Van Ryder Games | Detective: City of Angels | Board Game | Ages 14+ | 1 to 5 Players | 30 to 150 Minutes Playing Time

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All of that is powered by an enormous volume of text that covers every possible question and every possible response. As detectives ask more questions and uncover more about the case, they scribble down everything on a big notepad (pictured), and as time draws to a close (each case has a limited number of turns), they’re supposed to think the case through, work out who’s guilty and then make an accusation. This dynamic interrogation mechanic is where Detective: City of Angels really shines. The superbly written suspect responses bring out the theme and make each character and each case feel real and unique. Nothing is more satisfying than correctly challenging a tough witness, and nothing is funnier than watching a player repeatedly failing to recognise that the sweet old lady next door really doesn’t know anything! Scratch And Snitch

The Chisel will acquire leverage over them, making the case that much harder to solve. Detective CoA includes separate, detailed casebooks for both the detectives and The Chisel. Each crime is a carefully constructed puzzle that can unfold in a variety of ways depending on how the detectives choose to pursue their investigations.

Detective City of Angels

Detective: CoA includes separate, detailed casebooks for both the detectives and The Chisel. Each crime is a carefully constructed puzzle that can unfold in a variety of ways depending on how the detectives choose to pursue their investigations. As the detectives turn the city upside down, uncovering fresh evidence and "hot" leads, hidden suspects may be revealed and new lines of questioning will open up, creating a rich, story-driven experience. Want to see more from Van Ryder Games? See below an interview with the designer of Detective: City of Angels, from Virtual Tabletop Gaming Live 2020, and many more on our Youtube Chanel

Detective: City of Angels, set in the dark and violent world of 1940s Los Angeles, is a game of mystery, deception, and investigation for 1-5 players. Most players will step into the shoes of LAPD homicide detectives, hungry for glory and willing to do whatever it takes to successfully close a case, even if that means intimidating suspects, concealing evidence, and hiring snitches to rat on their fellow detectives. One player, however, will take on the role of The Chisel, whose only goal is to stall and misdirect the detectives at every turn using bluffing, manipulation, and (often) outright lies.

Detective CoA uses the innovative ARC (Adaptive Response Card) System to create the feel of interrogating a suspect. Suspects do not simply give paragraph-book responses; instead The Chisel carefully chooses how they will answer. When Billy O'Shea insists that the victim was a regular at Topsy's Nightclub, is he telling the truth or is The Chisel subtly leading the detectives toward a dead end that will cost them precious time? Detectives can challenge responses that they think are lies but at great risk If they're wrong, Detective: CoA uses the innovative ARC (Adaptive Response Card) System to create the feel of interrogating a suspect. Suspects do not simply give paragraph-book responses; instead The Chisel carefully chooses how they will answer. When Billy O'Shea insists that the victim was a regular at Topsy's Nightclub, is he telling the truth or is The Chisel subtly leading the detectives toward a dead end that will cost them precious time? Detectives can challenge responses that they think are lies but at great risk: If they're wrong, The Chisel will acquire leverage over them, making the case that much harder to solve. All of which sounds pretty easy, but that’s most definitely not the (sorry) case. Even the easiest scenarios gave us trouble during this review, because you don’t solve cases mechanically in Detective, in that there’s a process you can complete after which the case is perfectly and automatically solved. You just have a bunch of people’s stories to go on and need to trust your gut. Jump forward to 2019 and it’s impossible not to compare Van Ryder Games’ Detective: City of Angels to the L.A. Noire experience – indeed the designers themselves invite the comparison. This is a board game that throws the players into the seedy underbelly of 1940s Los Angeles. You solve crimes by exploring the city, gathering clues, and, you guessed it, interrogating dishonest suspects. The Detectives Detective: City of Angels, set in the dark and violent world of 1940s Los Angeles, is a game of mystery, deception, and investigation for 1–5 players. Most players will step into the shoes of LAPD homicide detectives, hungry for glory and willing to do whatever it takes to successfully close a case, even if that means intimidating suspects, concealing evidence, and hiring snitches to rat on their fellow detectives. One player, however, will take on the role of The Chisel, whose only goal is to stall and misdirect the detectives at every turn using bluffing, manipulation, and (often) outright lies.

While the multiplayer experience feels like the true way to play Detective: City of Angels, the game also comes with a solo/co-op mode where search cards and suspect responses are scripted in a specially designed ‘Sleuth Book’. In this variant, the detective still challenges the suspects, but an incorrect guess will result in stress. Get too stressed and you’ll lose precious time. Sleuth Mode also leaves out all rules involving scratch, since you’ll have no need to bribe fellow officers.

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Detective: City of Angels comes with nine cases, varying in difficulty from Gumshoe (easy) to Hardboiled (hard). Each case is unique and can be solved only once. Each provides a new experience for the detectives who will use any means necessary to catch the killer (or culprit. They aren’t all murder cases!)