An intense cat-and-mouse hunt for Jack the Ripper!
One of my favourite games is Fury of Dracula, and the hidden movement of Letters From Whitechapel brings that classic to mind. Not to mention we’re again in Victorian England in the latter part of the nineteenth century, this time with the infamous Jack the Ripper attempting to murder five victims before a team of detectives hunt him down. It’s particularly interesting that the game’s structure is built around the actual four nights of the murders, and each of those nights is broken into two parts: ‘Hell’, in which the police are placed throughout Whitechapel and Jack chooses his victim and the crime scene, and ‘Hunting’, in which the police try to discover his location and corner him as he flees to his hideout. Each of these parts is further broken into thematic steps, identified by who must complete them: for example during Hell Step 4: Jack the Ripper: The Victims are Chosen, the Jack player reveals which of the tokens he has placed are the potential victims for that night.
A gorgeous map of the Whitechapel area, a special screen for the Jack player, and reproductions of ‘letters’ sent to the police that are used as special abilities, are all highlights of the effective graphic design. It’s an atmospheric and tense game, especially enjoyable for fans of the period. While I have no desire to be placed in the shoes of a serial killer, when you play Jack you do feel like you’re being hunted from alley to alley in the dark and foggy London streets, as the police slowly close the net around your escape routes.
One of my favourites. The difference between _Fury of Dracula_ and _Letters_, to me, is the difference between _Risk_ and chess; _Letters_ has no randomness at all, and is just an absolutely pure hidden-movement game (that still manages to be very strongly thematic).
I’ve always played as one of the police; I don’t know that my nerves would stand up to playing Jack.
I played the game for the first time the other night as Jack and was nabbed on the first night! I learned some valuable lessons for next time, I can tell you …
Hello! I noticed a typo in the table of contents for this guide. Instead of saying Page 5, it says Page 3. It’s nothing major, just thought you should be aware if you weren’t already. 🙂
As always, these guides are amazing. Thanks for putting so much effort into all of them!!
Thanks Chris!