Month: June 2021

Mystery Mansion Regina – Sleepy Man (Review)

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Location: Your Home via the Magic of the Internet!

Players: 2+ (We recommend 4-5 players)

Price: $25 CAD per person (About $20.26 USD at the time of writing)

Time to Escape: 90 minutes

All good things…

Theme:

From the Mystery Mansion Regina website:

It’s time to face your fears and end the nightmare.
The finale to the Sleepy Man Trilogy is coming soon.

Basically, you know what’s coming, be ready. 😀

High Points:

We have absolutely loved every single minute we’ve spent with Mitch and the crew at Mystery Mansion Regina. They do a brilliant job in designing beautiful rooms and puzzles, and leading us through them as terrified/robotic/detective-y avatars! It is impossible not to have fun with Mystery Mansion Regina, and every time I see a new room of theirs go live, I am READY for it. Though I am more than sure that there will be many many more fantastic adventures to come from Mystery Mansion, Sleepy Man feels like the capstone of the crazy pandemic year plus we’ve had. One of our first remote games we ever played was Night Terrors, a game I absolutely love, which evolved into the Sleepy Man Trilogy, which is easily one of my top five remote experiences ever, and definitely up there in terms of escape rooms in general! I truly value the times we have been able to spend remotely with friends while the world was locked down, as well as some of the amazing people we wouldn’t have met otherwise, so thank you to Mitch and crew for allowing us to escape into these crazy worlds for a while, and being such an amazing host and avatar for our insane group.

That being said, let’s talk about Sleepy Man. Listen, if you are even remotely interested in escape rooms, and you aren’t a “No Horror” type of person, you owe it it yourself to play this trilogy. This story gave me vibes of some of my favorite horror experiences from across different media, channeling Silent Hill, early Resident Evil, and the Hell House, LLC trilogy to present an amazing escape experience unlike any other! Built solely for online play, Mystery Mansion allows players to do some crazy things they wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to do within an escape room. With Sleepy Man, the ante is raised, and we were consistently surprised throughout the game with how innovative this game was! It is truly a production, and it is so mind blowing to see how creative and original this game can be. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there are elements of Sleepy Man that I have never seen matched in any other online experience. The story is amazing, and wraps up the trilogy well, tying up all the various threads together splendidly. The initial stages of the game began with a wild start we were not expecting, and once we had solved this stage of the game, we were treated to a great opening scene that made brilliant use of the large space that Mystery Mansion has available. A familiar set we’d seen a few times previously made another return, but it had shifted and warped, becoming much less inviting, (if it ever was,) than before, rotting under the passage of time. From there, we moved into a really cool interaction that made great use of the virtual nature of the game. Going forward, every new moment was seamlessly tied to the next, and every interaction and cut-scene would top the last! Supremely creepy, the ambiance that is built within this game is flawless.

The puzzles themselves are astounding, and there are so many packed within the 90 minutes this room affords. There are no combo locks or word locks to be found here, just a frantic search for a way to stop the horror of the Sleepy Man from claiming yet another victim. Every interaction ties excellently into the game, with nothing out of place, and the game flows so beautifully; it is honestly plays like masterclass in game design. This is definitely a much more challenging game, but the clues and puzzles are very intuitive, with well hidden hints that lead players through the game without leaning to either extreme of hand holding or obtuseness. I have trouble picking a favorite puzzle or interaction, as there are several “stages” to the game that feel like separate video game levels, and each one has something amazing going on! The adventure includes different endings depending on decisions made within the rooms, and I love how two specific pressure points really amp up the game. We discovered the “True Ending” and found it to be supremely satisfying, capping off this trilogy perfectly.

Low Points:

There weren’t as many opportunities to make our long suffering GM do ridiculous things. We did get a few in though, and always appreciate the antics of #SexyMitch.

Verdict:

What has been created with Sleepy Man is easily Mystery Mansion’s best, most immersive experience, and it begs to be played! If you haven’t played Night Terrors or D’vile’s Curio Shop, you’re in luck, because you get to play all three back to back! Go, play it now, there is nothing more to be said but you are going to love this room, and if you don’t, you’re probably an inter-dimensional demon that haunts a guy named Alex. Book your fight against the Sleepy Man here! And the first 15 players to use the coupon code #SEXYMITCH will get 15% any online booking! This super sexy offer is limited, so act fast!

10/10 (Phenomenal)

Full Disclosure: Mystery Mansion Regina provided our team with a complementary game.

Game On Escapes & More – Blind Eye (Review)

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Location: Cary, NC

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 3-4)

Price: $30 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Theme:

From the Game On Escapes & More website:

You find yourselves outside your neighbor’s apartment after hearing and noticing unusual behavior next door. It has been made apparent to you that all is not what it seems and there is likely a crime being committed here. He may be holding someone against their will. You’d like to involve the authorities, but first you decide the best course of action is to gain something tangible from his place to have probable cause for the authorities to search.

High Points:

We were asked to beta test Game On’s newest room, Blind Eye, and we were excited to get back to escaping! One of our first full trips out, we were excited to return to one of our favorite businesses in the area for a brand new room. The set itself was not quite as detailed as previous adventures, but as this room took place within a schlubby old guy’s apartment, it didn’t need to be as ornate in order to evoke the feel that the designers were going for. The theme was also conveyed well through story bits delivered as we solved, and though it was a darker theme, it didn’t cross any lines and become too dark. What we were there for, however, were the puzzles! There was a great mix of tech and lock based puzzling within Blind Eye, and it was spread out in a mostly non-linear fashion, separated into levels. This allowed our group of four ample opportunity to divide and conquer, and ensured that we were all engaged from start to finish! Each stage of the game drip fed clues that built upon each other until we finally reached the ah ha moment we were seeking. The difficulty curve here was also very smooth. Most of the early game puzzles did a great job delivering easy wins and the further we delved into the dingy old apartment, the more challenging the game became. One puzzle in particular was really fantastic, inviting us to think outside the room itself in order to find the answer! The game flowed really well, and we were never stuck due to a flaw in the design. Blind Eye also included an interesting easter egg for perceptive players, (that of course, we did not initially notice due to the fact that we are certainly not perceptive players.) It is really cool to see the level of attention to detail that has been given to this room, even though it is meant to be temporary, and I love that it still has that Game On polish we’ve adored in their other rooms!

Low Points:

There were a few extra bits and pieces that weren’t used in puzzles, which sort of cluttered up a specific area. I believe these were from excised puzzles, if I remember correctly, and it wasn’t too much of a distraction. One puzzle in particular displayed it’s information too quickly for us to process, making it more difficult that it was intended to be. Finally, there were a lot of color based puzzles during our play through, which could be a problem for color blind players and for keeping connections between puzzles clear. However, we spoke to the owner regarding these issues, as we were invited to beta test, and we’ve been assured all these have been adjusted. The only other thing I’d mention is the set is not quite as awesome as Game On’s other rooms. It’s still serviceable, especially since this is meant to be a temporary room, and doesn’t detract from the experience.

Verdict:

Blind Eye is a great new room at Game On Escapes & More, and even though it is a temporary room, the designers haven’t skimped on the puzzling! We had a fantastic time in the beta test, and are glad to hear that the small issues we found have been addressed. This spot can always be trusted to deliver a fantastic experience, and I cannot recommend them enough! Book your time in Blind Eye here!

8.5/10 (Great)

Full Disclosure: Game on Escapes & More provided media discounted tickets for our team.

The Deadbolt Mystery Society – Scavenger (Review)

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Location: Your Home!

Players:  We recommend 1-4

Price: $24.99 per box, plus $4.99 shipping

Theme:

From The Deadbolt Mystery Society website:

When Ernest Whitlock, the head of the Valley Falls Historical Society, is found dead from a gunshot wound inside City Hall, the first thing investigators do is check the security cameras. It’s quickly determined that someone took the cameras off-line for the night. This leaves a series of unanswered questions about how Whitlock gained access to the locked building after hours and what he might have been doing there. Those questions are soon answered by a printed invitation found in his jacket pocket. The invitation is from Walter Cline, the founder of a group called the Enigmatic Assembly. The secretive group’s mission statement is to “Shine a light on the unlit corners of the world to uncover secret truths,” and their purpose is to seek out cryptic knowledge that has been lost to history. The letter Whitlock received provides a host of details about an extreme scavenger hunt that will lead six participants to the strangest and most remote corners of Valley Falls and task them with finding the location of a life-changing fortune. Based on this information, the most likely suspects in Whitlock’s death are the five other players listed in the letter. Take up the task that Ernest Whitlock started, play the game the Enigmatic Assembly has set into motion, and be prepared to go into the deepest, darkest places in Valley Falls to find Whitlock’s killer. The Hunt is on!

High Points:

We’ve really enjoyed Deadbolt’s themes lately. They’ve definitely evolved from the standard murder mystery, branching out to different crimes and more elaborate, original styles of murder. They’ve created the murder capital of the world in Valley Falls, but manage to keep things fresh even several years on! Scavenger’s murder mystery slash treasure hunt mash up takes two well worn themes of puzzling boxes, and creates an innovative game that kept us fully entertained throughout! And for a good while as well. Although our average solving time for Deadbolt boxes tends to run about 90 minutes, this one took us a good 2 hours to complete, as the game itself was so incredibly packed with puzzles to solve! There is a fantastic difficulty curve as well, with the initial stages allowing us some easy wins in order to get warmed up, which transformed into a much more difficult challenge as we progressed! The difficulty was never arduous, however, as almost every puzzle was intuitive, and the cluing was fantastically woven into the box. I appreciated how all the puzzles felt original, including a nod to a basic cipher that doesn’t become tedious or force players into a long winded solve. In fact, almost every puzzle can be tackled with teamwork, ensuring that nothing is a solo solve. Scavenger weaves linearity with more open solving well, presenting puzzles in stages, but ensuring there is usually a few different things to explore and solve at any given time. This design does an excellent job of gatekeeping to ensure that players aren’t confused with too much information, while preventing them from feeling as though they are being railroaded through a narrow story. Sometimes open endedness can harm the narrative of a box, but this is not the case with Scavenger, and, as always, The Deadbolt Mystery Society does a brilliant job of characterization and world building to bring an immersive feel to their mysteries. I really loved that we weren’t just chasing the clues left behind by the killer, but following a treasure hunt at the center of the case, it allowed for the game to go places the killer might not have otherwise, sending us on an intense hunt to save the others on the trail of the treasure!

Low Points:

There was only one puzzle in particular that felt like it needed a little more cluing. It was an early one that evoked some musical theming, and though we eventually solved it, it definitely felt as though we were doing a lot of guess an check rather than following the hints provided.

Verdict:

Scavenger is yet another brilliant entry into the case files of the Will Street Detective Agency! Deadbolt has been mixing it up, theme-wise, a lot lately, and what they’ve come up with is pure gold! Watching the evolution of this series has been amazing, and as always, I cannot wait to see how they wow us next! I 100% recommend Scavenger to players new and old, as there is certainly something for everyone in this box. Join the Deadbolt Mystery Society here! Right now, you can get 30% off your first box with the Promo Code ESCAPE30! You can also see the rest of our Deadbolt Mystery Society reviews here!

9/10 (Excellent)

Full Disclosure: The Deadbolt Mystery Society provided a complementary box.

District 3 Escape Rooms – Something Brewing (Review)

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Location: Your Home via the Magic of the Internet!

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 3-5 players)

Price: $22 CAD per person (About $18.07 USD at the time of writing)

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

A perfect place for coffee and dastardly plots!

Theme:

From the District 3 Escape Rooms website:

You and your friends head to a coffeehouse before the celebration. You soon find out that something is brewing, and your evening takes a turn for the worse. What crucial decisions will your team need to make, and what major outcome will that lead to?

High Points:

Something Brewing is a fast paced, puzzle packed experience, and we had an absolutely brilliant time playing through it! Not to spoil anything, but the room is replayable, with different endings depending on a particular choice that takes place about midway through the room. This choice impacts the room greatly, not only changing the ending of the room, but determining what puzzling path you’ll travel down! We have only seen a mechanic like this maybe one or two other times during our almost 400 room career, and it is implemented beautifully here! The paths for both sides are extremely well done, and signposted in a way that prevents locks or clues from the other path from getting in the way. I absolutely recommend doing both paths, as the direction that I generally wouldn’t pick first contains some of my favorite puzzles! I really loved how things were updated to keep play fresh during our subsequent play through, and we felt we got a full experience both times. The shift in the room once you discover the true purpose of this coffee shop is fantastic, and I loved how wacky the story line got. Several of the puzzles would have required us to be in room or to direct our avatar through a tedious amount of placing, but luckily, District 3 has done an amazing job of porting these puzzles over to Telescape, allowing us to work on them at our own pace, and reducing any confusion that may be resulted from trying to get our avatar to complete some of the more complicated tasks. The puzzles overall are very intuitive, and eagle eyed players will be rewarded with some fantastic ah ha moments, as there are many clues hidden in plain sight that only become obvious once a key piece of the puzzle is found. Overall, I thought this room was brilliant, with many wonderfully hidden surprises and sinister plots!

Low Points:

We played through a particular puzzle a couple times on separate weeks due to Something Brewing’s two-path nature. This particular one was really tedious and directionless the first go round, but made much more sense the second time, partially because we were familiar with it, but also because our GM included a bit that wasn’t present the first time we played, so this one hinges greatly on if your avatar remembers to use this particular opening. This room translates fine to remote play, but I feel like it’d be so much better in person! The remote version just leaves a little something missing due to how incredibly interactive and tactile portions of it is.

Verdict:

District 3 has some fantastic games, but Something Brewing really takes the cake for replayability and originality! The extra puzzles, choose your own adventure style story, and convincing set really make this one a must do! I highly recommend this one remote or in person! Book your time in the coffee shop here!

9/10 (Excellent)

Full Disclosure: District 3 Escape Rooms provided our team with a complementary game.

Gruzzle – The Garden (Review)

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Location: Your Home!

Players:  We recommend 1-4

Price: $30.00 month to month, $87.00 for 6 months, $172 for a year’s subscription

A new type of garden party!

Theme:

From the Gruzzle website:

Renowned environmentalist, Dr. Billy Onair, has unearthed some seeds from what was thought to be an extinct plant – the oatblossom bush. He has decided to award these precious seeds to the winner of a contest being held on his estate.

The Grasswell Society has entered the contest and wants Gruzzle to help them examine the hothouse, explore the maze, scrutinize the gazebo, and explore the conservatory.

Sign up with Gruzzle HQ to receive this puzzle in your mailbox. Don’t delay – otherwise this rare and valuable resource will be doomed to extinction!

High Points:

I really enjoy a good Gruzzle, and The Garden does an amazing job with presenting a puzzling challenge that begins with a few easy wins to get players warmed up, and gently ramps up the difficulty into more mind bending conundrums! I was impressed with how this box slowly transitioned from, “Huh, a bit easier this time, I might blow through this one,” to, “Phew, that one is solved, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it!” We usually clock in solves at an average of 90 minutes, and this box took a good 120+ minutes for us, so I can absolutely say that the box was filled to the brim with puzzles! The design of The Garden is up to the usual Gruzzle standard, with layered puzzles and extremely intuitive clues that give players just enough of a nudge to ensure they find their way intuitively, while still preserving the challenge. Honestly, this box is so brilliantly designed, I truly have difficulty determining which is my favorite puzzle, there’s just so many to choose from! The whole challenge is really intricate, and I love how Gruzzle always ensures that every prop they include within their boxes is well used. While the experience is mostly linear, stages of the game allow for multiple puzzles at times, and these tend to appear when there’s something really challenging to solve, which allowed us to pop back and forth between puzzles until we had everything solved. The story is fantastic, and I like how it is told in stages, and although there is a lot there, it never feels like the reading is too much or breaks the puzzling flow. While there is a fair amount of decoding, it is succinct, and doesn’t tread into tedium. There is also a certain item that can be ubiquitous in puzzling circles, but it is employed sparingly, and is always well clued when it appears. I also enjoyed a certain easter egg that involved this prop. Overall, The Garden is a masterful piece of puzzling that made for an excellent couple hours of solving!

the-garden.jpg

Low Points:

One puzzle we found to be a little bit much, visually. Though the initial stage of revealing the code is a lot of fun, the latter stage of decoding involves some pretty small symbols, and though the process isn’t overlong or arduous, the small symbols can really tickle the eyes, especially for players with dyslexia.

Verdict:

The Garden was an excellent new entry into the Gruzzle archives! The density of puzzles and the elaborate layering that we’ve come to know Gruzzle for is beautifully employed, and the Garden was a blast from start to finish. I highly recommend this one, as its bevy of puzzles, fantastic design, and smooth difficulty curve should be a great fit for players new and experienced alike! Take a trip to The Gardens here! You can use the promo code FIRSTTIME to get $5 off your subscription!

9/10 (Excellent)

Full Disclosure: Gruzzle provided a complementary box.