Goodbye Carmen

As this is an English translation of a commercial game, many reviews exist for the Chinese version; you might want to check them out too.

Played at: StoryBoxed (on Discord, no DM)
4 players (4 male)

Goodbye Carmen is the English translation of《再见卡门》, a 2019 case that apparently was available online via the 推理大师 app. Criminal X/StoryBoxed is offering it for online play via Discord.

As a case from the early days of the industry, Goodbye Carmen has the basic two-round structure that was common then. But its actual content isn’t that basic; the case-solving is non-trivial, with some fun realisations to reach.

The case is tightly written, with clear threads of logic and evidence — indeed, as long as players pay attention to details, the murderer has no real chance to escape. This is unfortunate for the murderer, but does make it an encouraging case for beginners.

The logic is tight enough and the eventual truth cool enough that experienced players might still enjoy this — as long as they treat it as a breather from heavier cases. My group figured everything out in just over two hours, despite an estimated playtime of three to four hours.

The translation that we playtested was generally solid; there were some minor inconsistencies and places where the language could have been polished, but it didn’t affect overall playability.

Try if you like: The idea of a brief but non-trivial case; revelations with emotional weight.

Not recommended for: Experienced players looking for something with a longer playtime.

A Hundred Ways To Die

As this is an English translation of a commercial boxed game, many reviews exist for the Chinese version; you might want to check them out too.

Played at: JunXion · Jushuo (Jalan Besar)
5 characters (5 female)

Criminal X’s current English-translated cases are something of a microcosm of jubensha varieties: a classic evidence-and-timeline case, The Checkerboard; an out-of-this-world setting, Who Stole My Cheese?; hardcore high-concept deduction in The Witch House; and A Hundred Ways To Die, representing the light-hearted (欢乐) genre.

What makes a murder mystery game light-hearted? In this case, a focus on roleplaying and salacious revelations — though the original title, 《前男友的100种死法》, is already something of a giveaway.

This game is best for friends who are happy to take in-character swipes at each other. The game structure explicitly encourages such drama, making the first-round evidence search and accusations more spirited than usual.

The central case isn’t trivial, and there are various other story aspects to figure out. Yet it’s hard to recommend this game to deduction-focused players — the evidence feels incomplete, and some character choices are unsatisfying. (Your experience may vary, but in my case, the most rigorous part of the game also seemed to be glossed over due to a lack of time.)

That said, the correct conclusions can be reached if you’re willing to make slightly under-supported inferential leaps — there are no red herrings or misleading clues.

As with Criminal X’s other translated cases, the production values are solid, though there were a couple of minor mistakes (we pointed one out, so hopefully it’ll be corrected).

Groups that play jubensha more for the experience or story might have a fun time, but groups that enjoy rigorous deduction are better off trying any of the other three scripts.

Try if you like: Roleplaying with friends; soap-opera storylines; making daring inferential leaps.

Not recommended for: Deduction-focused players who prefer a complete set of evidence; player groups that aren’t comfortable with in-character catfighting.

The Checkerboard

As this is an English translation of a commercial boxed game, many reviews exist for the Chinese version; you might want to check them out too.

Played at: JunXion · Jushuo (Jalan Besar)
5 characters (1 female, 4 male)

Criminal X merged with Jushuo in Feb 2022 to form JunXion, which offers Chinese and English games at three different locations: Jurong East, JEM, and Jalan Besar.

The Checkerboard is the English translation of an existing commercial Chinese case,《局》. The translated materials have solid production values; the language use is quite natural (apart from one cute if out of place Singlish easter egg, haha) and somewhat more evocative than in Who Stole My Cheese?!, at least for the character I played. There was one translation issue that affected our playthrough, but we raised it to the DM, so hopefully they’ll fix it.

As an introduction to jubensha, The Checkerboard is much more accessible than Who Stole My Cheese?! — it’s a classic evidence-focused case, powered by rigorous inference. I’d consider it suitable for beginners, without being too obvious or easy.

Precisely because it’s so standard, however, experienced players might find it a bit lacklustre. But the case logic is still solid, so at worst it’ll be a meh experience rather than an off-putting one.

I liked how the evidence search was more meaningful than usual, with extensive grounds; it’s a bit of a shame that you can’t hide any clues, though I guess that’s to lower the difficulty.

While the case is not especially strong in terms of immersion and emotion, the characters are adequately fleshed out and there are some quite effective narrative moves; it certainly doesn’t feel as emotionally ’empty’ as something like 集会·魔女屋.

We played in a mixed group of beginners and more experienced players, and took about 3.5 hours.

Try if you like: A solid, standard mystery-solving experience with a focus on evidence and timelines; a classic murderer-versus-everyone-else dynamic, rather than something more co-operative.

Not recommended for: Jaded veterans; players who like huge plot twists, fantastical elements, etc; players who seek deep storyline immersion and emotions.

Who Stole My Cheese?!

As this is an English translation of a commercial boxed game, many reviews exist for the Chinese version; you might want to check them out too.

Played at: JunXion · Criminal X (Jurong East)
6 characters (2 male, 4 female)

Criminal X offers English translations of Chinese games, thus introducing the world of jubensha to players who don’t know Chinese. The translated materials have solid production values and are generally fluent; there are no translation issues which could affect the solving process.

Originally titled《谁动了我的奶酪》, Who Stole My Cheese?! isn’t the most straightforward introduction to the genre. Though the amnesia-for-all beginning isn’t rare in jubensha, it could be disorienting for first-time players. The decidedly unrealistic (变格) gameworld also calls for some very creative intuitive leaps.

If you can get past that, though, you might find the journey rewarding. The fantastical setting leaves plenty of room for speculation and imagination — and who knows, your wilder guesses might turn out to be correct. There are both fun moments of realisation and rigorous stretches of analysis, in which it’s particularly satisfying when various bits of logic click smoothly into place.

There are also a couple of silly diversions built into the game structure, which break up the case and could make the experience more accessible for beginners unused to spending several hours solving a murder.

Speaking of which: we took under three hours to solve the case, which is less than we usually spend on Chinese cases — probably thanks to the lack of language barrier.

Try if you like: A sense of whimsy; figuring out the larger background mysteries of the gameworld.

Not recommended for: Players who dislike unrealistic settings; players who prefer a strong focus on the details of the murder itself; very serious players.