Location: Your Home!

Players:  We recommend 1-4

Price: $30 per box

Ye gods!

Theme:

From The Conundrum Box website:

You have been tasked to retrieve a coveted relic from the Olmec Temple of the Sky Gods before the Great Explorers Society does. Following the notes of Archaeologist Callie Cornerstone, you venture into the heart of Mesoamerican culture to find the famed Amulet of the Sky Gods. Avoid traps and watch who you trust, because time is of the essence!

First Impressions:

Time to meet up with The Great Explorer’s Society again! This time around we would be working against this venerable club of adventurers, which promised to be a cool experience. Further, this box gave off a great “Tomb Raider” vibe, and I couldn’t wait to see what puzzles and traps were in store for us as we delved the depths of the eponymous temple!

High Points:

As I’m sure long term readers will be aware, The Conundrum Box does a great job telling stories, though at times, we’ve found those stories to be a bit… long-winded, shall we say. I still recommend using a screen reader for some segments, but Temple of the Sky Gods includes two versions of the story, a normal, longer version for those that don’t mind a good bit of reading to go with the game, and a shortened version, (hilariously and aptly called the “too long; didn’t read” version,) which I felt may have been partially tailored to us. This worked fantastically during our play through, and gave us just the right amount of story without becoming overlong, but not too little that we felt lost. The story is an interesting “other side” take on the Great Explorer’s Society, and it was fun to go on an adventure as a rogue treasure hunter rather than a “It belongs in a museum!” type this go round. The twists and turns the game takes along the way are unpredictable, keeping us on our toes the whole play time, as we were never quite able to guess what would happen next!

The game flow was excellent, weaving through a well structured puzzle path, and including some wonderful props to bolster the puzzle solving. I loved the tactile nature of several of the puzzles, including one that held quite a few more secrets than I was initially expecting! Many of the enigmas included provided some supremely satisfying moments of revelation, especially some of the devious challenges that awaited us near the end of our adventure. At no point did the game require leaps of logic or red herrings, and every step of the way felt intuitive. Though the gameplay is linear, there are either multiple steps or a couple puzzles to solve at every level, ensuring that all players will remain engaged. The box is also densely packed with loads of puzzling, as well as a few extra surprises, all of which are absolutely worth the price of admission. The Spotify tracklist included within the extras, as well as the recipes were a great addition, and one bonus recipe found within the box itself was delicious, and I highly recommend trying it out!

Low Points:

This box was great, though on the whole, it didn’t quite feel as involved as previous boxes, and the story, thus far, felt somewhat more disconnected from the other experiences. While this is to be expected for one offs, we’ve grown used to all the boxes weaving together, and perhaps the connections will become clear in future adventures. Though the puzzles weren’t quite as multilayered and intricate as other Conundrum Box games, we still enjoyed this somewhat more straightforward run of puzzles. While we did enjoy some of the wild roller coaster twists presented by the story, one of the final ones wasn’t quite explained in a satisfying way, leaving us to wonder exactly what it meant.

Verdict:

Temple of the Sky Gods is a beautifully constructed challenge, filled to the brim with exciting and satisfying puzzling, immersive extras, and an interesting story! I have loved seeing how The Conundrum Box has evolved with each new box, and can’t wait to see what they come up with next. It goes without saying, but I wholeheartedly recommend checking this one out. Subscribe to The Conundrum Box here! You can get $5 off your first box with our Promo Code ERA5OFF!

8.5/10 (Great)

Full Disclosure: The Conundrum Box provided a complementary review copy.