The Disappearance of Claire Makova is the first a series of Detective Society mysteries from Damfino Productions – each one a six-episode collection of clues and puzzles to be solved over 9-12 hours of gameplay. In this particular case, you (the newly recruited detective) must investigate and explain the mysterious disappearance of the Ambassador's daughter using the physical letters and notes contained in the box, combined with digital content found online.

To avoid Spoilers in this review, we have so far only played the first episode, and it came to a satisfying conclusion, with an appropriate twist at the end to set up nicely for the next episode. Puzzles were suitably challenging but felt somewhat contrived and a few required cultural knowledge outside of the puzzle itself (including book characters and football team nicknames). There was nothing that wasn’t easily searchable online but it felt weird to be relying sometimes on quiz-level general knowledge rather than pure logical deduction. That’s fine tho': just think of it as an extra element that sets this mystery apart from others in the genre.
Another distinctive element of this mystery was its use of technology to further the story. The box advises players to be prepared to use 'SMS/WhatsApp' but in actuality the puzzles, at least in episode 1, demand neither of these; rather we were required to use email. We found this in equal parts novel and ambitious, and frustrating... We had some confusion about whether we should be answering in the subject heading or body text of the email, and each time had to wait up to a minute for a reply which slowed the whole process down and led to some uncertainty and distraction.
The tone of mystery is meant to be quite serious. However, designers Joe Mills and Tristan Rogers have thrown in some irreverent humour. The contrived feel of the puzzles and the email delays led to an unsatisfying first evening for us: in the end we were simply unable to immerse ourselves enough in the role to reach a suitable level of care about the story of the Disappearance. We do tho' want to praise the ambitious integration of technology, teething problems notwithstanding, and the final teaser leading to the next episodes... Perhaps they will intrigue us even more as we seek to solve the mystery of Disappearance…
(Review by Michael Harrowing)