Solving the First Part of the Mystery in Blackbrim: 1876
Work through a series of puzzles as a small British village detective to solve the first part of the mystery in Blackbrim: 1876.
My love of (and struggle with) the mystery genre typically knows no bounds, so it was pretty awesome when I received a copy of Blackbrim: 1876 last month! This box of puzzles seemed quite intriguing, although I wasn’t sure how it would play out as a solo experience. With a unique way to get hints, though, I donned my proverbial detective hat and dove in!
Game Overview
Game Name: Blackbrim: 1876
Publication Year: 2020
Designer: Uncredited
Artist: Uncredited
Publisher: Puzzling Pursuits
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
No spoilers! Throughout a series of clues and puzzles, the answers help track down the village’s kidnapped police department. It’s all about piecing together the clues, culminating in a final solution to Part I that leads into a set of new clues in Part II, then the ending. Or… Is it?!
First Play
June 12, 2022
Complexity
1
Latest Play
June 12, 2022
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
1 Hour & 30 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
40" x 24"
Low Score
N/A
A Different Spin
In a general sense, this is one of those mystery experiences that might be classified as an activity over a game. There are no split paths: Only concrete solutions.
The opening booklet was just 2 pages of general details. However, I was intrigued by the website approach to giving out hints and solutions. Quite different!
When solving a solo mystery game or puzzle, there are always limitations to having a single person playing.
Yet here, there was a hint system for each clue to help me move ahead without getting overly frustrated. Very neat!
Exploring the Town
The clues all lead to locating the whereabouts of the police force, which was recently kidnapped by a clever adversary. Note that there isn’t any violence: Just a mystery to solve.
Actually, a very slight spoiler here: Everyone is saved in the end and aside from being knocked out briefly, it’s all about piecing together the clues and working on puzzles.
A large map of the town and surrounding area provided the main place to work through the puzzles in Part I.
I was excited as I dug into the first envelope! So many puzzles… How to solve them all without taking forever?!
Puzzles Galore
My first glance through all of the puzzles led to a lot of confusion. I’m an amateur detective over here! So I thought I was in for a very frustrating experience.
However, the publisher’s website offers a hint system for every puzzle. This ranges from an initial idea of what to do, down to very specific hints and the actual answer.
It’s all very customizable. There was a single puzzle I solved all on my own, and only had to confirm I was right.
Pretty soon, I was immersed, despite the need to look up hints here and there. I still felt like I was making progress!
Just Call Me Poirot
Now, there were some clues that required very specific knowledge not found in the box’s contents. Online research felt a tad out of place in the general sense.
Yet I got past this by imagining how a detective in this era of Victorian England would have known the answers.
It was another somewhat unconventional way to solve the puzzles that I enjoyed, surprisingly! I tracked down what I needed to know and then went on solving the puzzles.
Some of the clues were fun to solve, and others felt a little trying, owing to my own personal puzzle preferences.
Finding a Way to Act Like a Solo Detective
There are a lot of game mechanics that work best in group situations. Simulating a draft, managing area control, dealing with hidden information or movement, and several others are difficult to do well in a solo mode. Mystery or puzzle games are some of my favorites, yet playing solo limits the amount of knowledge that can be utilized.
I didn’t know how to start some of these puzzles! In a group setting, someone else might have had that knowledge. No problem, though. The hints system looked like it might be a way to cheat at first, but it was one of the standout elements of the game. I didn’t have to sit there puzzling through something I couldn’t solve for minutes… Or hours.
There were plenty of challenges, though, and it wasn’t like I immediately gave up. The first hint often pointed me in the right direction in terms of what to do. Only a few gave me a real struggle… And I’ll call that thematic for being a solo detective. Ha ha! I went at my own pace and had a useful way to stop myself from going in endless circles.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Part I
Outcome: Complete
Success! I made it through all of the puzzles, leaning heavily on the hints system for a good portion of it. Problematic? Not really: Had I played in a group, less hints would have been needed. I had a chance to try to solve everything on my own, then looked at certain hints to help me continue moving forward. All in a pretty fun session for the first part… Onto the rescue mission and finale!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
5
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
2
+ Pros (Positives)
- The website provides optional hints and full solutions to help move along without too much puzzle frustration.
- All of the puzzles vary greatly to utilize different pieces of knowledge and appeal to different types of tastes.
- There is enough of a story told through some of the clues and the theme to keep everything interesting.
- Most of the clues are quite difficult, so it’s never a case of looking at a single component and knowing the answer.
- With multiple parts to the mystery, there are easy stopping points and a continuing sort of storyline to the end.
- The components are quite nice with envelopes that look like briefcases and some interesting kinds of materials.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Outside research is required to solve several of the puzzles, which can feel less immersive and more disconnected.
- This is a single-use product that might work with multiple groups, but is typically one-and-done for solo play.
- Although the puzzle variety is great, some of the clues aren’t as fun to solve based on personal preferences.
- Some of the script fonts are difficult to read in general, and not from the perspective of solving the puzzles.
Victory Conditions
Solve All of the Puzzles
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Solve every Part I puzzle.
Solve every Part II puzzle.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played Blackbrim: 1876? The solo mystery genre doesn’t have a lot of ways to be innovative, yet I enjoyed the quality of these puzzles and the website hints system. I did well enough, at least for me! Are there any other solo mystery games you’ve enjoyed recently? I’ll be back to share what happens in Part II and the mystery’s conclusion!
My sister and I just began this game. It’s the first game of this type either of us have played. We’ve finished Part I, and started Part II. We find that many of the clues are very obtuse in our opinion, and we realize that’s part of the point. We wouldn’t like it if it was too easy, either. However, we both feel we’re intelligent women – my sister is an attorney who graduated summa cum laude – yet became frustrated so may times it made the game unenjoyable. We used not only all hints but felt we exhausted online research at many points in the game. We have yet to finish Part II because we are at an impasse at the moment…
Sorry to hear the clues aren’t helping as much as they could! I thought they were useful in most cases, but some answers I had to check out to see what I was missing. There are definitely a few puzzles I needed to do some research to figure out what was going on. I hope you both crack the case soon and have some fun finishing up the second part!