Your Next Headline is Waiting – Chronicles of Crime: 1900

Tomorrow’s paper isn’t going to write itself, Lavel! So are you going to get the next great scoop, or is Les Nouvelles de Paris going to have to find another young journalist to lead the charge? It’s time to act on your interest in murders, kidnappings, and robberies, and use your wits to solve the crimes! What are you waiting for? The clues are waiting, let’s go!

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What Is It?

A cooperative game for 1+ gamers where players take on the role of journalist Victor Lavel, who is trying to solve various crimes by interrogating witnesses and suspects, collecting evidence, solving puzzles, and putting the clues together to find the perpetrators. They only have 1 day to collect information because they need to write tomorrow’s headline so the paper they work for remains the city’s #1 publication.

The game uses a scan & play system which has players use an app to scan the cards in order to ask characters questions, and connect the dots. Players can also use the app to search the scene, and use their device for a VR experience, putting them in the center of the action. Players need to pay attention to details as they play because they will be asked a series of questions at the end, which will determine if they cracked the case, or if tomorrow’s paper will be mediocre at best.

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Who Is It For?

• Solo Gamers
• 2 – 4 Players if you all enjoy reading aloud / giving voices to characters
• Fans of escape room / puzzle type games
• Ages 13+ — There’s some graphic content (i.e. murder) and some of the puzzles might also be tricky for younger audiences
• Players who don’t mind app-driven games

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Components / Quality

Cards – The game consists primariyl of cards of various types – Characters, Special Items, Evidence Categories, Puzzles. All of them are nice quality cards, the art is really detailed and beautiful. All the QR codes on the cards scan perfectly, no issues with them.

Location Boards – These are nice quality, basically just large cards, not thick boards or anything like that. Again, really nice art.

Evidence Board – Simple, thin board with outlines for cards to be placed. I like how the different colored spots are used to differentiate things you found versus things you know about but need to find.

Rules / App – Short and sweet, easy to learn the basics from. The tutorial scenario in the app is a great way to learn the mechanics of the game and what you need to do. If this is your first Chronicles of Crime experience, definitely start there. The app works really well as well.

Insert / Box – A simple insert that gives everything a place and keeps the components held in nicely. The box is a great size for what’s inside, and has more of that awesome art on the cover.

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PROS

• The tutorial is a nice way to learn the game, but without too much guiding
• The cases are mostly isolated (1 of them has 2 scenarios), so you can play them in any order and with different groups if you want
• The end of game questions is a neat way to wrap up the case
• The hint system is neat – instead of just clicking for a hint you visit Charlotte who runs the puzzle section of the paper – feels much more thematic!
• Searching the scene one player at a time, though time consuming, is neat because it’s fun to see the different things different players notice and call out to the others
• I like that the background noise changes at each different location, also very thematic

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CONS

• It’s easy for in-game time to get away from you because it costs time to travel to locations and ask questions; often the game can move much faster than you expect or want it to
• I wish the game had voice over work in the app. The constant scanning and reading can get tedious, and after a while can take you out of the experience a bit
• The “History” option is nice to review past conversations, but I kinda of wish it let you review by character or location instead of just having to scroll or click back. If you need to review something from early on, it can be hard to find it quickly.

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Final Thoughts

Overall, I like the system that Chronicles of Crime uses, and I liked the cases introduced in this box. I personally see it as more of a solo or 2-player game than a bigger group cooperative game, but I could see it working well with more if you’re all very involved. For me, I think you need to be really into reading aloud during games and, potentially, giving different voices to the characters, since there is no voice over work in the app itself, and it can get tiresome if you’re not actively into so much reading.

Though you can only play each scenario once (i.e. the game/solution never changes, but you don’t destroy anything like some escape room games), there’s a lot of content in the game, and more scenarios are also coming, which is neat! I think it has a nice flow and works well as a deduction / puzzle game.

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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