02768: In Need of Detectives

Since I supported the pre-order process for Detective by Portal Games, our copy of the game also comes with a number of bonus items including a special playmat and a sixth case to solve. I've been rather excited to play this game since it presents a very unique play experience that really makes you feel like a detective including an online police database of sorts to be used during the course of solving the cases.

The main challenge of the game is the fact that it is also quite literally a unique game experience with no replay value. It's a game experience in a box and not necessarily an infinitely replayable game. And this in itself is not a bad game as such "legacy" games have secured their own little niche in the gaming world in recent years. Tobie and I have had the joy of finishing both Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 and Charterstone for example.

But at the same time it's hard to start these games since you need to assemble a gaming group that will be able to commit to the duration of the legacy game as it is a fixed campaign to some extent. We have an on-going Seafall game that hasn't been moving as much in recent weeks due to scheduling challenges. And the end of the year is always a difficult time for gaming. So that does give us pause when it comes to figuring out who to play with again.

Our legacy games in queue for now are Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 and Detective. There's also the other option of re-playing Charterstone should we decide to purchase a recharge pack and it would be nice to try it with more players. But the question remains - who to play with? I suppose this is the challenge of having so many different gaming groups. The diversity of options also means a lot more elements to factor into planning. Then there's maintaining existing game schedules and not adding an additional complication to the calendar.

We'll figure it out eventually. We always do.