Category: Home Games Review

The Deadbolt Mystery Society – Last Resort (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:

A group of co-workers employed by a Valley Falls travel agency have been given an incredible opportunity. The Refuge at Emerald Island is an isolated and exclusive resort that, ironically, none of the travel agents have ever heard of. What makes this opportunity even more special is that they will be the last group to stay at the tropical resort. The week after their stay, the resort is scheduled to be demolished by its owner and rebuilt as an industrial hub. Once the group arrives, they are excited for sand, sun and relaxation. That quickly changes when a member of their team is found dead with a harpoon in the back. The person who committed the crime must be one of the travel agency guests or the resort staff. Trapped on an island with a bloodthirsty killer, the body count is certain to go up as the suspect list goes down. Will you figure out who the killer is before it’s too late?

High Points:

We really enjoyed Last Resort! It reminded me a lot of an updated version of Cabin, as the story is very well written, placing you directly into the situation rather than investigating an after the fact murder. If you like slasher films, this one definitely plays out similarly. One new thing that the designers at Deadbolt have implemented is the casting of players as a specific main character, rather than a detective with the Will Street Detective Agency. This opens up greater avenues of storytelling, and it shows brilliantly in this box. From the start, there is a sense of unease built by that continues to build, and as we are drip fed revelations that all may not be as it seems, (and it seems pretty dire already,) the mystery deepens until we reach the explosive climax! As a side note, this box can get really brutal at times, which we actually really enjoyed, as it gave a sense of urgency to the proceedings. Overall, I love how the box started off very light, and quickly became much darker! On the puzzle side of things, we liked how the game flow alternated between linear and non-linear, depending on how the story was gate-kept, and we never felt like there were any major blockages to the flow, ensuring that the experience remained smooth throughout. Puzzle density was great, as there were a ton of interactions to work through, and the variety included kept our team occupied and entertained from start to finish. The final line of puzzles does an excellent job of dropping us into a frantic end sequence that really drove home what was at stake! I felt as though all the puzzles were designed in a truly intuitive way, and that the clues allowed us to make connections without feeling as if our hands were being held. There is a lot to figure out at any one moment, but Deadbolt always does an amazing job ensuring that clues subtly point the way. All in all, the combination of great story, original puzzling, and slasher movie vibes definitely delivered one of my favorite puzzle experiences this year!

Low Points:

This box had a lot more math than usual, and I know the puzzle community either loves or hates math, with very little in between, so make sure to take that under advisement if you fall into the latter group. One puzzle in particular was a pretty large leap of logic for us, and could easily be interpreted in several different ways as is, so I feel like another small clue is needed to create a more direct puzzle. Finally, this was definitely one of the easier boxes, which isn’t so much a low point as a heads up for veteran solvers looking for a bigger challenge. I will say the story absolutely makes this one worth it, however.

Verdict:

Last Resort is definitely one of Deadbolt’s most innovative new boxes; remaining familiar while switching up the formula in an exciting new way! I highly recommend checking this one out as even though we found this adventure to be on the somewhat easier side, the story and experience was more than worth the price of admission. 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.

The Deadbolt Mystery Society – Blast From The Past (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:

The 80’s were a decade of big hair, MTV, video games, outrageous clothing, and fun. The Valley Falls High School “Class of ‘86” is having a Blast From the Past reunion to relive the glory days of their youth and see old friends that they’ve lost touch with over the years. The reunion is a roaring success until the principal is found strangled to death in his office. Only someone attending the reunion could have killed him. But who? And why? Take a nostalgic step back into the 80’s, find out who killed the principal of Valley Falls High School, and experience a Blast From the Past!

High Points:

Everyone loves the 80’s, right? Although I am only a child of the 80’s in the most perfunctory sense, having been born in the later months of 1989, I did greatly enjoy the music and media of the 80’s as a kid. Though a knowledge of 80’s pop culture helps to appreciate this box further, in no way is it required, though one puzzle will definitely be a breeze if you’re well versed! The box itself is super dense with puzzles and 80’s nostalgia, and does a really good job of integrating some of this nostalgia into the puzzles themselves. The puzzles are also varied to a degree that even with a larger group, (though we recommend no more than 4,) everyone will be able to work on something without any dead time. Deadbolt again does a brilliant job of breaking the game into separate stages, while still allowing for a bit of non-linear detective work. I really love how there are a fair amount of items to go through at any given time, but not so many that players are drowning in evidence. A small touch we really loved in Blast From The Past is that the interviews with suspects, which usually involves a large chunk of reading we generally go through at the beginning of a case, are a bit more spread out, and feel more integrated into the game flow. I think this is a great shift, and would love to see how these are spaced out in the future. One particular puzzle we really enjoyed was spread out throughout the course of the mystery, which began with a simple, but enjoyable logic puzzle, and evolved during the later stages of the game. The props that were provided to facilitate this interaction were great, and we loved the tactile nature as well. Speaking of props, they were all used well, and were excellently woven into the game leaving no room for extraneous objects or red herrings. While there is some decoding, it isn’t arduous or basic, with one particular puzzle using a beloved 80’s item to create a really cool code. Overall, we really loved the density of puzzles and the challenge provided by Blast From The Past, and it afforded us a fantastic 2 hours of play time!

Low Points:

One particular puzzle included an audio clue that emphasized a direction that we thought was part of the game, but in the end didn’t mean anything, leading to a bit of unintended confusion. The epilogue on this one gets a little cheesy with all the on the nose references to the 80’s, but overall ties things up well. Not really a low point, but this is one of the more challenging Deadbolt boxes we’ve played recently, so new players might want to get some Deadbolt experience under their belts, or at least be open to using a hint or two!

Verdict:

Blast From The Past is a tubular new entry into the Deadbolt Mystery Society archives, and delivers an 80’s adventure that shouldn’t be missed! While it ranks on the more challenging end of things for us, we highly recommend this mystery to players new and old. 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!

8.5/10 (Great)

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

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.

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.

The Deadbolt Mystery Society – Beneath the Surface (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:

A dog wanders up to the front steps of The Will Street Detective Agency. A note has been tucked into his collar. The note is written by a woman named Mary who has been kidnapped and is being held somewhere in town by a maniac who has already killed several other women. Mary has somehow managed to use the dog to carry her request for help, and now it is up to you to find her before it’s too late. Retrace the dog’s steps, use clues that the dog may have picked up unknowingly, and find the house where Mary is being kept. But beware! There is more to this case than meets the eye. See if you can find what lurks…Beneath the Surface!

High Points:

After a couple of fantastic deviations from the norm with The Watcher and The Inheritance, The Deadbolt Mystery Society returns to their favorite crime with Beneath the Surface! A killer is on the loose, and without us, Valley Falls doesn’t stand a chance… It’s good to be back! Deadbolt has really hit a stride recently that we’ve loved, coupling their old style, non-linear game play with their newer, envelope based approach that breaks the game into different stages. It has been working brilliantly for them lately, and this entry is no different in that regard! The story is fantastic, and develops as you go, allowing players to feel as though they are moving through the story in real time. This, along with some great twists and turns as new revelations are uncovered gives the game an exciting “on the clock” feel, as well as an awesome unpredictability. The whole chase for this serial killer has a beautifully creepy (without being scary,) vibe to it, and I absolutely loved the rogue’s gallery Deadbolt had in store for us this time! The puzzling itself is really original, with loads of interactions we aren’t used to seeing, which is always awesome to see from an established subscription. Even puzzle types that are a little more basic or ubiquitous to the genre are tweaked excellently to keep them interesting! Each stage of the game is non-linear, and presents a progressively more challenging slate of enigmas. The mystery starts off with a few easy wins to get players going, and ramps it up nicely as the search for Mary heats up! This is definitely one of the smoothest difficulty curves we’ve seen recently, and that, coupled with how perfectly packed with different puzzles this box is ensured that we were entertained for a good two hours!

Low Points:

One puzzle was used twice, which we weren’t used to with most puzzle subscriptions, but after a little backtracking, we were able to figure out what had been missed. Lately I have also heard from several veteran puzzlers that they aren’t fans of interactions that require cutting out, and if that’s you, this box might present some difficulty in that regard. For us, though, these were pretty small critiques for an otherwise amazing entry!

Verdict:

Beneath the Surface was brilliant! A challenging box for veteran solvers, yet still approachable enough that new players will be able to get the hang of things quickly, this entry marries a creepy, well written story with dense puzzling to create a mystery you’ll be dying to solve! I highly recommend this game, and as always, cannot recommend Deadbolt enough. 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.