Advert: The Unknown Identity Part 1 and Part 2, and A Lethal Fix was gifted to use in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are ours.

Are you a bit of a true crime nut? An aspiring Poirot? Or a budding Miss Marple? Well, today we’re looking at some print-and-play cold case files from Inks & Clues, to see if we can cut it as the next Holmes & Watson (Lauren would totally be Sherlock, btw). 

There is no time to waste, let’s dive right into it. 

What is a Cold Case File ? 

In a Cold Case File game you’re presented with a dossier of evidence surrounding an unsolved crime (often a murder, but not always). It’s your job to analyse evidence, identify motives, eliminate suspects, and ultimately deduce whodunnit. They typically have less ‘traditional’ puzzles in them compared to the more ‘escape room’ style games. Instead, the cold case file, focuses on realism, with reports, transcripts and other evidence for you to examine and cross reference. 

Whilst these games might sound like a quiet reading session, they are a great way to spend a night in, on your own, with a small group of friends, or an at-home date night with your better half. 

What’s different about an Ink & Clues Cold Case File? 

Ink & Clues position themselves as one of the few dedicated print-and-play options in the cold case file market, offering instant access to their 8 cold case files directly from their website. All you have to do is decide which game you want to play, buy it, and then print it out. Arguably that final step is optional and you could play it digitally, but having tangible evidence in front of you feels more like a real investigation. 

Ink & Clues also have a range of mysteries for kids aged 6 to 11. We haven’t tried them ourselves as we don’t have a child in the age range but we wanted to point out they exist. 

“This Is A Twisted Web And We Are Not Finished Untangling It, Not Yet.”

– Benoit Blanc, Knives Out.

What do we think about Ink & Clues Cold Case Files?

The points below are thoughts about the Inks & Clues Cold Case Files generally, but don’t worry we discuss the cases we have completed in more detail below.

Things we liked: 

• One of the strengths of the Ink & Clues mysteries is how well the narratives and characters within are written. The cases felt original and creative but still believable. That said, the odd line from the interview transcripts perhaps felt a little unnatural, but the conversations were close enough to reality for us to not find it too jarring. 

• The structure of the mystery made us feel like real detectives. These case files focus on transcripts, autopsy reports and other pieces of evidence that make you feel like a real detective working through a case. The ‘puzzly’ aspect comes more from scenarios that need realistic deduction rather than escape room-style code cracking (e.g., cross checking someone’s shift patterns with pertinent times for a case).  

• We love that the solution file walks through the evidence and suspects in a clear and concise way, explaining what was key to the case and what was a red herring. And often these types of games only require you to get the final solution: the who, why and how. Ink & Clues goes a step further, providing a score system that rewards you for deducing the key steps throughout the case and rating your detective skills, from ‘New at work’ to ‘Legend’. We were rated ‘Master Detectives’ in both of our cases… a title we‘re both proud of and is going straight on our LinkedIn.

• Ink & Clues has struck a good balance between including some immersive visuals, like articles or suspect photos, while still being print-at-home friendly with limited full ink pages. This makes these cases even more cost effective.

• Access to the internet is definitely a benefit. We found ourselves googling a couple of key words that had come up in the evidence file to further understand the situation. It was nice that this was encouraged in the rules, and meant you weren’t fed all the answers in the evidence pack.

“There is no detective in England equal to a spinster lady of uncertain age with plenty of time on her hands.”

— Agatha Christie  (Murder at the Vicarage)

Things you might want to consider: 

• Ink & Clues does use some AI. We have confirmed with them that generative AI was used to produce some of the imagery (e.g. suspect photos), but no AI was used in the creation of the story or puzzles.

• Some mystery case games do include puzzles: perhaps something to decode, or a riddle to solve. As outlined earlier in this post, the Ink & Clues Cold Case Files didn’t include any of those types of puzzle focusing instead on more realistic deduction. This isn’t a negative but is something you should consider when choosing a Cold Case File game. 

“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

What do we think of the Ink & Clues games we played?

Lethal dose

Difficulty rating: 3/5

You’re called to investigate the death of a man who has been found dead in his apartment with a needle mark on his arm and other signs of substance abuse. Whilst the department thinks it’s a simple case of an overdosing junkie, the deeper you dig, the more suspects and motives you uncover. Does the evidence tell you it was an accident, or something far more sinister?

Our Verdict: This was a good introduction to Ink & Clues mysteries and we enjoyed the ride, but it was a little too easy for us. Although we still didn’t pick up all of the detective points on the final score sheet! This case would probably work well for someone new to these types of games.

Unknown Identity Part 1 and Part 2

Difficulty rating: 4/5

You’re investigating a harassment case reported by victim Lukas Hoffman, a 19-year-old Berlin resident. He has been receiving unsettling notes, which have become more and more threatening over time. But the escalation doesn’t end there…

Verdict: This case is in two parts, and we did both in one sitting. The split was logical, but part 1 was missing something to indicate when to move on to part 2 and it wouldn’t have been difficult to include something in keeping with the story. Overall though we enjoyed solving it; we did find it straightforward to solve but it was definitely a step up in difficulty from Lethal Dose.

Final verdict

Overall, if you are looking for a Cold Case File to devote a winter evening too then you should think about giving an Ink & Clues case a go. They have a range of cases with different difficulties to choose from. I’m sure you’ll find a suitable case. We are waiting with bated breath for a case with a difficulty of 5, which doesn’t yet seem to exist, but we are excited for when it does!

Whilst AI usage appears to be used widely in the the cold case file market, the use of AI within these games is the our main niggle, only you will know if this with bother you.

Finally I have to disagree with Detective Jackaby who says ‘Detective work is neither a happy nor a satisfying business…’’ (See Ghoastly Echoes by William Ritter)  I found working through the Ink & Clues Cold Case Mystery games very satisfying, very satisfying indeed.