Review – Violent Night by Sultans of Solve
Website Link – https://www.sultansofsolve.com
Price – $150 (temporarily out of stock, but hopefully will be back in stock soon)
Disclaimer: we purchased the game with our own money, this review is not sponsored. All thoughts are our own.
The Product:
Violent Night is the second puzzle experience from Sultan of Solve’s Clock Winder Series. While this is a sequel, it also works as its own stand alone adventure as well. In Violent Night, players have been invited to solve the murder of a beloved local figure at his annual Christmas party. There are ten suspects, but tons of puzzles and clues.
Players will have access to the entire house where the murder occurred. Each room will have its own clues and some puzzles will span rooms, requiring players to figure out exactly how different components interact and work together. Each solved puzzle will bring plays one step closer to figuring out the who-done-it. Do you have what it takes to wrap this case up?
The game comes with a lot in its box, but players will still need a device with internet access. There are quite a few QR codes that will be used to progress though the game and to insert answers.
While the main premise of the case involved a murder, this game is mostly family friendly for teens and higher, and the Christmas theming only helps. We took closer to three hours to make our way through the game as a pair of two players.
Our Thoughts:
We had played and mostly enjoyed The Clock Winder, so we were excited to see what came next in the series.
It was hard not to immediately notice the level of quality of the game’s components. The handmade pieces show a lot of care and thought went into each puzzle. Thankfully, every piece arrived in great condition. Again and again, we were delighted at how well the components fit the theme and how much they added to the overall game experience. Bravo to Sultans of Solve for their presentation.
We would also like to thank them for their handling of the one mistake that the game did contain. Sultans of Solve discovered that they left off a QR code to one of their puzzles. They notified us of this mistake and provided the QR code in an email. They followed that up by mailing us a replacement component. We did not ask for the replacement; they were just nice enough to provide it to their players. We can only assume the issue has been remedied for future printings.
The Christmas theming of the story was cute and put to good effect. This is definitely a game that will put you in the holiday mood, but should be fun to play no matter what time of year you break it out (we basically had Christmas in July). The murder myster premise is standard mystery fair, but the theming really helps things stand out. If you enjoy holiday characters, Christmas songs, and decorations, this game is a must have. If you’re not into Christmas, you’ll probably still want this for the puzzles.
Even though we enjoyed the puzzles of The Clock Winder, Violent Night felt like an immense step up and is the stronger entry in the series. There are a wide variety of puzzles that use the components well and are a joy to solve. We appreciated the exploration of the house mechanic that this game presents. The non-linear set up would allow more players to enjoy the game simultaneously, but it also gives players the freedom to tackle the puzzles that feel solvable now while giving time to mull over the other clues.
The puzzles ranged in difficulty, but never felt overly challenging. Like its predecessor, Violent Night comes in at more of a medium difficulty. The game does come with a progressive hint system, but we never needed it.
With five different rooms and several other elements to explore and solve, Violent Night gives players a lot to do. We look forward to where the saga of the Clock Winder might take us next and Sultan of Solve should expect us to be fully on board.
Official C&C Rating:
Narrative: 4/5
Puzzles: 4/5
Overall Fun: 4.5/5
Total Averaged Rating: 4.17/5
Chaos & Confetti 