Joined in 2023 
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Dark and Gritty but so Good Bait is a very well-plotted drama that, in only two episodes, has cleverly evolved, and if it stays its course of successfully telling the story in the coherent way it has in the next four episodes, it will be one of the best crime/thrillers of 2023. It's dark, gritty, and an in-your-face kind of crime/murder thriller that's intensely captivating. A successful strategy for keeping a mystery captivating is to maintain the core of the mystery episode-by-episode while at the same time nimbly tying in the larger picture as the other elements unfold, and Bait does it so well in just two episodes. The tech works well and I had no problem with scanning unless under very bright lights. And while replay value of each case is low, there is a ton of content and due to the app it is easy to add further cases down the line.
During the investigation, players will also discover new locations, and place the location display board in play. They can then scan the location QR code to travel to that destination, and talk to the characters there. Discovered characters are placed on locations, and undiscovered characters are placed on a central clue board until they’re found. Characters, like items and locations, are scanned when you want to interact with them. They can then be questions about other characters and items you have discovered. In Chronicles of Crime 1400 players start off with a blank board, and populate it, along with the location boards as they investigate.Chronicles of Crime is a great game and experience, one that is easy to play and rewards logical thinking. The game comes with plenty of cases and the promise of more through digital content. It is quite unlike most other games, the closest it resembles is the popular escape room games, but it is more than that. For those budding armchair detectives in your life this is a fantastic choice.
Chronicles of Crime is super easy to set-up; you put out the various components, most of which have a QR code on them, turn on the app and start the tutorial. If you have splashed out on the VR module as well, you’ll need to keep that handy too. The VR module looks like a small set of glasses but clips on to a normal side phone nice and snugly. Chronicles of Crime 1400 is an app-driven investigative board game. It uses the core rules from the original Chronicles of Crime, but has an entirely new setting and is a complete stand-alone product. In this article, we’ll review the game, spoiler-free, and also have a look at what’s new for anyone who’s already played Chronicles of Crime. To go to a location in Chronicles of Crime you will scan it’s QR code and meet any people there. To interview them you simply scan them and then any evidence or characters you want to ask them about, the only limitation is you cannot directly ask them about locations. Evidence cards have general titles like ‘Books’ and ‘Medicine and Drugs’ which actually makes it work really well. Scanning footprints you have found when interviewing someone will reveal their shoe size for example. The premise sees you solving crimes across Paris, which is the exact premise of the former two as well, just with a changing timeline. Instead of an evidence hunting dog as you found in 1400, it’s a Cyber-raven, and instead of visions, you might have cybernetic implants. It’s possible that if you don’t like previous versions, you’re unlikely to like this one, because I didn’t find anything particularly new or refreshing to it – because it’s merely a change of setting and some new investigations to complete. However if you did, you’ll find this one to be perfectly engaging. Without including spoilers, there were a few aspects I really had to think to figure out, and I enjoyed the whole process – though arguably, this was an easier one to complete than 1900.The QR codes on the cards interact in interesting ways that are quite common sense in their application. Scanning a location will take you to it. Scanning a character from there will begin an interrogation of that character and allows players to delve into their knowledge of the other characters and clues that have been found. Investigating clue cards will identify their relevance to the case and whittle down the number of things to look into when talking to characters.
Chronicles of Crime 1400 is as good as the original, and it’s Paris setting is captured well. 1400 will be followed by 2 more standalone games, set in different timezones, but following the same family. You move around the investigation by scanning the QR codes on locations, the characters there, and the pieces of evidence you want to ask them about. With two, you can easily discuss and share the app and clues. You each have a role, a job, a purpose. With three? You can put heads together whilst someone interrogates the innocent and scans every code available. It’ll be a good balance of thoughts and approaches, with enough hands and heads to work out the nitty-gritty of the many details of the cases. Four is the maximum I’d suggest for this game. It works well, but everyone needs to know the basics of the game to avoid clashes of ideas. More people will just break the game apart and it’ll become a convoluted mess or develop overly complicated ideas and not enough apps to go around. For us, two works perfectly and it’s a superb amount of fun. The cases themselves aren’t always easy, especially if you miss some key elements meaning a vital location or character doesn’t arrive early in the game. This can lead to some stand still moments as you try to work out what you might have missed, who didn’t you ask about what? After the first proper case I started employing a pen and paper to make some notes as we went!
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Final Score: 3.5 Stars – A good app integrated game with some intriguing stories that leans a bit too much on the app for my taste. Chronicles of Crime does have a fantastic cooperative nature, and there is usually a lot of discussion about who to talk to, and if they’re lying (characters lie). One player can keep the phone, and control everything, but as each player has a go investigating the 360 images and also the map spreads out with location cards around the table, it’s easier to pass the device running the app around and have discussions about the next steps.
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