A vicious killer is on the loose. You’ve been sent the evidence. Can you crack the case and reveal what happened?
Rating: Mysterious!
Completion Time: 40 minutes
Date Played: 7th October 2020
Party Size: 1
Recommended For: Adults
Okay so I’m a self-proclaimed murder mystery SUPERFAN. I devour the stuff, whether it’s my obscure collection of vintage murder mystery books (yes! I’m kind of obsessed with the noire front covers), to writing my own murder mystery party games, to spending my Friday nights watching cold case documentaries… I just can’t get enough of the genre.
*hears police banging down my door for weird google searches*
So therefore I couldn’t wait to play this absolute gem of a game from Mystery Mail. Wizarding Schools, Christmas, Murder Mysteries… All Mystery Mail needs now is a sci-fi or 80s game and I can tick all my favourite genres off the list.
Catch Me if You Can is intriguingly named and even more enticing once you open the envelope. As with all other Mystery Mail games, you receive this as a mysterious letter through your door – the expectation is that you would buy this as a gift for somebody but no judgement if you go ahead and buy this for yourself! It’s worth it!
It starts with a video from the chief of police who sets the scene: A deadly killer on the loose always one step ahead of the force. It’s up to you now, but you’d best hurry before he strikes again.
What follows is a really cool (and realistic) series of puzzles that works together to build up a case. It’s your job to discover the who, what, when, where and how of the crime you’ve been given. In order to do so, you need to think big, and think outside of the box! I don’t want to give any spoilers but just to say the game will take you outside of the pack and into ‘the real world’ of audio-visual at every turn. I really enjoy games that guide you to secret online pages, find logins, listen to voicemails and send emails *cough*. Catch Me if You Can does not disappoint!
In terms of puzzles, the puzzles in this game are quite unique. When tracking down a killer, unless they’re particularly sadistic, they tend not to leave clues in the form of puzzles. Neither do witness statements, and nor are fingerprints puzzles in themselves. What Catch Me if You Can does is present the information in separate fragments. The puzzle is linking seemingly unrelated facts to paint a picture of what happened. It works! They manage to achieve this very creatively. There’s more than enough puzzles in there to scratch that itch (you’ll have to puzzle your way through messages left from other detectives), but equally the immersion doesn’t break! It feels totally natural – and it totally works!
Once you complete Catch Me if You Can you gain access to an online portal – within this a personalised message from the gift giver
I clocked this game in around 40 minutes. A lot harder than The School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but just as fun to play. It’s an absolute joy to receive something like this in the post and I encourage more people to send their loved ones games like this – escape room fans or otherwise!
Catch Me if You Can can be purchased from Mystery Mail’s website for £9.99.
[…] will receive a large envelope and very slick graphics. We’ve played School of Witchcraft and Catch Me if You Can and loved both! Rumour has it there’s a Christmas edition launching very […]
[…] will receive a large envelope and very slick graphics. We’ve played School of Witchcraft and Catch Me if You Can and loved both! Rumour has it there’s a Christmas edition launching very […]
[…] time for Christmas! Earlier this year, I LOVED playing The School of Witchcraft & Wizardry and Catch Me if You Can – so this game couldn’t come soon […]