Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
I don’t know how old the idea of a deduction game is, but I suppose if we include charades, and why shouldn’t we, then it’s been around for a while. 20 Questions, Salad Bowl, Charades, these sorts of party games have been with us for ages. There was nothing more transgressive in Victorian England than being a Little Silly in front of Other People.
We don’t really consider those “deduction” games anymore, though they absolutely are. “Deduction” has changed. It has specified. If you were to come into the store where I work and I held up what I described as a “deduction game,” you would automatically and fairly assume that math is involved. You’d picture Zendo, or Paint the Roses, or, god forbid, Mastermind.
But deduction games are so much more than that. They include escape room games, like the Exit (boo) and Unlock! (yay) series. They include the storied Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective titles and the unfairly overlooked Perspectives. These we generally describe as either escape rooms, or “mysteries.”
I understand the distinction and how it functions in the world. Deduction games are clinical, abstract, the embodiment of Zach Galifianakis running the numbers in the casino. Mystery games are fun and social, the cool kids at the same party. But then you play Here Lies from DVC Games, and those distinctions start to melt away.
Murder Mystery Club
What a premise on this bad boy, what a pretext. Most mystery games put you in situ. You are the investigator(s) hired to solve whatever case is currently scandalizing polite society. Not so in Here Lies. You are a social club, effectively. This is a meeting of the best investigators in London, who have gathered to chat and share stories. One or another of you is overcome with the memory of one of your great investigatory triumphs, a soft focus filter washes over everything, you remember it just like it was yesterday, and just like that, the game is afoot.
This is wonderful work. It immediately and naturally creates the otherwise contrived circumstances by which the game works. Why am I trying to get you to figure out a rule in Zendo? The box told me to. Why am I trying to get you to guess keywords in Here Lies? Because I want to see if you are as smart, as clever, as cultured as me.
Let’s cut away the cobwebs of thematicism for a second. What are you actually trying to do in this game? The Lead Investigator has a booklet open to the current case, which includes some table setting flavor text and a list of six categories. The categories, which are laid out on the table for everyone to see, correspond to details of the case which only the Lead Investigator can see.
The categories are what everyone is trying to figure out. If Foe’s Motive is on the table, for example, that means the other Investigators need to figure out why the crime was committed. Secret asks for the players to figure out something the victim kept hidden in their life. Cause is the thing that caused death itself. The answer to each category is a single, specific word, provided to the Lead Investigator with some context. The goal is to get the other investigators to land on those words, or an appropriate substitute.
They do that by playing cards. Each Investigator has a unique deck, full of different modes and styles of inquiry. Dr. Emine Ali, mortician, has cards that emphasize questions around cause of death, while artist Ato Sahle Desta features numerous cards that call on the Lead Investigator to doodle. I’m not sure if my favorite card is the one that asks the Lead Investigator to come up with a name for the case, or the one where the Lead Investigator comes up with the victim’s final words, but it’s one of those two.
One of the things that makes Here Lies so wonderful, and so unlike any other deduction/mystery game I’ve played, is that you have real opportunity as the Lead Investigator to make players laugh. There is room for so much creativity and personal expression. Many games that burden one player with the answer—I defy you to be the codemaster in Mastermind for more than three minutes without crying—Here Lies gives you creative control. Befitting a game premised around a late-night chat amongst peers, you get to enjoy one another within the confines of the activity. Here Lies isn’t a parlor game, but it captures the feeling of playing one.
With a full group of five, you can play Here Lies under ideal circumstances, passing the Cases booklet to whomever the next Lead Investigator is. Take turns telling your stories, and seeing if everyone else can figure it out. It’s a real joy. Like many mystery games, your ability to play the same case twice as an Investigator will be entirely dependent on the quality of your memory, but you should go in assuming that this will be a single-use product. There are 25 cases, but that’s already 15-20 hours of game time, and I can say from experience that being the Lead Investigator on the same case twice is no less rewarding the second time.
This is the third DVC title I’ve reviewed now, and the third title from designer Jasper Beatrix. If Jasper Beatrix as a name feels a little too good to be true, a Tennessee Williams character come to life, that’s because Jasper Beatrix is a collective. They are doing exciting, idiosyncratic work. I hope we get to continue exploring their ideas for years to come.
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