Diary

Sight Lines’ Crack The Case: Mind Hunter Review

November 10, 2023

Since reading about it in the late 90s, I’ve always wanted to participate in a murder mystery game. You know, one of those English attractions where you’re “trapped” in a manor with all sorts of strangers and you try to solve a series of murders.

Never managed to go for one, regrettably; I always ended up spending too much time at museums and castles when in England. For that reason, the whodunit fan in me was really thrilled when Sight Lines announced the Crack The Case: Mind Hunter immersive theatre experience a few weeks ago.

What’s more, it’s a story that involves a serial killer—who ain’t fascinated by those monsters, yeah? And the whole experience would take place in a restored heritage house at 42 Waterloo Street, our equivalent of a creepy English manor.

The Mind Hunter House at 42 Waterloo Street is actually Centre 42, a theatre development space committed to the creation, documentation, and promotion of Singapore theatre.

The Mind Hunter House at 42 Waterloo Street is actually Centre 42, a theatre development space committed to the creation, documentation, and promotion of Singapore theatre.

Attended the preview last evening and the creepy experience certainly didn’t disappoint! It wasn’t completely what I expected, it’s not a whodunit, but in hindsight, that was a pragmatic move on Sight Line’s part. It allows for easier enjoyment by more people without complicated rules involved.

In short, the immersive experience is jointly hosted at various locations within “The Mind Hunter House,” venues with names like The Liminal Space and The Memory Museum. With it quite clear from the onset who the killer is, the investigative task is not so much to uncover who did it but to discover the motive, the where, and the how.

For whodunit purists, this might not constitute the proper experience but like I said earlier, I feel this facilitates more flexible entertainment. You can play with a friend, investigate alone but actively interact with other “investigators,” or just lonewolf it all the way. No one has to play any special roles too. Everybody is an investigator, or a volunteer as the experience calls it.

Being a grim-faced solo investigator has its appeal but you might miss out on certain clues—Mind Hunter is largely conducted as a series of concurrent “memory fragment” performances at different locations of the heritage house. But there is a fun let’s-gather-and-discuss session before the big reveal.

If being an amateur gumshoe isn’t your thing, well, you can relax and just enjoy the performances, wonderfully executed by Gosteloa Spancer (who plays the psychotic David Menon) and his talented fellow cast members. Do keep an eye out for the talented Dharshan Nathan who plays a tormented young Menon.

And oh, here’s probably the biggest attraction of this immersive experience—photos and videos are allowed! Yup, completely allowed in the name of facilitating investigation. You can bring home memories of a psychopath’s memories.

For some sleuths, I think being able to share these creepy moments online will be the best souvenir of this experience. (But when doing so, please do not post spoilers, of course)

Pics from Crack The Case: Mind Hunter

Once again, to give an idea of how this murder mystery investigation game is conducted, different memory fragments, i.e., short scenes are performed throughout The Mind Hunter House for slightly over an hour. Before the experience begins, you’d be given the timings of these performances too.

I initially assumed some degree of planning was necessary to watch all the scenes. The good news: no. There are sufficient repeats. One hour is more than enough to leisurely watch all, on top of being able to examine displays for clues and take pictures with a certain unsavoury character.

The evening began with murderous David Menon already apprehended, and with a certain doctor attempting to probe his twisted mind with a revolutionary new device.

Menon interacts with one of his would-be victims. Since you’re aware of what’s going to happen down the road, every moment of these memories is ominous.

This ghastly character wanders the grounds! Who is he? If you take a picture with him, would something happen to you? (I fled without discovering)

By the way, if you need to know, this murder mystery game experience has no shocking jump scares and gore, and so it’s semi-family friendly in that sense. I say “semi” because it still deals with themes of murder and abuse. It’s not advisable to bring the very young.