Hunt a Killer: Death at the Dive Bar | Too Many Games!!! (2024)

Sean Johnson

(SeanXor)

United States
North Judson
Indiana

Given all of that, I did have a natural interest in the Hunt a Killer series, which is the social media algorithm was also able to figure out because I get ads for it all the time.

I had the opportunity to get Death at the Dive Bar in the Gen Con math trade, so that seemed to be the perfect opportunity to experience this game and over all system. My wife feels a lot differently about these games than I do. My son tends to like them, but I had a sense the topic and themes might a be little too mature in content than I would be comfortable with him playing. This meant I would be hunting a killer on my own, and I did so on a dark and stormy night. The atmosphere was spot on, but was it fun to Hunt a Killer?

Game Overview
There are multiple Hunt a Killer boxes available, and I imagine each one is different. However, I think the concept is the same. The details included here might, in broad strokes, apply to other cases but are mostly keyed into "Death at the Dive Bar." As much as possible this is a spoiler free review. Any details I give are details that will be readily apparent within less than a minute of opening the box.

In Death at a Dive Bar a bar owner from Perdition, IN has died. His death has been ruled an accident, but a loyal bartender is convinced foul play was involved. The players goal is to determine If he was murdered. If so, who did it and why did they do it?

From there the players have a box of potential evidence. The players get just about everything up front and then they have to sort through it all to make sense of what is being presented before them. The evidence takes all kinds of forms. There are hand written notes taken by the bartender about weird happenings around the bar, there are police reports, there are social media posts about events around Perdition, and there are artifacts (coaster, menu, bottle opener, etc) from the bar.

A lot of times to get solid clues players will have to take one piece of information included from one piece of evidence and combine it with information from another piece of evidence. When it comes to more classic puzzle solving, the game does have two of them. There is a cryptogram to crack. There is also a locked bag with additional evidence and to unlock it the players have to use clues to solve the combination.

Once players think they know what really happened and why it happened they can open the solution envelope and see if they were right.

What I Liked

The production values here are amazing. All of the clues are well done and made to a high standard. Even though they are mass produced, the hand written notes look like hand written notes. The bar menu looks like a real menu, and there is a lot of attention to detail. For instance the game takes place in Indiana, and a phone number uses an Indiana area code. There is a picture of a waterfall, and I think it might be a picture of Indiana's tallest waterfall (if it not it looks uncannily similar). These production values make it incredibly immersive and it feels less like playing a game and more like solving a real unsolved mystery.

Hunt A Killer is a subscription box service, and Death at a Dive Bar is an introduction to the system that is sold in stores like Target. I assume that this is meant to be an introductory case and it works well for that. The puzzles presented are fairly easy and straight forward, and the case itself is not overly hard to solve. However, it is still an enjoyable experience. Even if a clue is obvious being able to take information A and combining with information B to get the clue that eliminates a person as a potential suspect is still a satisfying feeling. If someone is a true crime fan or can buy into the idea of hunting a killer then they will enjoy this even if they are not a gamer.

What I Did Not Like

I think I would have preferred this if it was a little more game like. For instance, the solution envelope has a "thanks for solving the case" note that states what happened and a newspaper article that serves as an epilogue. There is no score system or even a clear way to define what exactly you solved. I think I would have liked a question system used in a number of deduction games. Where the players need to answer questions and get points for each right answer.

This game does not require the logic leaps that other deduction games have. It is really more of a puzzle than anything. All of the information needed to solve the case is right in front of the players they just have to piece it together. Much of the information is also redundant. For instance, I was able to solve the case without ever taking the time to decrypt the cryptogram because there was enough supporting information to more or less get to the right conclusion without it being spelled out directly in the puzzle.

The price point is also a bit of a concern. The retail price is $30. This is probably because the production value is so high, but when compared to similar games it is a premium price point for a one and done experience.

Verdict

It is worth noting that with some care this can be be packed back up and passed on to someone else. For me personally (playing these kind of games solo), I would rather pay $60 for ten cases in Consulting Detective than $30 for one Hunt a Killer. However, for a group of 2 to 3 who want to make a night of it then this is cheaper than visiting an escape room and the experience is immersive. If that is the kind of experience you are looking for then you might enjoy this. Further more, if you had a dedicated group of sleuths the subscription box could be a fun reason to get together monthly.