Dunkelstein - An AR Tabletop Murder Mystery | Escape Game
Par Make a Break
Statut actuel
Pledge Manager ouvert
Fonds récoltés : 84 361 €
Play a suspenseful mystery on your kitchen table!
With motion-captured characters, real props, and a haunting story set in a fictional baron's estate in 1914 Germany.
Two Editions
Who is Dunkelstein for?
Our dream? To bring people together—around a real table and give them a shared storytelling experience they never forget. Dunkelstein is a physical game, enriched with augmented reality, where players look down upon a beautifully crafted miniature world and watch it come to life.
Whether you're drawn to the stunning wooden villa of the Deluxe Edition or the foldable flatboard of the travel-ready Detective Edition, Dunkelstein was built for shared moments. For 1–4 players*, it’s perfect for cozy game nights, family gatherings, or even a unique date.
- Tabletop gamers will savor the strategy and surprises.
- Miniature lovers will enjoy the tactile joy of props and the animated, living world.
- Escape room fans will dive into the unfolding mystery.
- Tech-savvy gamers will marvel at how AR transforms their space.
- Families and couples will connect through collaboration.
Whoever you are—player, storyteller, explorer—Dunkelstein invites you to the table. Choose your edition. Choose your path. And together, step into the mystery.
*Note: The game has been developed with at least two players in mind - however, it is possible to go solo! When starting the game, select "Single Player" in the menu. Some riddles and interactions are dynamically adjusted by the app, to make solving the game alone feasible.
What's in the Box?
🏰 The Deluxe Experience
Step into Dunkelstein with both feet—this tactile edition transforms your table into an immersive crime scene.
The assembled Deluxe Villa.
Physical Game Props
Both the Deluxe Experience and the Detective Starter Kit contain the card deck and real game props (which we do not spoil here!). As you play you draw cards relevant to your playthrough, tracked by the AR system. The cards will provide important clues and evidence as you investigate this mystery.
EDIT: The minis have been completely overhauled and upgraded in an extra pass to be even more iconic:
Note: The Collector's Edition contains everything - all digital and physical content. There is no need to add any add-ons to it.
🎬 Fan Preview Add-on (Fully Digital)
Get exclusive early access to the Dunkelstein demo – a 15-minute playable prologue (no physical components required) that sets the stage before the villa erupts in fire and mystery.
All you need is the app to dive right in.
With the Fan Preview, you'll also:
🔓 Unlock at least 4 Vertical Slices – short story candidates (5–10 minutes each)
🗳️ Cast your vote to help decide which one becomes our next full release
🕵️ Be among the first to step into the world of Dunkelstein – and help shape its future
Check the Future Games section for more information on the next story candidates.
How to Play
The Story
Live the Story, Shape the Ending.
Dive into an immersive narrative where suspense, mystery, and drama intertwine. With alternative endings and compelling characters brought to life through the performances of real actors, every playthrough offers fresh surprises and twists that will keep you captivated.
Dunkelstein masterfully blends escape room elements with innovative storytelling and offers a thrilling, immersive experience. The game is set in 1914 on an estate in Brandenburg, Germany, where a fire breaks out during a wedding anniversary celebration, plunging the guests into chaos. As Helene, a sharp-witted detective accused of murder, you’ll race against the clock to uncover the real culprit. Secrets, intrigue, and unexpected twists unfold as you solve intricate puzzles, like decoding a padlock to open a door. Every clue pulls you deeper into a web of intrigue. Can you piece together the puzzle and unravel the mystery of Dunkelstein before time runs out?
Tailored for two players, Dunkelstein is perfect for date nights or a collaborative gaming session. The shared tasks and challenges create a unique, interactive experience that deepens connection and engagement.
Unravel The Mystery Alongside These Unforgettable Figures
Each character brings depth and intrigue, helping you uncover the secrets hidden within the villa.
Future Games & Story Expansions
One Villa. Endless Stories.
Dunkelstein is not just a one-time game — it’s a platform.
Our lovingly crafted wooden villa is generic enough to support a wide variety of storylines, as long as they are set in or around a mysterious estate. Thanks to our fully virtual interiors, each experience can be completely reimagined — visually, tonally, and interactively — without changing a single physical piece.
That means: You invest once. But play again and again.
More mysteries. More genres. More unforgettable evenings.
Vertical Slices
We're already working on the next lineup of standalone stories (so-called vertical slices) — each about 5–10 minutes long in their early versions, and shaped by your feedback and votes. If you get the Fan Preview Reward / Add-on, you will be able to playtest these in December 2025, and cast your vote.
Here’s a sneak peek at what might be next:
👻 Villa of Whispers
A haunting supernatural detective story. A police officer is sent to a long-abandoned villa after reports of strange phenomena. But what begins as routine soon turns chilling. Interact with spectral clues and uncover the truth behind the haunting.
Is it all in your head? Or something worse?
For fans of: Ghostbusters, The Haunting of Hill House, Oxenfree
Recommended 16+
Checkout some game footage from a Samsung phone:
👨👧 A Parent–Child Bonding Tale
A whimsical AR adventure for grown-ups and kids. A light-hearted mystery with stylized, toony characters and vibrant colors. Designed specifically for a duo of adult + child (ages 5–8), this game blends clever riddles, basic logic puzzles, and charming storytelling.
Think: Hansel and Gretel meets smart home tech.
For fans of: Snipperclips, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, or classic fairy tales with a twist.
🧟♂️ Zombie Escape: The Final Night
A gritty survival thriller for adults only. You're trapped in an abandoned villa on the edge of a ruined town. Supplies are scarce. The undead roam outside. Your group must prepare an escape plan — quietly — before dawn breaks and the horde descends.
Atmospheric. Strategic. Brutal.
For fans of: The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, Project Zomboid
Only for players aged 18+
🎖️ Resistance: 1942
An escape thriller set in nazi-occupied France. Inside a Nazi command post in rural France, a captured resistance fighter is being interrogated. But not all is as it seems. As players, you unravel his secret plans and help him stage a daring escape.
Historical fiction meets immersive tension.
For fans of: Inglourious Basterds, Commandos game series
Recommended 16+
🤠 Deadwood Secrets
A Western shootout with a dark mystery
It begins with a gunfight in front of the city hall — but quickly unfolds into a deeper conspiracy rooted in an old villa just outside town. Expect saloons, secrets, and showdowns.
For fans of: Red Dead Redemption, Westworld, and true grit storytelling.
Tech that Brings Mystery to Life
At Dunkelstein, technology isn’t a gimmick—it’s the invisible hand behind the magic. Dunkelstein seamlessly blends the physical and digital worlds, creating a groundbreaking gaming experience. Every haunting whisper, every flickering candlelight, every shadow cast in the grand halls of the villa is carefully choreographed across two powerful layers:
🔹 The Physical Layer
This is what you touch. The handcrafted 3D wooden villa. The game cards you draw. The real-world props you uncover. Everything is built to last—cut with industrial-grade laser cutters and 3D printed for durability and detail. We treat physical game design like architecture: every groove, every hinge, every piece made with purpose.
🔹 The Digital Layer
This is what you see—through your screen. Augmented reality overlays a digital world onto your table. Characters come alive. Clues glow faintly in the dark. Doors creak open in real time. It’s like placing a digital jacket over physical reality—fitted precisely to your table setup using real-world tracking.
By focusing on handheld AR, Dunkelstein ensures that cutting-edge immersion meets ultimate accessibility. All you need is your phone or tablet. No calibration. Just download the app and let your smartphone or tablet reveal the unseen.
And for those wondering about the future? We’re already working on ways to integrate next-generation AR headsets, promising even more freedom and interaction down the road (see strech goal "Mixed Reality Madness").
Built in Unreal. Fueled by Imagination.
And behind every character is not just animation—but human performance.
We capture real human actors using advanced motion capture and facial tracking systems, so the digital cast moves and emotes with astonishing believability. When a suspect looks at you with suspicion or sorrow, it’s not just pixels—it’s performance.
Stretch Goals
Meet the Team Behind Dunkelstein
Our team combines over a decade of expertise in software engineering, 3D technical art, animation, and motion capture, with more than 30 years of mechanical design and production experience.
We bring a unique creative edge with university-level training in theatrical and film acting, 8 years of voice direction for projects including Netflix, and 7 years of operating a professional sound and music studio. With 20 years of directing experience in film and theater and 30 years of artistry and cinematography expertise, our diverse backgrounds come together to deliver a deeply immersive and expertly crafted gaming experience. Our three escape rooms have welcomed more than 150,000 players, teaching us a lot about player experience!
We have recorded every take with real actors capturing their body and facial performances to provide a realistic feeling of presence.
- Zoltan Ferenczi | PhD, Director Make a Break, XR Developer at XRperiences, Researcher in academia, Software Engineering, Game Producer, XR Technical Art
- Peter Luxner | Mechanical Engineer at Luxner Machines GmbH, producer of the physical kit
- Lukas Lehmann | Marketing, Sound and Voice Acting Design, Rock musician
- Istvan Ferenczi | PhD, Parametric 3D model generation, motion capture cleaning
- Armando Clavijo | 3D Character Props and Clothing Designer
- Felici Elena | Technical Artist and Environment Designer
- Valentina Pantaleoni | Technical Artist and Environment Designer
- Anton Dudda & Silvan Rechsteiner | Authors of Dunkelstein story
- Ludwig Karsch | Sound Engineer, Voice Cutter and Editor
ACTING, ACTING DIRECTOR & FILMING:
- Barbara Meerkötter | Voice Acting Director | German
- Laura Talenti | Acting as Helene Greidenbach | German
- Constantin von der Decken | Acting as Baron of Rudolph von Dunkelstein | German
- Nina Stehlin | Acting as Baroness of Dunkelstein | German
- Lena Brücker | Acting as Mathilda, the Kitchen Wench and Ms. Tuhold | German
- Paul Kutzner | Acting as Policeman and Firefigther, voice acting Narration | German
- Alois Mai | Acting as Officer Proporz | German
- Alexej Tchernyi | Cameraman, sculptor, painter and diorama artist | German
GAME DESIGN APPRENTICES, GAME MASTERS:
Anna-Maria Spenke, Jennifer Hoge, Birte Hartmann, Michelle Kulaev
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