At Home Games I’ve Loved Before Part II – Recommendations for Sheltering in Place

April 9, 2020April 9, 2020 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ Leave a comment

Hi All!

I’m continuing this short series of at home recommendations, this week looking into some of my favorite retail at home escape games. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wear on, we’re definitely missing getting out for escape room marathons, (and getting out in general,) but these are some great substitutes until we can get back in the swing of things!

At Home Escape Games:

There are some really great at home games available from your friendly local games store that simulate the experience of an escape room pretty well. Here are a few of our favorites!

Thames and Kosmos:

Adventure Games: Monochrome Inc. – We haven’t gotten our full review of the new Adventure Games line from Thames and Kosmos, the masterminds behind the wonderfully creative Exit: the Game series, but if you’re looking for a heavily story based game based on the point and click adventure games that saw their golden age in the 90s, this is the game for you! Full of great surprises and fun inventory based puzzling, this one is a blast! The run time is also fairly long, taking us a good four hours or so to finish completely.

Exit: The Game: The Sinister Mansion – I love spooky, and I love Exit: The Game. These escape games in a box are always deviously clever, with so many creative and varied puzzles, and The Sinister Mansion is definitely one of my favorites, as it is part of a longer, ongoing meta story. Luckily, you can start anywhere with these, and the out of the box interactions are sure the keep players on their toes!

Exit: The Game: Dead Man on the Orient Express – This is currently Exit’s game to beat. A perfect mix of storytelling, mystery solving, and well integrated puzzles, this game evolves the standard formula of Exit and takes it to new heights! I’d caution against playing this one first, however, as it’s a doozy, even for established puzzlers, but if you like Exit’s other offerings, you’ll adore this one.

You can read all of our Exit: The Game reviews here!

Unlock!:

Unlock! The Adventures of Oz – Another game we never quite got around to reviewing due to a massive backlog in 2018, The Adventures of Oz is an amazingly fun, yet enormously challenging Unlock escape! One of the most compelling games Space Cowboys has put out to date, it innovated the basic formula in non-frustrating ways, and brings the world of Oz to life in a way that will give any puzzle enthusiast a run for their money!

Unlock! The Tonipal’s Treasure – My favorite of the bunch, because pirates, but also because great puzzles! The Tonipal’s Treasure is a challenging Unlock! game that delivers some awesome twists and beautifully constructed puzzle threads. The final meta puzzle was a delight, and there was even a secret bonus game tied to this adventure! Though the ultimate prize has long since been claimed, it is still playable online.

Unlock! A Noside Story – Doctor Noside is a fantastic cartoon villain, and his exploits over the course of Squeak and Sausage and A Noside Story are fun to foil. Easily some of the best at home escape romps, the cartoon logic is fun to wrap your head around, and the challenge is set to a manageable level, ensuring this one is fun for the whole family!

Our archive of Unlock! reviews are here!

Miscellaneous:

Escape Room in a Box: The Werewolf Experiment – The Werewolf Experiment is a great intro to at home escape games for newbies, and though it was really cute and fun to puzzle through for us, escape enthusiasts may find it a bit too easy for their liking. However, we had a great time, and absolutely think families and new players will love it!

Exit: The Game – The Haunted Roller Coaster (Review)

January 8, 2020January 8, 2020 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ Leave a comment

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-2

Price: $24.99

How is it working at the Haunted Roller Coaster?

It has it’s ups and downs. I’ll see myself out.

Theme:

From the Thames and Kosmos website:

Dark corridors, terrifying shrieks, bone-chilling monsters — sounds like a lot of fun, right? At least that’s what you thought when you decided to take a ride on the haunted roller coaster at the amusement park. But suddenly you are stuck in a really freaky place. The ride’s gates are locked tight in front of and behind you. You stumble upon a strange riddle. Can you summon up all your courage to solve the riddles and escape the haunted roller coaster?

First Impressions:

The newest Exit game’s box art really called to me, with it’s spooky yet colorful cover and promise of supernatural haunts. Even though it promised to be an easier game, (2 out of 5 on their difficulty scale, which is generally less arbitrary than most,) I was excited to give it a shot, as sometimes the easier games can still be enormously clever. At the least, I was looking forward to a creepy time escaping from things that go bump in the amusement park!

High Points:

While a linear experience, The Haunted Roller Coaster still presents a fun challenge that can handle more than a solo player. As a couple, neither of us felt as though there was nothing for us to do, and each step of the puzzling process was engaging. The vast majority of the box, in fact, felt incredibly clever, with some amazing and tactile puzzles and interactions peppered throughout. This box might be one of the most densely packed Exit games, prop wise, and I absolutely loved every new surprise that the experience threw at us. Even after twelve other Exit games, this one was able to use parts of the game you generally wouldn’t expect in new and creative ways, keeping even veterans of the series like us on our toes. Two items in particular were amazingly well hidden, and eluded my nosy poking around that I usually do before we begin. (Pro tip: Never start our escape room briefing within the room. I am notorious bad at not immediately looking for clues and have to be reined in by one particular teammate. If he’s not there, all bets are off. I have a problem.)

The game itself gives off a playfully spooky vibe, and while still full of the supernatural fun we expected, never veers into anything too creepy, keeping the mood light and entertaining for the whole family. Some of our favorite puzzles were incredibly inventive, and used their props to the fullest and providing some fantastic moments of revelation that kept us happily puzzling at a good clip, but was never too simple as to allow us to blow right through. The game flow was excellent, and coupled with a smooth difficulty curve to provide an experience that never fell prey to choke points or obtuse frustration. There were also some great easter eggs for veteran players, calling back to other boxes in unobtrusive ways, which is always fun to see.

Low Points:

There was one puzzle that involved a small bit of outside knowledge, and while we think that it will generally be a non-issue, there could be some players that are tripped up by it, depending. The story starts and ends with the opening for the most part, and it is never really clear as to the whys. For instance, why were we trapped in the haunted roller coaster? It seems there was some sort of plan, but it is never explained. Why are we escaping and what are the consequences of escaping or not? Also, no details are given through puzzle solving, and the ending, while cute, doesn’t quite satisfy, as everything remains mysterious.

Verdict:

In all, The Haunted Roller Coaster is definitely one of Exit: The Game’s best experiences. While one of the easier games, and therefore a great one for new players to start with, there is enough creativity within the puzzles that veteran solvers will certainly remain entertained. I absolutely recommend giving it a shot, and look forward to seeing what Thames and Kosmos comes out with next!

9/10 (Excellent)

Exit: The Game – The House of Riddles (Review)

October 9, 2019October 4, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ Leave a comment

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-2

Price: $24.99

An enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a house!

Theme:

From the Thames and Kosmos website:

You and your fellow detectives are summoned to an abandoned house. Never wanting to turn down an unsolved mystery, you arrive at the house. Suddenly, you hear screams and see that the entrance has shut behind you. What’s happening here? Will you be able to crack the case and find your way out of the house?

First Impressions:

Though we weren’t overly impressed with The Catacombs of Horror, I was interested to see how one of the standard new releases would play. This one hadn’t quite released in the US yet, but for my birthday, my lovely wife procured a British copy for me, and we soon got cracking!

High Points:

The House of Riddles plays out very straightforwardly, leading most of the puzzles within to be highly intuitive, and allowing for connections to be made through the game flow. The props were highly tactile, and most of the game presented us with conundrums that we would work through using physical pieces of the puzzles. The illustrations throughout the adventure are colorful and inviting, and use this to the game’s advantage by drawing the eye to excellently integrated clues. Perspective is played with in clever ways, and many points of the game present some excellently satisfying solves.

The House of Riddles is one of the easiest Exit: The Game entries, and is therefore a great game for families or new players. The linear nature of the game allows for players to be walked through the experience a little easier, and while there are still tricks to certain puzzles, encouraging players to think outside the box, there is no real need for previous experience with this sort of puzzling experience. Some of the more challenging Exit games definitely require at least passing familiarity with franchise tropes, but luckily this is a great first step for beginners.

Lots of fun props and a little ball to keep away from the cats!

Low Points:

The House of Riddles is from what I’ve read, one of the first if not the first Exit game released in Germany. If that’s true, it does show in practice, as the game is rather basic on the whole. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but folks who’ve had a bit of experience with previous Exit games will find this particular game very easy. New players might not mind this as much, as this makes the game more approachable, but overall, this game isn’t quite as excellently fine tuned or challenging as others in the series. The story is overall pretty strange, being a fairly loose excuse for the player to be stuck in a giant escape room house. The climax is mostly random as well, and there isn’t much in the way of stakes. The most difficult puzzle is only difficult due to an erroneous clue that serves as a rather large red herring, throwing us off due to the placement of an illustration. We had the right idea, but the clues specifically led us off track. The game is also vastly linear, ensuring some puzzles that require solo work to become major choke points. Especially if your teammate is very precise with their cuts. So very precise.

Verdict:

The House of Riddles, despite being the earliest Exit game, is good fun. Experienced players will blow through it fairly quickly, so veteran players might want to skip it, however, new players will get a great introduction to the series via this game. I personally recommend giving it a shot if you want to scratch the home escape game itch, but your mileage may vary. Overall, I think hardcore enthusiasts will find it an overall fair to middling experience, but new players will love it. We enjoyed our time with the game, but I personally think it was weaker in the challenge department. You can pick up a copy from your friendly local game store today. We recommend checking out The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC, check out their website here!

7/10 (Good)

Exit: The Game – The Catacombs of Horror (Review)

September 25, 2019September 25, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ 1 Comment

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-2

Price: $24.99

Nothing good happens underground.

Theme:

From the Thames and Kosmos website:

Gloomy crypts lie under the city of Paris. The catacombs swallow city light, riddles, and, apparently, also people. After the mysterious disappearance of a friend in the catacombs, you and your team embark on a search party, making your way through the puzzling underground labyrinth. Will you be able to find your friend in time and escape this cavernous world of darkness? This double-sized EXIT game is presented in two separate parts.

First Impressions:

It has been well documented that Exit: The Game is one of my favorite tabletop escape room experiences, and for good reason. Most all of their games have been high quality, with twists and turns you don’t quite get from other games available via retail. When I heard the newest box would be a two part adventure, I was instantly excited to see what the designers would do with this new, expanded format! Once we obtained it, we quickly got to puzzling.

A double size box for a double size adventure!

High Points:

The Catacombs of Horror has easily some of the most tactile and engaging props yet. Several puzzles require players to manipulate the items in fascinating ways in order to create some really ingenious reveals. The initial sections of both halves of the game do a great job of easing players into the game before ramping things up with intuitive and challenging, but not overly difficult puzzles. Some of my favorite puzzles within this box were incredibly intuitive, encouraging players to read between the lines and pay close attention to their in game surroundings in order to pick up on key clues, resulting in some excellent moments of revelation as all the disparate parts fall nicely into place. The two part experience delivers bonus items during the second half that ensure the adventure remains stuffed with original interactions, and several of our favorite Exit: The Game tropes can be found within this box. Puzzles themselves trend towards multi-layered, challenging affairs, and when they’re implemented well, they’re astounding to behold, but sometimes the difficulty veers a bit too far into the realm of logical leaps and obtuse cluing. The theme is much darker for this outing, tying the Paris Catacombs to an ancient evil, and the stakes remain appropriately high from start to finish. Our team of two enthusiasts remained engaged with this adventure for a little over two hours, so you’re definitely getting your money’s worth, time-wise.

Even more evidence to process than usual!

Low Points:

As noted before, this is certainly Exit: The Game’s most difficult box, even more so than Dead Man on the Orient Express. However, the difficulty is derived far too often from logical leaps and the absence of intuitive clue threads. The connective tissue of several puzzles needs to be beefed up in order to make complete sense, and some of what should be the most climactic interactions in the game become mired in frustration due to deficient cluing. One particular riddle gives fewer clues the quicker you’ve solved so far, and this feels needlessly punitive, a blatant time sink in a series that has so far artfully avoided such puzzles. Another time sink forgoes cluing entirely in favor of a guess and check puzzle that also provides a choke point that will leave any players beyond one waiting around for the moment they can move on. While previous linear Exit games have proven skillful in implementing linearity to the benefit of weaving an excellent story, the linearity of The Catacombs of Horror tends to ignore the story, leaving only choke points and dead zones in the game flow that really kills the atmosphere of the adventure.

While the first half of the game tends to run a bit more smoothly, the second half tends to implement more complicated puzzles which, on its face, is a good idea. Ramping up the difficulty curve is standard. However, the design decisions made in order to present difficult puzzles for the sake of difficulty rather than challenge compounds here, and results in over complicated, red herring filled illogic. This is unfortunately most evident in the ultimate puzzle, which should be a climactic and exciting solve, yet falls flat in practice. In fact, we stumbled upon the solution in a way that is completely opposite to how it was intended to be completed, as integral information was just missing completely from the clues. The experience has two different endings, a good and bad one, and the ending you receive depends on how you solve this final puzzle. Luckily, we pulled the correct card, but I could definitely see a lot of frustration arising from being given only one shot at this puzzle, due to the flawed implementation of the cluing here.

Verdict:

The Catacombs of Horror evolves the Exit: the Game experience, but in other ways is a huge step back for the franchise. While there are many interesting mechanics and clever puzzles to be found, there are also a cavalcade of questionable design decisions and an uncharacteristically uneven game flow. While we ultimately had an alright time with this game, I can’t really fully recommend it, and new players should definitely not try this before any other Exit game. Exit enthusiasts are the definite market for this game, but I’d only recommend checking it out once you’ve finished the rest of the available games. You can pick up a copy from your friendly local game store today. We recommend checking out The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC, check out their website here!

5.5/10 (Mediocre)

Exit: The Game – Dead Man on the Orient Express (Review)

July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ 3 Comments

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-2

Price: $14.99

Night at the Museum

Theme:

From the Thames and Kosmos website:

A classic tale of murder on the Orient Express, reimagined. The culprit of a grisly crime is still on board your train. It’s a race against time to piece the clues together before the train reaches its destination. The case is perplexing, and you must solve it quickly so the assailant does not escape.

First Impressions:

Exit: The Game is such a great series of at home escape games, and years after diving into the many at home escape series that are available from your friendly local game store, it remains my favorite to crack open and play. It doesn’t hurt that this one is based off the work of my favorite mystery author, Agatha Christie! Of course, after Unlock’s ill-designed Scheherazade’s Last Tale, I made sure to keep my expectations tempered, just in case.

High Points:

There was no need to temper my expectations, as this game easily blew them out of the water! Taking heavy inspiration, but not ripping off, the Agatha Christie classic, Murder on the Orient Express, this game packs a lot of great nods to the source material in while remaining it’s own experience. Another thing this adventure is chock full of is clever puzzles and interactions. Though the usual ten are set up via the puzzle dial, there is an overarching meta puzzle that you’ll need to solve to truly catch the murderer, so a keen eye and attention to the many details placed within the game will be required in order to reach the best ending. This excellently added sleuthing portion really ratcheted up the fun and intensity of the experience, as well as the story. Although older Exit games tended to focus more on puzzles rather than storylines, these most recent entries have definitely stepped up the quality of the mysterious stories while ensuring the puzzle quality stays high!

The experience is fairly linear, but this is not a bad thing as it allows a small group to stay focused on the task and clues at hand, while gating the story fantastically. Clues that belong to the overall murder mystery as well as the individual puzzles will need to be identified and sorted out as you go, and everything is meted out more effectively in this linear manner. New rooms and items are presented excellently, ensuring that each new step deeper into the investigation remains integrated into its place in the story. Further, the move from just opening new journal pages to revealing all new rooms after most solves makes each successful interaction all the more satisfying. Every puzzle is wonderfully tactile, and Exit continues to find glorious ways to integrate interactions into the most unlikely places while still ensuring that each enigma is intuitive and well balanced. The difficulty of this game is higher than most Exit boxes, but it never felt unfair, ensuring that each and every solve provided some superb moments of revelation. The game also serves a wide range of puzzle types, which will engage and satisfy all members of the team, allowing everyone a moment to shine. The climactic puzzle is involved and very satisfying to solve, and depending on your answer, can lead to one of two different conclusions, offering a great finale to an amazing at home escape adventure!

Diamonds, Cryptic Wheels, and Prescient Help Cards that will help you bust the case wide open!

Low Points:

I have no real complaints. One puzzle can be easily circumvented with what I believe to be a completely valid work around, but it didn’t feel like a let down, and we solved the puzzle we were missing as well, so the experience wasn’t diminished.

Verdict:

Dead Man on the Orient Express is easily my favorite new mystery from Exit: The Game, and I certainly recommend giving it a shot! Only one caveat, however, as though this is absolutely the best entry into the Exit series, it’s definitely one of the most challenging as well, so I wouldn’t recommend starting out with it. Pick it up along with one of the easier entries so you can get a handle on how the games tend to work first, but absolutely get this one as well. Buy your copy from your friendly local game store today! We recommend checking out Atomic Empire in Durham, NC, check out their online store here!

10/10 (Phenomenal)