Sleuth Kings – Case 014: The Great Escape (Review)

Location: Your Home!

Players:  We recommend 1-4

Price: $29.95 per box

Escape Rooms and Subscription Boxes collide!

Theme:

Erin Fyre has been expecting a life saving kidney transplant for a while now, and the day has finally come for her surgery! Unfortunately, when the donor organ arrives, it’s missing, and a note from a familiar foe of Sullivan’s is tucked inside, taunting the detective and demanding he play a demented game in order to retrieve the kidney, or die trying.

First Impressions:

For full disclosure, I was extremely excited about this case due to the use of my suggestion to use the theme of an escape room as the backdrop! I was thrilled to hear that Sullivan would be taking on an old adversary in Dictator Sin from Case 001, and love that the Sleuth Kings universe continues to expand upon past criminals and cases. Also, this was the last box my fiancée and I completed at my old townhome before moving, so it was a little bittersweet as well. (Which is also why this review was delayed for a week, apologies for that!)

Well that fellow looks familiar…

High Points:

Honestly, I think Sullivan should go ahead and repurpose Sleuth Escape into an actual escape room. I didn’t realize that I want a live action Sleuth Kings until this case started to get me thinking about it! The storyline is a lot of fun, especially for myself, a huge escape room enthusiast, and helping lead Sullivan through the escape trap set up for him is a fun time. The inclusion of Sullivan’s “good friend” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) Celeste St. Clair continues to be a welcome addition, and helps to characterize Sullivan as more than an island unto himself while on these cases. I think it would be interesting to hear more from Celeste during cases, but her help with hints is still such a wonderful addition.

Some interesting props accompany this case, and a certain puzzle that I’m not a huge fan of myself, is appropriated in a clever way that provided a very satisfying ah ha moment once we had it solved! The game flow is excellent, and there are a few side puzzles that you can solve afterwards that provide a funny easter egg or two. There are a good range of puzzles, allowing for different solving styles to shine, and making this a great group box as you’ll need a range of puzzling specialists to conquer this one! I especially enjoyed the perspective puzzle, as it added an immensely satisfying moment of revelation where everything clicked into place for me, and the below card featuring the world’s most sympathetic duck was a blast to look at from every angle.

What a sweet card!

Low Points:

A puzzle that is included during the start and finish of this box can get a little vague with direction, with small clues that narrow down how to interact with the main prop, however, it was a little frustrating as a first puzzle since we got stonewalled with it after missing what we later understood to be a movement hint. It was highly satisfying, but stalled our momentum initially. The escape room theme is a lot of fun, but there wasn’t as much to Sullivan’s escape as I’d have hoped, as we didn’t get a whole lot of insight as to what the room itself looked like. It’s a small quibble, though, as the experience as a whole is great fun!

Verdict:

Sleuth Kings continues it’s standard of excellence with this box, further proving that you can’t go wrong with a subscription! This was also our 12th solved case, so another delve into Sullivan’s personal investigation into his father’s disappearance is on the way! I absolutely still recommend subscribing to what I believe to be the greatest value in the subscription box market, and you can use the promo code ESCAPEADVENTURE to get $5 off your subscription here! You can also read the rest of our Sleuth Kings reviews here!

9/10 (Excellent)

Full Disclosure: Sleuth Kings provided a complementary box.