We absolutely loved the original “Awkward Guests”, which is like “Clue” but on steroids. It can be played competitively or cooperatively/solo, though we prefer the latter. In “Awkward Guests”, players had to figure out who killed Mr. Walton, with what weapon, and with what motive. If you played on a higher difficulty, you also had to figure out a possible accomplice. “Awkward Guests 2: The Berwick Cases”, coming to Kickstarter in April 2024, has two players going head to head to figure out who killed the Berwick Sisters (suspects in the original game). Before we begin I am required by FTC regulations that I was paid to cover this game, however any and all opinions therein are my own. As this is a prototype (which was also in Spanish but playable), rules and components discussed here are subject to change.
Components & Setup Overview
My prototype copy came with a rulebook, 3 inquiry dice, 6 suspect cards, a notebook with double-sided tracking sheets, a double-sided inquiry board, 2 player screens, and 60 game cards (30 for each case).
With setup encompassing several pages in the rulebook, I thought it best to give you a general overview in the interest of saving time.
One player (we’ll call them Player A) will be investigating the case of one of the sisters (Beatrice or Bernice) while the other player (Player B) will have the answer key for that case. At the same time, Player B will be investigating the other sister to which Player A holds the answer key. The first player to solve the case of the sister they are investigating, wins.
Both players, as the MASTERMINDS of the other player’s case, will pick a murderer, a crime motive, an alibi room, the path followed by the murder from the alibi room to the bedroom (scene of the crime), and the weapon. They also add false clues, assign a favorite weapon to each innocent suspect, and assign a starting room to each innocent suspect. This all gets recorded on a player’s tracking sheet, behind their screen. Again, there are several rules and restrictions regarding these steps that I chose to forgo listing here.
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Gameplay Overview
During the game, players will both be INVESTIGATORS and MASTERMINDS.
A round consists of:
1. Investigation Phase of the Beatrice Case. If Player A is investigating the Beatrice Case for this game, then Player B is the Mastermind providing the answers.
2. Investigation Phase of the Bernice Case. If Player B is investigating the Bernice Case for this game, then Player A is the Mastermind providing the answers.
3. Resolution Phase. Players will only have 3 attempts to solves the murder. If a player guesses incorrectly 3 times, they automatically lose the game. Players will decide during this step to guess or continue investigating.
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During an Investigation Phase, the Investigator will:
1. Roll the 3 inquiry dice, reserving the ones (if any) you want to keep.
2. Reroll the dice not reserved. The player must keep these results.
3. Discard a die to modify the result of another die.
4. Place the dice on the general inquiry board spaces for which they want to inquire. The general inquiry board is double-sided, one side for the Beatrice case and the other for the Bernice case.
5. Choose the order in which these dice / questions are asked. The Mastermind must be truthful.
6. Flip the general inquiry board to the other side in preparation for the other player’s case.
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Steps 4 & 5 involve inquiries and assigning / resolving dice to get information about a case. Players will be able to gather evidence (for the purpose of acquiring motives), interrogate (reveals favorite weapons & alibi rooms), ask the help (reveals information as to who moved around the mansion), and get forensics (ruling out murder weapons).
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Rounds continue until someone guesses correctly or someone busts on their third guess.
Note: The above doesn’t cover everything found in the rulebook, but should give you an idea as to how the game is played. I included the English Rulebook below for your convenience.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M2YP_jjtUUqDoPkBu2BQmDwTw5t7h1I1/view
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Impressions
Most sequels and expansions tend to improve upon the original, but also have a habit of making things more complicated in the process. I feel like “Awkward Guests 2: The Berwick Cases” is attempting to simplify the original a bit while adding a luck factor with dice. The original game had an app whereas this version does not, for example. Thankfully, “AG2” has a simpler information recall system…that is, the other player simply tells them the answer in response to various inquires. In the original, in the case of solo play, you’d have to look up number cards as the app told you to draw them.
The original game had a card system and we often weren’t sure what information we were supposed to ask because we didn’t know what the 1 point, 2 point, and 3 point clues typically provided. We often got duplicating information from different questions and some cases came down to the wire because there was that 1 card we needed to find but couldn’t figure out what to ask to get to it (at least, in solo mode). “AG2” eliminates the meta guesswork and the duplicating of evidence, making things a lot more accessible and quick. While I did mention it above, I have to stress that we played “AG” mostly in solo / co-op mode. The rules for competitive “AG” involve hands of cards and choosing what information to share with your opponents.
I’m admittedly not 100% sold on the dice mechanic. Yes, you can discard one to adjust another to the side you want, but it’s possible for one player to always roll what they need and the other not rolling well to get the rest of the information they need. In “AG” I had almost complete control over my inquiry (I just never knew what information I’d get) whereas here, I’m locked into what I can ask by the dice. By the same token, the dice add more of a random factor to the game that some people may enjoy. Who doesn’t love rolling dice on occasion?
The game itself played out pretty fluidly, setup was the biggest hurdle as there was a lot to learn and do for our first game. Both of us were managing both roles, which was a bit overwhelming at first. Not only was I creating my fiance’s case, but she was creating my own. It was sometimes difficult to remember to mentally separate her clues from the ones I was given for my own case. Make use of the tracking sheets!
The art had the cartoony look from the first and it was cool to see that not much had changed on that front. We were already familiar with “AG” and the way everything was laid out so it gave us a good jumpstart here. There were a lot more pinks and reds compared to the original game’s yellow theme. I was thankful that the new tracking sheets included boxes with which to cross off things we would normally have to write in on the “AG” sheets.
As I’ve already emphasized, we love us some “Awkward Guests”. When I told my fiance’ that there would be a second one AND the developer offered to send us a copy for preview purposes, her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I think it has something to do with how much we enjoy working together to solve mystery / whodunit games. I enjoy hosting an “AG” co-op session every now and again on Twitch so that my friends can all contribute. I say this only because our bias is clearly defined and as such, you should definitely head on over to the game’s crowdfunding page to check out the game for yourself.
As always, “Previews” are not “Reviews”. That said, I can’t wait to see what the final production copy looks like!
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Box Quote: “Awkward Guests” is back with a sequel and I couldn’t be more excited!
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Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/megacorpingames/awkward-guests-2-the-berwick-cases
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