Parents' Guide to Suspects: Mystery Mansion

While this murder mystery attempts to draw in players, the lack of instructions and glitchy controls ruins the fun. Clues are scattered around a stately home in Suspects: Mystery Mansion. Players can pick up items -- such as a book highlighted with a yellow outline in a bookcase -- for a closer look. They're also supposed to finish items on a list of tasks, such as putting away scattered tools, or completing mini-challenges, such as fixing a water issue with plumbing pieces. Players also try to disarm bombs the killer has placed to blow up the mansion. If you're killed, you can stay in the game as a ghost, which lets you move around the mansion more freely, and you can still complete your tasks. You can also watch the game play out, but can't ring the bell or vote.

The game instructions aren't detailed, which quickly becomes an issue. As a guest, you're essentially told to complete your tasks, report dead bodies, and discuss and vote the killer out -- but aren't told how to do any of those things. Players need to figure out how to move their character around and pick things up. When a player rings a bell to report a murder, everyone's taken to a screen where they can discuss the killer using their phone or other device's microphone. Although players enter their birthdate before starting the game so it can be customized to their age, teens may find themselves matched with very young children -- and, as a result, the discussion can vary in content. Also, since there's no guarantee that players will choose the murderer correctly in chat, games can reach a point where it feels like there's not much left to do but walk around rooms repeatedly waiting for something to happen, which isn't too exciting. The controls and audio can also be glitchy at times, although the game claims to be under constant development, so future changes may iron out those issues. The concept has promise -- the voice capabilities are a somewhat novel way to collaborate with other players, and the murder mystery could serve as a fun way for younger players to use logic and other critical thinking skills. But without more guidance on how to play, though, Suspects: Mystery Mansion seems more likely to confuse players than intrigue them.