Joelyn Alexandra
Jun 19, 20223 min
Updated: Apr 29
Photo above is property of Arcadium Adventures
Company: Arcadium Adventures
Game: Case #LT-40480 - The Lost Map to Pandora’s Box
Country: Australia 🇦🇺
Language: English
Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻
Genre: Mystery, Detective
Date Played: March 15, 2022
Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Ages 14+)
Time: Unlimited (Approx. 2-3 Hrs.)
Price: $48.00 AUD
Laelynn Delos, one of the analysts from the Order of Arcadium, has been searching for the fabled lost map to Pandora’s Box. For years, this map has been thought lost, until Laelynn received a note regarding the possible location of this map. Trawl through the materials available in the Arcadium Archives Online, and find the Pandora’s Box before it lands in the wrong hands!
Arcadium Adventures’ experience works twofold - within the game and outside of the game. The external aspects of the game include a fully immersive blog by the Order of Arcadium, run by the order itself and the Loremaster. Here, players can immerse themselves into the history and the houses of the order, enriching their gameplay experience.
With the access to the games, players firstly get access to the game’s materials and clues. Secondly, players play the game through a chat bot, progressing the story with needed questions, providing hints as needed. Gameplay itself happens over at least two tabs - one to refer to images and materials pertaining to the case, and the other to refer to the progress of the story.
Take note though - do not worry about making appointments or placing orders Laelynn tells you to; everything the Order tells you is self-contained.
Photos above are property of Aradium Adventures
A good bit of pattern recognition is needed here, such as matching two separate pieces of material together to get passwords, or reading messages encoded in another language. Regardless, having some level of background knowledge can help players. Either way, Laelynn has the hints and the materials needed for you to attempt each puzzle to progress the story.
However, there were a few puzzles that needed a substantial amount of hints for us as we played, with us later realising that one or two puzzles required a bit of a logic leap to solve and progress with the story.
Photo above is property of Aradium Adventures
While we had fun with the story and the search, it was the tiny details that tripped us up a little while we were going through with the game. Some questions were asking for answers that could only be answered after the next step of the conversation had gone through, or accepted any answer that was keyed into the chatbot. If you’re in the game for the story and materials, however, do give this game a try - there’s material post-credits!
Bonus points for great hints and providing the needed tools for each step of the story, though!
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:
Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Arcadium Adventures for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.