The Top 10
Murder Mystery
Case Files – Reviewed
Murder mystery case files have exploded in popularity recently. They’re used for date nights, fun evenings with friends, and even as team-building activities. However, it’s getting more difficult to tell which companies are taking the time to create quality games and which are creating as many low quality games as possible, as quickly as possible.
After working through all 10, the differences are quite clear. Here’s what we found.
Quick Comparison: All 10 Case Files at a Glance
| # | Case File | Publisher | Format | Players | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murder at Evercroft Manor | Print Mysteries | Printable PDF | 1–4 | $16.00 | ★★★★★ 5/5 |
| 2 | Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective | Asmodee | Physical Box | 1–8 | $59.99 | ★★★★☆ 4.5/5 |
| 3 | Trouble in Folklore Falls: The Whole Adventure | The Detective Society | Physical Box | 1–4 | ~£99.00 | ★★★★☆ 4.5/5 |
| 4 | Hell at the Restaurant | Print Mysteries | Printable PDF | 1–4 | $12.00 | ★★★★☆ 4.5/5 |
| 5 | The Ghost in the Machine | The Mysterious Package Company | Physical Box | 1–4 | $50.00 | ★★★★☆ 4/5 |
| 6 | Body on the Boardwalk | Hunt A Killer | Physical Box | 1–4 | $29.99 | ★★★★☆ 4/5 |
| 7 | Avery Gardner | Unsolved Case Files | Physical Box | 1–4 | $26.97 | ★★★★☆ 4/5 |
| 8 | Murder of a Millionaire | Cryptic Killers | Physical Box | 1–4 | $25.00 | ★★★☆☆ 3.5/5 |
| 9 | Girl in the Well | Hunt A Killer | Physical Box | 1–4 | $19.99 | ★★★☆☆ 3/5 |
| 10 | Death by Chef’s Knife | University Games | Physical Box | 1–4 | $20.61 | ★★★☆☆ 3/5 |
Prices correct at time of publication; check retailers for current pricing.
Murder at Evercroft Manor
Set in the late 19th century, Murder at Evercroft Manor puts you in the role of a detective trying to solve the murder or Lord Samuel Evercroft, who was found dead in his study. In the story, we uncovered family drama, financial motives and other grievances with each new bit of evidence. As we worked through the case, we found that multiple suspects has means and opportunity to be killer, but the evidence eventually brought us done to one person.It took us about four hours to complete, at a slow and steady pace. But we were never bored. There were numerous unexpected twists that kept us engaged throughout the night. Multiple bits of evidence are put onto each page, with no space wasted, so you’re not printing out 100 pages of evidence – that was highly appreciated.
The 7 objective structure meant that we had to slowly build our case, and not simply outright guess the killer. Objectives involved activities like completing a missing family tree, or comparing fingerprints across multiple documents to include or exclude suspects. Each obective was unique and unlocked fresh evidence that shifted our suspicions in new directions.There are optional clues provided through a web link, that we had to use a couple times to push us in the right direction, but it never felt impossible. It’s clear that this case file was assembled with care, and nothing simply exists as decoration. There are so many modern murder mystery cases out there, that it felt refreshing to have a case with that old-fashioned crime-solving feeling. The price to value ratio for this case is crazy.
Lastly, while typing out this review, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen in my initial playthrough – which led me to discover a secret 8th objective. Insane!
✓ Strengths
- Multiple Objectives Kept It Exciting for Hours
- Convincing historical evidence
- Huge amount of content on the fewest pages possible
- Instantly Downloadable in Any Country
- Outstanding Value for this Price
✗ Considerations
- Requires a printer (colour recommended)
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Originally published in 1981, Asmodee’s games are very well-known in the murder mystery scene. You take on the role of the Baker Street Irregulars, who are a group of investigative urchins. You’re provided the cases by Sherlock Holmes and are asked to solve them in a better way than him. You lose points every time you ask a question.
This is a massive and sprawling case with a pretty accurate map of London. The creators have an incredible amount of attention to detail and know the world of Sherlock incredibly well. There are tons of diary pages and notes scribbled throughout the case. You can decide where you want to go, jump to that place on the map and pull up text in the provided document about it.
This game is for 1-8 people to play, however, with the ridiculous amount of text in this game, it’s almost impossible to read that out for all those hours. In the end, I completed this game alone after my friends gave up. One case took me 3.5 hours to complete. It’s a great experience if you’re a lover of reading and of Sherlock. While not for everyone, if like me you’ve read and watched everything Sherlock-related, you’ll definitely enjoy the game and lore. The salespage states that it takes 90 min (1.5 hours to complete) but you can’t even read all the documentation in that time.
While the content and games feel dated compared to what’s currently available, you do get 10 full games to complete. Trust me, ignore the points system and just focus on the content – you’ll have a much better time. With all that said and done, you really can’t beat that value.
✓ Strengths
- 10 independent cases
- Interesting Victorian atmosphere
- Great for lovers of Sherlock Holmes media
✗ Considerations
- Way Too Many Newspapers to Read
- Typos and some errors with dates
- Some Solutions Require Leaps of Logic
Trouble in Folklore Falls
In this case, you’re an investigator hired by the Big Bad Wolf to try to solve some dognappings in a town that’s full of fairytale characters. While all the games on this list are fictional murders, this game took things to the next level with fairytale creatures that fit surprisingly well into this type of game. You’ll interact with Hansel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and even Humpty Dumpty. There are 3 full episodes in this pack of games, so we really got invested in the world that The Detective Society created.
The evidence is all top notch quality, and includes newspapers, flyers, food packaging, etc. Many pieces of evidence were completely unique to other games in the genre.
This was a really fun logic and puzzle game with some parts of genuine interactivity. The theme also lends well to having kids involved, as the subject matter is not murder-related, although I doubt they’ll be able to understand the complexity of the case. It’s funny and loads of fun, and I highly recommend getting your hands on this game if it’s available in your country. Each case took about 1.5 hours to complete.
✓ Strengths
- Creative Puzzles
- 1Unique Fantasy Environment
- Excellent Digital Integration
✗ Considerations
- Might Be Too Simple for Most
- Cluttered Documentation
Hell at the Restaurant
This mystery is about a waiter that is murdered outside the restaurant he works at. There are multiple districts on the map that make up the city of Evershore. This game has great storytelling for those that have worked in a restaurant. If you haven’t, it might seem a little far-fetched. The puzzles are really great in this one, and are all closely related to the restaurant theme. The final puzzle involving wine-tasting and fridge temperatures had me stuck for a bit, but the clues nudged me in the right direction.
This game had 3 objectives to complete. I’ve found with games from this company that objectives are split between looking for clues in the evidence or trying to solve a secret code or a puzzle. This mix helps to prevent gameplay from getting boring. The first objective was to see who was lying about their alibi from the 4 suspects – which was basically like completing 4 different objectives in one. This was the fourth game I’ve done from this company, and each one goes in a completely different direction, with wildly different puzzle types.
We had a great time with this game, and if you’ve worked in hospitality – you’ll doubly enjoy it.
✓ Strengths
- Multiple Interesting Objectives to Complete
- Fun and Unique Puzzles
- Strong Narrative and Payoff
✗ Weaknesses
- Requires a Printer (Color Recommended)
- Story is more fun for people who work in restaurants
The Ghost In The Machine
This game is set in 1896 London and requires you to solve a mystery. I can’t say much more than that because this company prides itself on keeping everything mysterious from beginning to end. When you order from them, you get a crate delivered to your address with all your evidence and clues inside. I as quite suprised by the crate as I had no idea what it could possibly be, and hadn’t looked into their shipping process. The story was pretty dark, but very interesting. The quality of the items inside (also a secret) is all very high quality and there’s lots of it.
This felt less like the usual murder mystery cases we’d been playing for weeks, but more like a choose your own adventure novel. There’s very little hand-holding in this game, which I absolutely loved. You can easily find yourself going off the tracks, and we most definitely did. It’s not very difficult though, and that was the only thing that disappointed us. There’s a ton of content but we didn’t find ourselves getting stuck at all. The official page says that it takes between 6 and 10 hours to complete. This is pretty accurate as it took us 10 hours to complete, which we broke up into sessions, as there’s A LOT of reading to do over its 400 pages.
✓ Strengths
- High-quality, tactile physical evidence
- Very long, like a good novel
- Compelling boardwalk setting and backstory
- Open-world investigation style
✗ Weaknesses
- More reading than deduction
- Too easy
Body on the Boardwalk
This case is about trying to solve the murder of Katie Dunn after she’s found dead inside of a popular amusement park ride. This game requires you to sort through testimonials, timelines and confirm alibis to find the killer. I thought the quality of the evidence was excellent, especially for such a short game. We finished it an hour, but we enjoyed the experience. Beyond the other evidence, there’s also some cipher and code puzzles to solve, which kept us interested. Unlike most other murder mysteries that are only on paper, these games come with actual physical items. For example, this game came with a combination lock and we had to figure out the correct combination in order to open the locked box. It’s a crazy amount of effort that’s put into a game that you can only play once. I have to commend the sellers for the quality of their product.
It’s hard to rate the difficulty of games because it’s very subjective but we definitely wouldn’t rate this game as difficult. If you’re a fan of true crime, logic puzzles and code breaking, then you can’t go wrong with this one.
✓ Strengths
- High-quality, tactile physical evidence
- Clean, approachable single-session format
✗ Weaknesses
- Too short and easy for experienced detectives
- Puzzles feel disconnected from narrative
Avery Gardner
The Unsolved Case Files series of games is very popular, so I had to get my hands on one as well. I started with the Avery Gardner case that’s about a pair of twins that are targeted while at a remote lake house. One of them is murdered while the other is missing. The detective that was investigating the case is also missing, but you do have access to the detective’s handwritten notes to help you solve the case. This notebook is an actual spiral-bound notebook that’s included in your case. As with the Hunt A Killer Case, I really like having physical evidence to play with.
While we enjoyed this case, it was fairly straightforward and focused on reading and deduction. There were no codes or puzzles to solve, which was disappointing after completing so many games that had these. I also didn’t like the stock photos that were used, as it took me out the game. Some AI photos that more accurately fit the theme would have made this case much more believable. It took us 1.5 hours to complete. Perhaps the other games in the series are much better, but this one pretty straightforward.
✓ Strengths
- Interesting detective notebook mechanic
- Realistic personalised suspect websites
✗ Weaknesses
- No puzzle variety — pure reading and deduction
Murder of a Millionaire
In this case, we had to solve the murder of Chloe Whittle, a lottery winner who was stabbed in a park. This is another physical game that has really great physical items to help you solve the case. This one was a bit difficult to rate as it was so different to other cases we’ve reviewed. It didn’t have the usual witness statements, police records that we’re normally used to, and there were some plot holes, but I did enjoy the challenge we got from this title. All-in-all, it took us 2 hours to complete this game.
✓ Strengths
- Interesting online police inbox mechanic
- Accessible to family groups including younger players
✗ Weaknesses
- Some online access issues
- Uneven writing at times
- Some logical connections feel forced
Girl in the Well
In this game, you’re trying to solve the murder of Marcy Langley. As usual, Hunt A Killer’s evidence is very high quality, even going as far as using different-feeling paper to match the real things. Unfortunately, we were missing a crucial piece of evidence from the box. The game kept referencing somethign that just wasn’t there, and eventually we had to resort to looking at the hints in order to confirm our theory. Overall, we still had a fun, although short, experience with this game. It took us about an hour to complete.
What I didn’t like was that the game requires you to destroy one of the clues to complete the game. While these types of game are not replayable, you’re still going to share it with friends or family. Destroying any part of the game makes that impossible, and that does drop the score for me.
✓ Strengths
- Quality evidence
✗ Weaknesses
- Too easy for the majority of players
Death by Chef’s Knife
In this case, we played as rookie detectives trying to solve the cold case of celebrity chef Lorenzo Ritelli. The quality of the product is excellent and the evidence all looked very realistic. While the game was cleverly put together, it was pretty easy. Also there were no puzzles at all. I know that not all cases need to have puzzles, but they are slowly becoming a staple of the genre. I haven’t played other games in this series, but this one felt a little too straightforward for my liking. The person we thought was the killer from the start, turned out to the be the killer. There was no red herrings to put us on different path. It took us an hour to complete.
✓ Strengths
- Accessible for families and beginners
✗ Weaknesses
- Very short
Frequently Asked Questions
What are murder mystery case files?
Murder mystery case files are detective games where you receive a package of evidence — interrogation transcripts, crime scene photos, newspaper clippings, coded notes, etc – and must solve a fictional murder. Unlike traditional board games like Cluedo, they rely on deduction rather than dice mechanics, and can only be played once.
Are printable case files as good as physical box games?
In our testing, the best printable case files consistently matched or outperformed physical box games on story quality and puzzle quality, at a lower price (as there’s no shipping). The format allows you to print out multiple copies of your game for larger groups.
How many people can play a murder mystery case file?
Most of the case files tested in this review supported 1–4 players. We played with 4 players and found the games pretty fun. I wouldn’t recommend adding any more players as you’d have too many voices and opinions.
How long does a murder mystery case file take?
In general, games usually have about 2 hours of gameplay time. Play times in these reviews varied considerably – from 50 minutes for the lightest beginner cases up to 5 hours for more complex cases like Murder at Evercroft Manor and all the way up to 10 hours for text-heavy games like Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. Difficulty level and group size are also variables that you will affect gameplay time. Solo players tend to take longer, while groups can divide evidence and move faster through the material.