Stranger Story – Brain in a Cage

Online/Physical Escape Room

We’ve played so many escape games online since locked down but we were yet to play a virtual games. Basically, a physical escape game but played over Zoom with an avatar as your GM and physical body. We were invited to play Stranger Story by Brain in a Cage in Livorno, Italy. If we were honest, we had our reservations. How on earth does a physical game played virtually really work and, more importantly, will it live up to playing it live?

STORY

1984 – Indiana – Recently several strange fact happened in town, farmers have seen their whole harvest gone rot overnight and strange creatures has been heard howling from the woods.

It all started when the Hawkins National Laboratory, a government science laboratory outside the city, has confiscated few houses near the woods for not so clear reason. One of these houses is William’s home, of one of your best friend. William has recently been taken to the hospital since he was screaming and he was getting colder and colder. You’re pretty sure that this has something to do with the activity of the HNL, you reported this to the police, but without any evidence, they cannot do much.

You guys have decided to start an investigation on your own. While you’re all pretending to be playing Dungeons&Dragons together, you’ll be going to William’s house. Will’s mother is with him at the hospital and won’t be back before 1 hour.  You have to find what’s really going on with the HNL activity.

THE GAMEPLAY

Imagine you are in a real escape room, but the physical body is the GM/Avatar who shows you the game from their point of view through a phone or Go Pro. This is exactly how this game works. The GM/Avatar is basically your eyes and ears and will look at, move, try and find what it is you ask for. There is little suggestion of being led through the game unless, I’m guessing, you get stuck. We managed to play without the need for any clues and the game ran pretty smoothly.

Stranger Story, as you may have guessed, is based around the popular Netflix series, Stranger Things. The gameplay bring a series of different puzzles of which all fit perfectly into the theme. If you are a Stranger Things fan,you’ll appreciate the room far more than someone who hasn’t as the numbers of nods to the show is amazing. Very little of the game requires knowledge of the show though. There is one puzzle you will be able to solve quicker if you’ve seen the programme but it’s certainly not essential.

The room is very linear. Each puzzle very clearly leads from one point to the next. The only niggle is that there are a number of padlocks at the start and answers can be put into several. It’s a little trial and error to get the right one first time. There is a varied range of answers in the first part of the game but most come from padlocks of either a numerical or word kind. It’s not until the initial padlocks that the technology ramps up.

The use of technology in the room is superb. The owner is a former electrician and you can tell he has used his skills to bring electronics into the game. There are some great wow moments as you forget about padlocks and cause and effects comes into play as one piece of technology helps progress the game into the next. The game really gives you a sense of progress and lots of regular victories.

It isn’t the hardest game we’ve played by a long way but, to us, that didn’t matter. We always find that as long as the game is fun, the difficulty rating doesn’t matter. The good news is that we had a lot of fun playing the game.

At the start we talked about the worries we had of playing a physical game virtually. To our surprise, we got a similar buzz from playing the virtual version as we do a physical game. Without being able to play a physical game, this really scratched an itch. It made us want to play more virtual games and play more games by Brain in a Cage if we travelled to Livorno in future.

DESIGN

Every part of the games was a real homage to Stranger Things. We found that the design had been created to immerse us into the world of the game. Much of the design was used within the game but there were also nods to show that really added to the immersion. A really well designed game, with great gameplay. The game is more expansive than you first realise and the use of space is really well done.

OVERALL

For Stranger Things fans, this is a must. So well thought out with great gameplay and flow. If you’ve never watch the show, you’ll still be able to enjoy some great puzzles, great wow moments and a thoroughly enjoyable hour of puzzling.

The game available as an online game from 40 Euros and as a physical room from 60 Euros.

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

The Insiders

Online/Print and Play escape game

As we continue into lock down, we finally get round to reviewing one of the most talked about games in 2020, The Insiders from Deadlocked Escape Rooms

THE STORY

The Wexell Corporation has a problem right now. There’s a mole in the company, working against us with some very sensitive information and we need YOU to find out who’s been sneaking around where they shouldn’t.

Go solo or gather your closest confidants to take down THE INSIDERS before they go world-wide.

The Insiders is a unique, play-at-home escape room spanning across multiple days, and 3 ‘episodes’ of approximately 90 minutes each. Story-heavy, immersive, with oodles of challenging content, designed by us to keep you playing for hours at a time!

THE GAMEPLAY

The first thing we must say is that if you are looking for a game that provides more value for money than any other game out there, click here and don’t bother reading any further! The Insider comes in three parts and each will give you a good two hours of entertainment. The puzzles within the game are varied and, at times, non-linear which gives you more than enough to keep your team going at any one time. We played it as a pair and found there would have been more than enough to share around for a team of four.

It’s a game that has given me real mixed emotions. I loved it, but hated it all in equal measure. I need to explain a little more about what I mean I think. It was a lot of fun but, at times, bloody hard (I’m looking at you machine!). If you are looking for something that will wile away a few hours without really taxing your brain, this isn’t the game for you. It makes you work for every victory and in return, you feel very good about yourself when you do. I’ve already mentioned the machine. I won’t go into details but when we had defeated it, we felt a huge sense of pride and achievement, very similar to taking on and beating some of the hardest physical rooms.

The game throws so many puzzle styles at you, it’s like a smorgasbord. There’s plenty of observation, research, logic and some good old cutting and sticking! There is also some very impressive use of computer aided games and puzzles. Part 1 and 2 bring the largest variety with part three bringing less individual puzzles.

We’ve quickly developed a disliking for Google Street View puzzles in escape games during lock down. They seem to have become the Sudoku of the online world. We found one in The Insiders and, out of the whole 6 hours of puzzles, it’s the only one we didn’t enjoy. Although the idea fits in with the story, we used it for a substantial portion of the game in comparison to other puzzles. Compared to everything else that had been created for the game (and there’s a lot), this felt far less creative.

So, why does the game come in three parts? We weren’t sure to begin with but having attempted to play part one and two together, it became quiet apparent. Simply, there is so much to do in each part your brain needs a rest. It would be like going into 6 escape games back to back, without a break. You need 24-48 hours recovery time, believe us!

DESIGN

The design of The Insiders is second to none. Every inch of this game has been designed with precision. The story, characters, flow and look are top notch. It’s clear that this has been a real labour of love and the look and feel really shows this. Every game created by Deadlocked fits into the theme of the Wexell Corportion, I don’t know how they manage to seamlessly tie everything together but The Insiders works so well in the Wexell world.

OVERALL

What. A. Game. Enjoyable and frustrating in equal measure. This is the Moriarty to everyone’s escape room Sherlock. It will get the better of you but ultimately you’ll come out triumphant. It’s a real roller coaster of a game but one you really need to ride. If there Reading rooms are anything like this, we will be queuing by the door the first day they open when this lock down shenanigans ends

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

Mansion: Impossible – Panic Rooms

Online Escape Game

Mansion Impossible is the first family orientated online game from The Panic Rooms. Solely played online, your job is to investigate the goings on inside the mansion.

STORY

Hello there spooky explorers! You heard of an abandoned mansion somewhere out in the woods and finally, you found it, mist rolls in across the grounds and the front gate slams shut behind you.

You are greeted by a strange but friendly ghost…Go say hi and start your adventure!

THE GAMEPLAY

Mansion: Impossible is a fun ghost story without the scares. Designed to be suitable for the whole family, it does a great job of mixing easier and harder puzzles so that there was something for everyone. We found that their elements of the game we breezed through but others we did have to use some of our brain matter. The game play wasn’t too easy and gave us a fun experience. Sometimes we like a game that doesn’t overly tax us as long as the gameplay is enjoyable. This is what we found here. There is a nice mix of puzzles and these are a all in keeping with the overall theme.

DESIGN

A really well designed game and the graphics and puzzles give you the feeling that you are inside the mansion. There are some clever hidden illustrations that support gameplay and the visuals really add to the overall feel of the game. A really good fun hour for the family

OVERALL

Outside of the CSI range of games, this is probably our favourite Panic Rooms online game. Very much aimed at the whole family, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves inside the mansion.

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

My Dearest Emily – Panic Rooms

Online Escape Game

The Panic Rooms have been working hard to provide people with a range of games during lock down. We took on a very different type of game.

STORY

My Dearest Emily is the puzzle-filled tale of a young couple John and Emily who were separated during the Oklahoma land rush in the USA in 1889. Months go by and John sends his letters back home to his dearest Emily.

THE GAMEPLAY

The game, as you’d probably guessed, is based around a series of letters that take you through a whole year. I guess, the idea of basing a game around a particular concept can have limitations to what you can do with it. Puzzles can only be created that you might find within the containment of a letter. Although the game does it’s best to vary the puzzles as much as they can, we found that many of them followed a similar theme. We also found that they were often labour intensive which slowed the pace of the game.

The story of this game is very different to any we’ve played before. It’s less of an escape theme and more of a love story which play out across the backdrop of American History. The Oklahoma land rush is probably something you know little about, so it gives you a bit of a history lesson in the process. The down side to this is there is a lot of writing. The game does a good job of offering an audio of each letter being read aloud by Emily but, as I’ve previously stated, it slows the flow of the game considerably.

DESIGN

The game is web based and uses the template of an old letter for each puzzle. There are some really lovely illustrations that make up some of the puzzles and the aesthetic of the game fits with the era. Our only gripe is that, at times, the font is tricky to read and the letter template is rather pixelated which lets it down at times. It doesn’t effect the overall gameplay though.

OVERALL

Although we applaud Panic Rooms for trying something a little different it didn’t quite hit the spot for us. We prefer a game with a little more variety and a little more pace

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

Sector X – The B.R.U.C.E Project (part 1)

Online Escape Rooms

Sector x – The Bruce Project, is a mix between an escape room and and a retro point and click computer game. When part 1 was released, when were straight on it. Here’s what we enjoyed…..

STORY

A renowned scientist, Dr Wilder Snr dies tragically after a routine dimension hopping adventure goes hideously awry. He’s reduced to nothing more than a brain in a tank of fluid. You take control of a robot who travels through the various sectors to shed more light on what has happened.

THE GAMEPLAY

I have to start this review by saying just how much fun this game is. We’ve played a good number of games in lockdown but this one utilises technology brilliantly. Players buy one activation key and then share it between the players, which can be spread across multiple houses. Each team logs in, enters the room set up by one player and, using the wonders of online video calling, can communicate and operate the game together. In fact, you can see all the cursors moving around the screen as people play! It’s a joy to watch. Add in the celebration button and this is a game that harks back to the best of the platform games from the late 80s/early 90s.

The game begins with an immersive video that really sets the scene. It’s a really great opening that prepares you for what is to come. Think about some of the great game briefings you’ve experienced and this is the feel.

The game consists of 5 sectors. Each level is led by a lovable robot who brings a sense of charm and humour to proceedings. The puzzles in each level are varied and a joy to play. One puzzle does require a little bit of a logic leap but once you work out what to do it becomes plain sailing. It’s a real joy to play. I don’t want to go into too much detail as it’ll spoil the game but the game flows very, very well. It recommends 2-6 players with 4 being the optimal number. We found playing as a two worked well for us but we can see how larger groups can help.

DESIGN

The design of this game is superb. There has been some real love and care put into this game. You can tell that it’s become a labour of love and a nostalgic trip down memory lane for the designers. The game play doesn’t take itself too seriously and neither does the design. Both fit beautifully and have developed a really immersive experience. A total pleasure to explore and a visual delight.

OVERALL

Part 1 was a joy to play! A great way to scratch the escape room itch and a very different style of game to others out there. We cannot recommend this game enough!

Escaped: 46:23

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

Escape Now

Card Game

We were lucky enough to have been sent a game by the Belgian creator called Escape Now, a card game that simulates the idea of escaping within a 60 minute time frame.

THE GAME

Escape Now! is a cooperative game where players try to escape a randomly laid out escape room within 60 minutes. The 60 action cards represent minutes, meaning that players must complete the puzzles from the escape room before the 60th card is played.
Unlike other cooperative games, players are not allowed to communicate with each other. If they wish to do so, that’ll cost the team 1 minute, or otherwise said, one action card. This means that there’s no dominant player who influences the others and that players need to be resourceful and rely on the judgment of the team members.
If a team succeeds in escaping the room, the amount of remaining action cards state how many minutes were left to go. In that way, teams can challenge each other in having time records.

There are 4 possible actions:

1. Solve a puzzle: place a corresponding trait card (i.e. ‘perceptive’, ‘dexterous’, ‘talkative’, ‘tenacious’ or ‘logical’) next to puzzle.
2. Move to another puzzle: choose and discard a trait/action card from your hand and move to any visible puzzle.
3. Replenish cards: Fill up your hand to 5 cards and then discard a card.
4. Ask a question: Discard the top card from the draw pile and ask a closed-ended question.

With adapted rules for 2 players and solo mode!

THE GAMEPLAY

The game is a fairly compact affair. We actually commented on how this is pretty portable and could be something to throw into a suitcase on a holiday or play on a train journey. The concept shares the idea of an escape room in name and the game story but the game itself is more of a co-operative game than an escape experience.

The game play is fun and requires silent communication between the group. It took us a couple of games to get to grips with the way it works and, once we’d found our stride discovered that it’s not too difficult a game and will easily fill 15 minutes of your day. The levels of difficulty do add some complexity to the game but we found that the easy and medium level were fairly straight forward.

While the game suggest an escape room idea, the gameplay doesn’t replicate the escape room feel. The name is the only thing that really ties them together. It doesn’t take any of the fun away from the game but there aren’t puzzles to solve or padlocks to unlock. It’s about getting through a series of steps in order to escape and see how many minutes remain. If you are looking for a specific escape room style game, this isn’t for you but if you like anything that is vaguely escape related this is good fun.

DESIGN

There are some really lovely images in the game. Clearly, a very talented artist has been involved in the illustrations through the game and the final design quality is high quality.

OVERALL

As I’ve already said, if you are looking for something escape related but not an escape room then this is for you. A enjoyable card game that will help fill some time during lockdown. It’s a really good family game.

Escaped: Yep!

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

Please note: We did not pay to play this experience but this did not influence our review.

Captain Kidd’s Treasure – Escape Party

Children’s escape party print and play

A brand new escape party company has hit the online market in time for lockdown. Escape Party have launched with their first game, Captain Kidd’s Treasure and will be bringing another very soon. The game, aimed at those aged 8 and up has a pirate theme and we (as a family of 2 adults, a 7 and a 9 year old) set it up one afternoon to play as a team.

THE STORY

The year is 1699, the golden age of piracy, and the players are cutthroat pirates sailing the seas searching for gold. Having been given the chance to escape the life of piracy, by finding Captain William Kidd’s hidden treasure, the pirates head to his ship to begin their quest. As they enter the ships cabin the door slams behind them and they’re trapped…

Will they escape Captain Kidd’s ship, and can they find his hidden treasure and escape the life of piracy?

THE GAMEPLAY

Don’t be fooled by the name of the company. Although this would make a great party for any child, this is also an excellent way to entertain you and the family for an hour. The game relies on you to be able to print the game in full colour. Black and white will not work here as the game heavily relies on colour. It does mean you’ll need plenty of colour in your printer as there are 28 pages to the game play, not including additional instructions.

The game is split over 4 parts and everything you gather over parts 1,2 and 3 are needed to bring your game to a rousing finale. There are a number of puzzles that comprise each section and each are well laid out, understandable and fun to complete. I’d argue that the puzzles in challenge one are usual puzzle book types but as it’s designed for children in mind, these are the kind of puzzles they will get their teeth stuck into. Once past challenge one things start to get interesting. There is a genuinely clever map puzzle and the reuse of things from challenge one that makes a nice change to other print and plays. The gameplay in challenge 4 is particularly inventive and brings an element of physicality to the game. I won’t give too much away but we put the Nerf guns to good use!

The beauty of the game is that it doesn’t need an adult as GM. We decided to play it without having one and the companies website offers a place to enter answers and also hints for each puzzle. Checking the answers online negates the need for a GM and means you can all join in together. Again, unlike many print and plays, this is a really unique element and meant we really could enjoy it as a family.

DESIGN

The game has a huge amount of detail. I don’t think there is a single white space on any of the game pages. This means the game looks fantastic but also means that you are going to use a lot of printer ink. I’m torn between if the game limits its appeal because of the use of colour or if I applaud the designers from not scrimping on design to make it look fantastic. We’ve certainly played print and plays that are pure black and white but to have colour and it be such a vital part of the game is actually a really nice change. Be aware that due to colour, those who may suffer from colour blindness will need help. There’s a huge amount of work gone into making it look right and it certainly pays off here.

OVERALL

We had a very enjoyable hour playing Captain Kidd’s Treasure. The whole experience was pitched just right for its target audience and was engaging for everyone. Yes, kids at the lower end of the age range will certainly need help from an adult but who doesn’t love getting involved in an escape game right?

You can buy Captain Kidd’s Treasure here. At the time of writing, the game costs £15 to download. It also gives you access to a designer’s kit so you can tweak and change elements of the game to suit your own family.

Escaped: 51:56

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

Please note: We did not pay to play this experience but this did not influence our review.

CSI: Grounded – The Panic Room

Murder Mystery Escape Game

The Panic Room have always been up there with escape rooms in the UK and with lockdown in place, we were so pleased to hear they had decided to bring one of their games to us. CSI: Grounded was the first in a series of games The Panic Room are turning from their mobile games into an online platform. We gathered ourselves and friends (via Whatsapp video call of course), to see if we can solve the murder!

THE STORY

A man has been mysteriously poisoned on a flight, it must have been someone on board but who? Solve the puzzles and work together to find the who, why and how of this brand new detective mystery.

THE GAMEPLAY

Although the game describes itself as an escape room game I feel it underplays itself a little. Yes, it’s partially an escape room game but it’s also a full on murder mystery. This game is chock full of information and, unlike a physical escape room, also includes some nice red herrings in order to try and throw you off the scent. You need to be just as much a detective as you do an escapee. I don’t remember how many notes, numbers and motives we wrote down in the end, but one of our team definitely ended up with writer’s cramp!

The principle behind the game is simple. There are a series of locked cases, bags and envelopes that require a password to access. The game reveals the next password you need as you search the evidence. Its a very linear game but being online it would be difficult to create something that wasn’t. We found that the majority of the game play was pretty well signposted. If there were occasions where you might get a little stuck, the hints at the bottom of each page will certainly help. If you get really stuck, the last hint is the answer. We found the puzzles were fair but challenging and, at times, pretty inventive. We particularly enjoyed the interviews puzzle and thought is was a really ingenious way of creating something a little different. There was only one point in which we felt the signposting was a little off and this meant that when we looked at the clues we were still a little lost. When we finally reached the solution, we could see where it was coming from but felt it may have been a little lost in translation.

On the whole, gameplay was fair and flowed well. It shows the creativity of the industry and how they can overcome barriers when something so major is thrown at them.

DESIGN

The game is a web based adventure so over complicating the amount of data that needs to load can compromise design. The game has some really good use of technology as part of the game and these worked well. The overall look of the game’s interface was basic but the design elements that were integral to the game were well done. We did have a couple of issues with loading but refreshing the page solved these.

What has to be taken into consideration is that The Panic Room have put this together with limited resources and in a short space of time. To take something that exists in the physical world and translate it to the digital world and it still remain a great game is a remarkable feat and The Panic Rom should be applauded for their endeavour.

The game costs between £15-£20 depending on whether you manage to get the early bird rates or not. Bearing in mind you can have as many players as you want over different locations, the game offers real value for money.

OVERALL

We have a really enjoyable evening playing CSI: Grounded. Although not a overly taxing game mentally, it was tough enough to feel you had to work for your victory. We look forward to the other games The Panic Room are working on.

Escaped: 48:37

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

Escape Room The Game – Prison Break

A play at home game

Escape Room The Game is a boxed game that consists of between three and four games depending on the version you have. Each game centres around the Chrono Decoder which works as an electronic countdown timer and puzzle unit. It is where you place the keys once you have the codes and also becomes useful during games as several puzzles need it to solve. Each game comes with three parts. You must complete the first part to proceed and, if you get stuck, there are around 8 clues to help. Each clue is time specific and when the decoder beeps you can take a look (if you need it that is). So, what about the games individually? We thought it was only appropriate to start with Virus.

THE STORY

The past few months you’ve been in prison and your sentence will keep you there for the next decade. You spend most of your day together with a small group of inmates. They protected you on your first day and you feel you can trust them. They’ve got your back and you tell them you’ve got theirs (for what that’s worth).

One afternoon you strike up a conversation with a fellow inmate and he tells you that a great mathematician, Walter Castle, used to live in your cell. He was transferred to another prison a while ago. Walter Castle was somewhat of a legend amongst the inmates. The prison director and guards were afraid of him. Not because he was big or strong, but because they were afraid that he would escape. A prison break would damage their reputation. They made up some lie that Walter got into a fight and beat up another inmate. Walter couldn’t beat up a fly but nonetheless they transferred him to a maximum-security prison across the country.

You’re not surprised to hear a mathematician used to live in your cell, as it explains all the numbers and weird puzzles on your wall.

The thought of freedom makes you very intrigued about all this strangeness in your cell. You wonder if it all belongs to some greater plan to escape from this hell you call home.

The few months you’ve spent in prison already seem like years and given the choice, you’d choose a life on the run over a life in prison any day. You convince yourself that escaping would be justice. You have been sentenced to ten years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit. Ten years of your life with no hope of a future, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it hardly seems fair.

That evening, during lockdown, you tell your friends about what you’ve heard. You and your buddies turn the cell upside down and find closed envelopes hidden in the toilet. This information might just be the start of your prison break. The guards will reach your cell during rounds in one hour, could this be the opportunity of a lifetime?

THE GAMEPLAY

Prison Break is billed as the easiest of the three games. Having already played Virus and knowing how the game worked we expected to find this much simpler. It turns out that we thought this was harder than Virus. The level of difficulty with regards to puzzles remained the same but we found the signposting was slightly lacking in this game. Many of the puzzles were standard escape room staples but we found that Prison Break needed more of a mathematical brain. There were a number of times we had come to a conclusion which wasn’t right and at one point we did come up with a code that was entirely plausible although the game required you to use it in a different way. The game was not poor but we felt the flow was a little more stilted than our previous experience.

DESIGN

Design is vital to make this game work. The way it has been created means that at times the answer has been hidden in plain sight and on at least one occasion we became stumped when the answer was right in front of us. This is no fault of the game and really stands testament to how well is was designed. The game does immerse you into it’s world and the illustrations really help to tell the narrative.

OVERALL

Prison Break is a good game but falls slightly short of Virus. It’s not a bad game but some of the signposting did make it a little harder to progress.

Escaped: 53:51

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

We didn’t pay to play this experience but this did not influence our review

Escape Room The Game – Virus

A play at home game

Escape Room The Game is a boxed game that consists of between three and four games depending on the version you have. Each game centres around the Chrono Decoder which works as an electronic countdown timer and puzzle unit. It is where you place the keys once you have the codes and also becomes useful during games as several puzzles need it to solve. Each game comes with three parts. You must complete the first part to proceed and, if you get stuck, there are around 8 clues to help. Each clue is time specific and when the decoder beeps you can take a look (if you need it that is). So, what about the games individually? We thought it was only appropriate to start with Virus.

THE STORY

What a time to faint! You swear you could kill your lab partner, but you know that won’t be necessary. The liquid that’s oozing out of the broken bottle on the floor will kill everybody in the room soon enough… There’s no time to play the blame game, you and your lab partners have to work together if you want to survive.

You’ve been working for Professor Felsman for some time now. He was not a nice man.

He showed no kindness whatsoever, but he was the best in this line of work.

The professor never left the lab if anybody else was in it and all the dangerous stuff was locked away. And not locked away in a normal kind of way, Professor Felsman was somewhat of a ‘conspiracy theory’ kind of guy. Always looking over his shoulder, afraid that someone was after his inventions. The only people he really trusted were his son and daughter.

His trust issues and conspiracy theories made it even stranger that he left that green bottle unattended that afternoon. He had left in a hurry, leaving his hat and jacket on the coat rack. The professor never went anywhere without his hat. He just yelled “put that bottle in the closet and whatever you do, don’t drop it”! Nobody knew what the professor was working on, but it was serious business. The only thing he told us was that it could do a lot of good in the right hands, but in the wrong hands it would change the world in a really bad way…

The hands of our lab partner definitely qualify as the wrong pair of hands. Three steps short of the closet nerves got the better of her. You knew you were in serious trouble as her eyes rolled back and she collapsed. It seemed to take place in slow motion as the bottle fell on the floor and the glass shattered all over the room. The fumes that came from the bottle filled everyone’s lungs immediately.

You quickly called the professor, but he seemed to have his own problems. He was running and breathing heavily. The only words you could make out from the bad connection were “idiots, dead in an hour, antidote, vault”. Then the line went dead. You called him back but it went straight to voicemail. You know there’s no time to lose and nobody in the world that can help you…

You shove the cart aside and see the vault, it’s locked. You try opening the drawers in his desk, only one isn’t locked. The stuff you find in the desk could prove to be vital, it’s your only hope!

THE GAMEPLAY

Many escape from home games are card or book based. Escape Room The Game takes it a step further and bring electronics to the game. Although all of the puzzles in virus are paper based, the added element of inserting keys for the code makes it a little unique. The game is very well signposted and we didn’t feel the need for clues. We made steady progress and this gave a real sense of achievement. Most of the puzzles we found through the game will be very familiar to enthusiasts and won’t cause too much of a problem to solve. There are a few clever ideas within the game which provides something a little different and the game play is entertaining enough to give an evening of fun for beginners and enthusiasts alike.

DESIGN

The game is very reliant on the design. There is a huge amount of work done here that is very important to immerse the players into the world of Virus. To us, the design element is what really raises the game. If it was a simple print and play then the game would underwhelm due to the simplicity of the puzzles but the design and physical interaction with several of the games items makes it a much more fun and interactive game.

OVERALL

Virus was our introduction to the world of Escape Room The Game. We felt is was a solid game and surpasses many of the other play at home games out there. The set, sold on Amazon for about £30 means an average of £10 a game which is great value for money. We’d certainly put these up there with the Unlock games and ahead of any Exit Games sets.

Escaped: 46:37

Theme *****

Design *****

Gameplay *****

Difficulty *****

Overall *****

We didn’t pay to play this experience but this did not influence our review