These instructions are also in the game. Press How to Play on the door any time (on a phone, the open book marked Guide). The first time you press Play, Mavis Belfry, the night editor of the village paper, walks you through a practice case.
The one rule
Whoever stood at the scene did it. The guilty one lies to you at least once; everyone else tells the truth, every word. That is the only rule, and every case can be solved with it.
A night, step by step
Each picture is the game on an iPhone. On a bigger screen the same buttons carry their names too.
Tonight's caseA new case opens every midnight (UTC), the same for everyone. Press PLAY; the first time, Mavis walks you through a practice case. Under PLAY: the Case Files, the Board, your Office and this guide.
Search the roomPress a glowing spot on the painting, or a place in the list. Each place holds one clue.
Read the clueA print, a hair, a petal, a mark at a height, or nobody there at all. The sheet says whose card it fits.
Hear them outEach card shows what a suspect leaves behind (their tracks, what they shed, their scent and their height) and two things they say. The guilty one lies; the rest tell the truth.
Keep notesMark who stood where: press a square once for a cross, again for a tick, again to clear it. One suspect at most stood at each place, and somebody stood at the scene. Only you see your notes, and nobody checks them.
Pin the liePress a statement, pick the clue that breaks it, and pin it. A wrong pin costs a glass; lose all three and the bar shuts. The same wrong pin twice costs nothing.
Sunday's padlockEvery Sunday one place is chained shut. Its three numbers are on a note in another place: search it, set the dials with the arrows and try the lock. A wrong try is free.
Stuck? The lampIt shows where to look, then who to ask again. The first hint each night is free; after that each costs one Clue, from the Clues your account earns in the hidden puzzles.
Case closedEach glass kept is a point, and one more without the lamp. Solve on the night to keep your streak.
Monday and Tuesday have three suspects, the middle of the week four, and the weekend five, so the week gets harder as it goes. Last Call is a whodunit for grown ups, for players 16 and over.
The clues
Each place holds one clue: a print, a hair, a feather, a petal, a smudge at a height, or a sign that nobody stood there at all. Match it to the suspects' cards.
- Paw prints
- Heel marks
- A feather
- A hair
- A petal, a scent
- A drop
- A smudge up high
- Nobody stood here
Your streak, the board and your rank
Solve a night on its own night to keep your streak; one night off a week is forgiven. Each night scores a point for every glass kept and one more without the lamp. The week's board runs Monday to Sunday and shows signed in players, and your rank only goes up. There is no countdown: the time is shown, and it only breaks a tie on the board. Sign in to keep them: a guest can play tonight's case, and it stays in that browser.
The Case Files
Every night that has passed goes into the Case Files. The last seven are free to play again; an older night is kept in its month.
Who you will meet
Nine villagers who keep shops nobody has visited yet, and the Gilded Hush's own staff and regulars. Any of them can be tonight's culprit, and whoever did it tonight is innocent tomorrow.
Horatio Gander, the cobbler
Wendel Ratchet, the locksmith
Abner Hollowell, the undertaker
Ottilie Lumen, the chandler
Ignatius Tock, the clockmaker
Celestine Amber, the perfumer
Delphine Satin, the dressmaker
Corbin Mortlake, the pawnbroker
Rennick Fairbairn, the photographer
Silk
Madame Sloe
Vesper
Bulrush
Major Tansy
The Widow Sulk
Seraphina Starling
Dogleg
The buttons
- Menu: resume, the brief, sound, back to the door, give up
- A glass: a wrong pin costs one
- Places: each place and its clue
- Suspects: their cards and what they said
- Notebook: your own marks of who stood where
- Brief: Mavis's words again
- Lamp: a hint; a gold dot means tonight's is free
- Zoom in on the painting
- Zoom out
- A statement: press it to pin a clue on it
- A padlock: its three numbers are on a note in the room
- Next: Mavis's next word in the practice case
- Case Files: the past nights
- The Board: this week's best
- Your Office: your rank and casebook
- Guide: How to Play
- Sign in, or your account
- My Friends
- Sound: the music and the effects
Keys
- 1 to 6 search a place; P places, S suspects, N the notebook.
- L the lamp, B the brief, + and - zoom, Esc the menu.
- On a padlock's dial, the arrow keys or 0 to 9.
Two sides
Play for the Herd or for the Horde, as in every Shadows of the Corn game: the case, the clues and the answer are the same for both.
The Shop
The Shop, opening soon, sells the months of past cases, each bought once and kept on your account. Nothing in it is random, and nothing in it helps you solve a case: the clues, the lamp's free hint and the board are the same for everyone. More is on its way: the season's story episodes and new looks for the cast.