The Deadbolt Mystery Society – Terminal (Review)

Location: Your Home!

Players:  We recommend 1-4

Price: $24.99 per box, plus $4.99 shipping

Mile High Murder

Theme:

From the Deadbolt Mystery Society website:

A flight from Madrid to New York turns into an international incident after one of the first-class passengers is found dead while the plane is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.  The man seems to be in perfect health, and there are no obvious signs to point to cause of death.  The contents found in the man’s possession, however, suggest that there is more to him than meets the eye.  Only a limited number of passengers and flight crew had access to him.  Did he simply die of natural causes?  Or was his death the result of some sinister plot?  Unravel the story of the mysterious first-class passenger and discover what really happened on that flight to Madrid.

First Impressions:

The Deadbolt Mystery Society puts together some fantastic story based puzzling adventures, and I’m always excited when they post the synopsis of each upcoming box. Terminal didn’t initially catch my eye like other boxes did, seeming to be a more basic murder mystery than usual, but just like the victim, there was much more to this box than meets the eye, and I was pleasantly surprised by what is probably my favorite Deadbolt mystery to date!

High Points:

The game flow for Terminal was phenomenal, and all connections were intuitive and connected to the deductive process well. The story, which I thought was fairly plain at first blush, proved to be very entertaining and contained quite a few surprises to discover. The variety of puzzles was excellent, and kept us entertained without being overloaded with code breaking like some earlier boxes. While we enjoy the codes, the creative and varied interactions included with Terminal were a breath of fresh air. Online components work flawlessly and add an extra dimension to the game, standing in for various components convincingly. Some of the most mysterious puzzles in the Deadbolt line were included with this box, but careful investigation triggered several awesome ah ha moments. The relationships between the suspects and victim were well written, and piecing together their stories to create a timeline and coral the logic is a lot of fun. The multiple objectives add spectacularly to the game flow, and provide a good sense of progress to the experience itself.

Deadbolt reaches new heights with these puzzles!

Low Points:

One part of the game itself is actually not included within the box, which is by design. Luckily, it is emailed, posted on their Facebook group, and mailed via US Mail. I didn’t receive the email, but luckily saw the post on Facebook, allowing me to soldier forth without confusion. The mailing arrived at my house a full day after I’d finished the box, so I’m glad I did see the post, otherwise, we’d have stalled out. Later, I did see that a few people were very confused about a part of the box that just didn’t seem to connect after everything else was solved. I think the idea itself is solid, but in order to ensure the box is playable on day one, it probably makes sense to include some sort of backup. The puzzles also do strain the suspension of disbelief sometimes, matching the theme but not making as much sense as clues, so if realism is important to you this could be a negative. We don’t really mind however, as we’re here for the puzzles!

Verdict:

Terminal is definitely our favorite of the seven Deadbolt boxes released so far! It’s been a lot of fun seeing how the subscription has grown and improved, and we absolutely cannot wait for their upcoming spooky October mystery, Cabin! Join the Deadbolt Mystery Society here! Right now, you can get 30% off your first box with the Promo Code ESCAPE30! You can also see the rest of our Deadbolt Mystery Society reviews here!

9/10 (Excellent)

Full Disclosure: The Deadbolt Mystery Society provided a complementary box.