INTRODUCTION

A wise individual once said time is cyclical, which implies that sooner or later things will come full circle. It is therefore not surprising, although fascinating, that we are witnessing what could be described as an 80’s nostalgia wave influencing popular culture regardless of medium. This holds true for the board game hobby as well, where several recent or upcoming games are paying homage to this particular time period including today’s review subject Chronicles of Crime: Welcome to Redview (henceforth Redview). Designed by David Cicurel & Ghislain Masson and published by Lucky Duck Games in 2018, the second expansion to Chronicles of Crime takes you back to a time defined by greed, leg warmers and neon colours as you and your friends try to solve mysteries whilst navigating the everyday life of adolescence. Welcome to Redview.

Full disclosure: a review copy of the Welcome to Redview expansion was kindly provided by publisher Lucky Duck Games.

COMPONENTS

Much like its Noir predecessor, the Redview expansion has its own unique art style which separates it from the rest of the pack. It straddles the line between cartoony and realism, imagine if Modesty Blaise had a love child with Archie. Personally, I quite like it in the same way I am appreciative of the way Redview utilises colour contrasts to literally highlight characters and locales. As for the actual components they are generally of good quality throughout, from the thickness of the cards and cardboard tokens to the included six-sided dice that have a visually pleasing red hue to them.

THE SOLO MODE

Author’s note: this review is completely spoiler-free, the photographs featured in this written article have been staged at random.

Welcome to Redview, a quaint town where everybody knows one another by their first name and the weekends are spent rooting for the high school football team. However, beneath this sleepy façade of white picket fences and homemade apple pie there are strange things afoot as people have been reporting mysterious sightings in the surrounding woods. Are these rumours nothing more than tales told around the campfire or is there something far more sinister lurking in the shadows? It is up to you and your friends in the Redview Mystery Gang to uncover the truth behind these dastardly crimes! Just make sure to be home in time for dinner.

Unlike previous entries to the Chronicles of Crime series, Redview opts for a more “family friendly” approach by having you assume the role of teenagers working together to solve a mystery much in the vein of Scooby Doo or Stranger Things. Without going into specific details of the overarching story, what starts off as a somewhat trivial case soon evolves into something far more consequential spanning over four intertwining scenarios. The result is a narrative experience that is far more cohesive when compared to its predecessor, as characters and locations in the Redview expansion persist from scenario to scenario. In terms of game mechanism, the core remains intact as you will use the official app to scan QR codes in order to obtain clues and potential leads. The expansion also lends itself extremely well to solitary play as the rules and game mechanisms remain intact regardless of player count. That is not to say that Redview brings nothing new to the table, quite the contrary.

One of the biggest changes to the formula is represented by skill checks. Rather than having a team of criminal forensics to count on or the tools of the trade as the lone private investigator, Redview instead introduces the concept of personality traits and attributes as a way to progress through the story. For example, one situation might present you with several options how to gain access to a location or allowing you to obtain information by smooth-talking your way out of a jam. Each member of the Mystery Gang possesses the same three skills, the difference being their point allocation. Tom the athlete exceeds in overcoming hurdles acquiring a great degree of Fitness but is perhaps not the most suited candidate for deduction or solving puzzles. Likewise, on the other end of the spectrum is Richy who is extremely clever and quick on his feet when it comes to obtaining clues using his Mind. Each situation that calls upon a skill set requires a set number of successes which is dependent on the number of participating characters. Having more members of the Mystery Gang participating in solving the case will allow you to roll more dice but at the cost of having to meet a higher threshold of successful die rolls. Should the dice prove to be not in your favour you then have the option to re-roll so long as you have energy bars at your disposal. This is another way the Redview expansion alleviates skill point allocation, certain teenagers may have a fairly average point-spread but can carry several energy bars making them a viable asset to the team.

Another aspect of the game design that I really appreciate is the way that there is a consistency in the overall story. In the base game and Noir expansion, character portraits were not married to one unique individual making for an overall jarring sensation when playing one scenario after the other. In Redview though, persons or locations remain the same throughout the course of the four scenarios and are also affected by the choices you make throughout the game. This may seem like a minute detail but personally I really enjoyed this slight alteration to the design, as a result it made me much more personally invested in the people that inhabit the sleepy town of Redview, each with their own unique backstory which may or may not have an impact on the events that transpire.

Unfortunately, much like Noir the Redview expansion is plagued by sub-par writing and narrative, as if the story were generated using translating computer software resulting in a literary composition that feels artificial or even uncanny. But for some inexplicable reason I am less annoyed about this detriment in the context of the theme of adolescence. Growing up as a teenager every single adult was perceived as either plain weird or embarrassing, spouting so called “wisdom” whilst being completely unwilling or unable to grasp the magnitude of what I perceived as important. When approaching the expansion from this mindset, the writing in Redview suddenly becomes less lacklustre and an easier pill to swallow compared to its gritty detective predecessor.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Despite its shortcomings regarding the quality of the narrative and the way character dialogue is presented, I genuinely believe that Chronicles of Crime at its core is a shining example of a diamond in the rough, where one will occasionally catch the glimpse of the true potential the game has to offer in regard to bridging the gap between analogue and digital. This is no small praise considering the fact that I am definitely not what you would  call “pro-screen” when it comes to board and card games, in fact one of the reasons I love this hobby so much is because it provides me with a non-digital outlet. As it stands, the Redview expansion reminds me once again that this game system in its current state is very much the definition of a prototype: flawed and at the same time showing great potential.