Image taken from https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9027329/a-carnivore-did-it

Designers: Daumilas Ardickas, Urtis Šulinskas
Publisher: Horrible Guild
Artist: Cecilia Lonnie

While I enjoyed my time with this game, it’s honestly not really a game. I can see how it can be played as a game with multiple players, but its solo/cooperative version is 100% puzzle. There are other “games” I can think of that aren’t allowed to be on BGG because they are considered puzzles, and this could almost fall into that category.

Anyway, despite this minor personal qualm, I really like this game! Not only are there literally 2000 puzzles included, but it’s also a small box game, can play in any time frame you like, and provides challenges of all difficulty levels. It’s easy to play on commercial breaks or while other things are going on because there’s no time limit (if you play casually like me, but there are options to have time be a factor if you want the extra stress).

The mechanics are very easy; simply set out the required animals and conversation cards and use the statements to deduce who did it.

I did every single puzzle of the first five dossiers (so 500 total) plus some more on a few other dossiers. Once I got past those five, I either got worn out by it or just didn’t find the puzzles as engaging because I liked them less as I progressed. They’re definitely more difficult and I liked the quicker and slightly less complicated ones better; the later ones just weren’t quite as fun to solve for me.

My biggest complaint that others may not agree with is that there are cards that state “XYZ is lying” which can make the puzzles unnecessarily convoluted. In the earlier ones when there was one of those cards out, I didn’t mind at all, but once I got to six or seven suspects and three of them had lying statements, it was too much.

Overall, though, this game is a winner. I can easily see myself getting lots of use and play time out of this whether it’s doing ones I’ve already completed or trying harder challenges (I’ve honestly already gotten my money’s worth even if I don’t play again!). There is even a campaign mode where you can play across multiple dossiers which I haven’t tried yet. If you like puzzles, specifically deduction puzzles, there’s absolutely no reason not to check this one out. Super high replayability, competitive, cooperative, and solo modes, and easy to learn rules make this one a solid, versatile addition to any collection.