My preference in mystery games leans toward codes or word puzzles but I like complex stories, too. The Guilty series of detective games from Iello Games supplies plenty of both on their information-rich cards. The series has two offerings, Houston 2015 and Monaco 1955, both designed by Yohan Servais.
Guilty: Houston 2015 and Guilty: Monaco 1955 are cooperative detective games for 1 or more players. Houston 2015 is recommended for 18+ due to sensitive content, and Monaco 1955 for age 14+. Suggested game length is 3-4 hours.
Game Overview:
The Guilty game system consists of a deck of story cards and a deck of time cards. Story cards are revealed by making decisions about what clues to pursue. Revealing a story card usually requires a time card to be flipped. Occasionally new events may be added to the timeline based on your decisions and actions.
Besides the two card decks, the other main element is an organizer mat, which you will appreciate about 2 hours into your play.
The use of a time deck gives the games some momentum because your investigation will not last long enough to pursue every lead. The time decks include their own narrative, a little like side plots. Both games have complicated but mostly realistic stories.
The two games use similar components and basic mechanics, but Monaco 1955 has a unique method of combining story cards to expand the investigation, and the solution scoring system is a little different as well.
Game Experience:
I played these games with one other player. Despite the suggested game length, our actual time spent was at least 5 hours. We spread the gameplay over several nights of serious effort.
Houston 2015 is a murder mystery, and it is interrogation-heavy. The prison setting and the less-than-truthful inmates made the game feel as if every theory was mere speculation. There was plenty of illicit activity at the prison, much of it only loosely related to the case. This might mimic real detective work, but was a story-telling flaw, in my opinion. It was a challenge to find the important threads, and the cause of murder was weakly supported, though the clues did exist. This one was enjoyable to play but the reveal left me a bit disappointed.
Monaco 1955 is the story of a heist, entertaining and sometimes filled with surprising historical tidbits. While the context was historically accurate, the mystery was more “inspired by.” I found it more enjoyable than Houston 2015, though not less difficult.
By the midpoint of both games, you’ll have drawn quite a few cards. It’s a struggle to keep cards & clues sorted. I appreciated the organizing slots on the mat, but it was still a challenge as we picked up and put down certain cards repeatedly.
Late in the game, we sorted everything and re-examined every card. This might be something you’ll want to do at intervals throughout the game, both to remind yourself of prior clues and to get ideas about new avenues of investigation. You are very likely to uncover a small detail you missed on your first examination of the card.
Monaco 1955 has a system that allows most story cards to interact with each other, expanding the investigation by revealing hidden connections. The mechanics of this interactivity were well-designed.
The cards have a lot of text, but also include visual clues. For people with visual difficulties, too small and poorly reproduced clues are quite frustrating. And many card-based mystery games use them: a 1mm numeral printed in a corner or some detail/color that didn’t reproduce well when shrunk to card size. I’m happy to say Houston 2015 had relatively few, and in Monaco 1955 they were negligible.
The time cards contain their own narrative, which naturally also reveal important information at times. This was a standout element for me; not so much for their narrative content but for their use in deepening the plot.
In Houston 2015, what felt like too many extraneous details kept me from enjoying the payoff, which didn’t seem to have enough, well, payoff. In Monaco 1955 the complexity of the mystery was about right: much like a real case, physical evidence and interrogations had to be sifted through for meaning and relevance. Certain elements seemed like distractions but later helped put the larger picture together.
Finally, the Guilty games are immersive and information-rich. Your theory of the case will likely be close but won’t exactly match the conclusion. That’s okay! The game system assigns points for solving parts of the case; all is not lost, if you guess the motive but not the means or misidentify one person involved in the crime.
Final Thoughts:
For detective game fans, the Guilty series of games is satisfying on two fronts: the quality of the clues and puzzles and the depth of the story. Monaco 1955 gets extra points for a better action feel and a more focused and streamlined plot.
Final Score: 4 stars – Guilty: Houston 2015 and Guilty: Monaco 1955 have absorbing storylines and complex cases that take an intense effort to solve.
Hits:
• Engaging story
• Monaco 1955 has a unique method of combining cards
• Background events on the time deck
Misses:
• Not a perfect case file organizing system
• Some very small text and images
Source: Board Game Quest
