there is no consistency to the spelling. One character’s surname is spelled three different ways over the course of the investigation, with two of those even appearing on the same piece of evidence. This makes it quite challenging to determine if the errors are intentional, and part of a clue, or if they were merely overlooked during the editing process.
For an 80s-themed mystery, there is very little present to actually represent the 1980s. Yes, there are mentions of the chronology and timeline, but those could easily be changed to a different decade and have zero effect on the outcome.
The 80s Were Killer has potential to be a thrilling, enticing mystery, but instead should be put behind bars. Case closed.
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Venue: Killer Mystery
Location: At Home
Number of Games: 5 (1 5-part season in this box)
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
Duration: *not timed
Capacity: 1+ people
Group Type: Private / You will not be paired with strangers. (But if you are, please call 911 immediately to report a home invasion.)
Cost: $145 per season
We thank Killer Mystery for sending us this game. Although the complimentary season was generously provided, that in no way impacts the opinion included within this review.
