Yes, you can play a murder mystery game alone. On Murder Desk, you read the same evidence a group would read and reach your own verdict. Nobody has to play the victim, act a suspect or host the evening. Our cases are fictional investigations written for you to work through, with a solution to check your reasoning against at the end.
Playing alone changes the rhythm. You can spend ten minutes with one document without keeping anyone waiting. The difficulty is that nobody else will question your favourite theory. This guide covers choosing a case, getting started and keeping a solo investigation manageable.
Start with a case you can finish comfortably
For your first visit, choose Closing Time, our short training case. Allow 20 to 30 minutes. It introduces the evidence desk, opening sealed material and committing to a verdict, without asking you to keep a long evening free.
After that, an Easy case is a reasonable next step. The Wigmaker’s Attic has an estimated playing time of 40 to 60 minutes. Read the difficulty and time on each case page before choosing. Treat those times as a guide, rather than a deadline: reading slowly is part of the pleasure.
A longer investigation can wait until you know whether you enjoy comparing papers on your own. There is no need to begin with the hardest file.
You need a browser and a nickname
The games are free to play online. There is nothing to download and no email sign-up is required. A laptop gives long documents more room; a phone works too.
Open a case, choose a nickname and save the recovery code you receive. Then choose to play alone. The nickname is your player identity, so pick something you are comfortable showing on a leaderboard.
Keep the recovery code somewhere private. It restores your progress on another browser or after you clear your cookies. Using it replaces it with a new code, so save the replacement. Adding an email address for signing in is optional.
Give yourself a stopping point
You can leave a solo case and return later. Opened material and your progress are kept with your player, so you do not have to finish in one sitting.
Before a break, write down what you were checking and which document you wanted to revisit. That is more useful than leaving yourself a confident accusation with no reason attached.
Your private notebook and timeline need separate care: they stay in the browser where you wrote them. A recovery code restores your player, but does not move those notes to another device. Export them before changing browsers, and import the file where you want to continue.
Use a method, and let hints help
You do not need specialist knowledge to start. Read the briefing, give the papers your attention and keep track of where your conclusions come from. Our guide to reading a case file explains how to build a timeline and test an account against the documents. Keep that beside you if this is your first investigation.
When you are stuck, Sherlock Holmes offers hints in tiers. Each tier shows its cost in score points before you confirm; later tiers give more away. Read one, return to the evidence, and see whether it answers the question you were actually asking. Reopening a hint you already revealed costs nothing extra.
Decide whether this is your solo case
Each nickname has one run per case. A case you have started alone cannot then become a team-room run for that player. If you want to solve a particular mystery with someone else, save it for that evening and try a different case now.
Two people can investigate together without a larger party. Our guide to playing online with friends explains shared rooms for two to six players. For tonight, though, the short training file is enough: one browser, a few papers and your own decision.