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I've usually had a few Exit titles waiting in the wings on my boardgame shelf for when the mood strikes us to work up a little brain burn. Dead Man on the Orient Express was my final remaining Exit title, with me saving it for last because of what I expected to be an additional challenge...Murder.
This is a spoiler-free review. I won't be discussing any of the specific puzzles or their solutions within this review.
I won't bury the headline: I did really enjoy the extra layer of solving a homicide. However, if someone asked me where they should start with the Exit series, this would not be one I would suggest. Mainly because it has the typical Exit 4-star difficulty “issue” which is that it doesn't have a real linearity to it, with players jumping around in the puzzles and it has the additional challenge of literal note taking in regards to the murder you are trying to solve. Personally, I prefer the Exit titles that follow a more linear path just because I hate fumbling around with a puzzle when you don't have enough information to solve it. I assume someone out there likes this twist because Exit keeps including it within their 4 star difficulty releases.
Of course, Dead Man on the Orient Express has the Exit Meta Moment(s) that the franchise is famous for. In fact, they go to the well a couple of times in this release. So much so that I'm starting to get that the Brand's are prioritizing slipping in some cute twists over truly challenging puzzles. Shifting gears from “Is the game being cute/meta or is this something I legit need to puzzle out?” can be annoying.
Dead Man on the Orient Express provides a couple of hours of quality entertainment, which the investigating the murder being no small portion of it. Sussing out the clues requires plenty of flipping back and forth in the book once you have “solved” the rest of the puzzles. While it might be obvious that this was going to be required, doing it after a putting your brain though some logic flips might be a step too far. You get one shot at picking who you believe the murderer is, so I don't suggest you making any leaps of faith in determining who to accuse. All of the information is there to narrow it down to a single suspect, but mental fatigue can cause you to rush through everything you know. And, of course, at least one suspect is going to by lying but it's not like you can re-interrogate the suspects to trip them into revealing that. Ah, the limitations of a cardboard cold case.
If you are an experienced Exit fan, Dead Man on the Orient Express is good entry into the series. If the added bonus of “solving” a murder appeals to you, that bumps it up a notch. This one is for seasoned Exit veterans.
A review copy of this release was provided by the publisher.
