Masters of Crime: Shadows

Thames & Kosmos · 2023

Translation, German to English

The Masters of Crime series always presents players with a problem of some sort that they need to resolve using the clues the game makes available. These come in the form of newspaper snippets, map coordinates, URLs or email addresses and phone numbers alongside the card-driven narrative gameplay. The result is a superbly immersive experience. Most of the games involve solving a crime or murder mystery, but in this one, the players get to plan and ultimately pull off an art heist. The narrative is structured just like a heist movie (think ‘Ocean’s Eleven’): choose from various candidates to assemble a team, research locations and opportunities, plan your getaway, prepare for the big day and hope you can reap the best possible rewards. Diving into the narrative and lending a voice to some of the characters was great. Coming across little ‘easter eggs’ that hint at story elements from other games in the series made working on this all the more delightful. And the project even included a whole website for a fictitious art gallery in the Netherlands.