Murder. Mystery. Intrigue. Investigation. In this noir world we find ourselves either as the Murderer with ill-intent or the Detective hot on the trail looking for clues. Who will win? Who will best the other? Let’s jump and find out!
Intent to Kill is being published by 25th Century Games as part of their newest Kickstarter you can find here: 25th Century Import Kickstarter. It is a 2-4 player game that takes approximately 60 mins to play. Designed by Arthur Khodzhikov.
Overview:
Intent to Kill is a cat and mouse deduction game where players go back and forth as either the murderer or detective in this game to see who comes out on top. The Murderer wins if they are not found and the Detectives win if they find the Murderer and their motive.
Players can be in teams or it also works well as a one on one game. We tried it at both 2 players and 3 players, at the 3 player count we had one Murderer and two Detectives. I think it worked well with both counts and really enjoyed having a partner Detective in the search.
To begin the game the Murderer secretly picks an identity and motive and a Social Group. They now know who they are, why they are going to do it and who will support them. The Detectives set up their tools and get ready to start the investigation!
The game can be played in either Logic or Intuition Mode. Logic is a great way to start, it will give you a way to understand the game before you go deeper with more options in Intuition Mode.
Each round is broken into three phases: Murderer, Detective and City Phase.
In the Murderer Phase the Murderer will intimidate two civilians and then chose and murder one person. Then the Murderer will chose a victim, a civilian who fits their motive, is not on the same block as the Detective and not the Murderer themselves.
In the Detective Phase there are two steps, the initial response and the investigation. The initial response takes the Detective to the murder scene where they clear any civilians in the location. The Investigation is two different actions where you can use the action of a location or question civilians. By questioning you are able ask a yes or no question and get an answer from the civilian in the location. The Murderer will answer, and may lie if you are questioning them or a member of their secret Social group. Otherwise they must tell the truth.
In the final part, the City Phase there are two steps: working with the public and moving civilians. The Detective can comfort the civilians in the same block they are in. Then the Murderer takes and reveals one of the Social Group tokens and can move any of those people one block. The Detective does the same. This gives some info on who may or may not be on your side.
The game continues for 5 or 6 rounds and then the Detective names the Murderer and their Role. If they get both right, they win. Otherwise the Murderer gets the win!
Impressions:
Overall this game is one that pits a player against another player or a team against another team in a way that feels very balanced in two different roles. I loved playing both roles and found each to be a challenge in itself. The Murderer is trying to not reveal too much with their murder and also try to drag the Detective around the city off their scent. The Detective is trying to narrow down their options and find out the who and why on all the murders going on in the city.
The game is intuitive once you begin and get into the weeds with it-each role giving you a very thematic experience that is easy to understand and hard to master. Playing the logic mode is easy to understand and then when you “level up” the difficulty it’s an even deeper experience.
Intent to Kill is a thrilling detective noir experience in the safety of your own home and one that I have absolutely enjoyed in mine. I love the mystery, the intrigue and the murder-all ingredients to really mix up the game in unique and fun ways whether you are the Murderer or Detective!
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