Location: Your Home!
Players: We recommend 1-4
Price: $24.99 per box, plus $4.99 shipping
Lights Out
Theme:
From The Deadbolt Mystery Society website:
The air has a chilly nip to it. Snow is falling lightly. The holidays are almost here. The Lamplight Theatre is in the middle of a run of performances of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Reviews have been good, and ticket sales have been even better. Yet, things in Valley Falls never stay happy and festive for very long. When Victor Day, the lead actor playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the performance, is found dead, the show’s future is called into question. Evidence points to one of the members of the cast and crew being responsible. Can you solve the case of “Death at The Lamplight Theatre?”
First Impressions:
Having more than one Deadbolt mystery to work on in a month is always a gift! Death at the Lamplight Theatre came at a fantastic time, as I had just finished running through Sleight of Hand, one of Deadbolt’s previous mysteries to take place at the eponymous Theatre. Valley Falls sure knows how to make sure their entire town eventually becomes haunted…
High Points:
The thing I immediately noticed about Death at the Lamplight Theatre is that it was a return to the previous style of Deadbolt boxes. While newer games have been more linear overall, with envelopes to open at certain points, Lamplight gives players pretty much everything up front, allowing for a more challenging, non-linear experience. Though I do enjoy the new style of Deadbolt, it was really nice to return to the deductive, chaotic (in a good way!) style of sleuthing! Though there was definitely a jump in the challenge level from the last few boxes we’ve worked through, all of the puzzles were very intuitive for the most part. Items connected well with each other, and once we’d reached the satisfying ah ha moments we were searching for, everything clicked into place excellently. I really enjoyed the Christmas theme, and it permeated the whole experience well. There is a huge variety of puzzle types, and something for everyone to work on at all times, leaving no dead points or areas where we were stuck on one particular thing.
As always, it’s fun to get to explore a place that was a smaller part of an old case, and as Deadbolt continues to develop Valley Falls, we find ourselves excited to see locales we’d heard mentioned previously explored more in depth, as was the case with the recent Museum Nocturnus. The impetus behind all the puzzles are well explained, and the motives of the suspects and supporting characters are all well fleshed out, and brilliant to explore. A few of the shadier characters were a lot of fun to interact with, and Deadbolt is always at their best when the people of Valley Falls are allowed to shine. There are a few points where puzzles are multilayered, and a bit of extra sleuthing is required to progress, which I feel adds a lot to the experience, and ensures that solvers get a great deal of puzzling for their dollar!
Low Points:
One particular puzzle felt a little vague, with the clue seeming to point toward a particular deduction, but the actual connection was something completely different. Though most all puzzles were intuitive, one involved a small leap of logic. Another was a standard math puzzle we’ve seen frequently, so that may be hit or miss for some veteran solvers. All of these are relatively minor things, however, and didn’t really affect our enjoyment of this box much.
Verdict:
Death at the Lamplight Theatre is a fantastic one off mystery that ties into the holiday theme well, but also works great as a box to enjoy anytime! I really loved the return to the original Deadbolt formula, as well as the increased challenge of this box. I highly recommend picking it up as it becomes available, and subscribing to the Society in the mean time! 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.
Escape Room Adventurer 