Bagels & Locks Studios - "IsraelQuest: Challenge One" & "IsraelQuest: The Jerusalem Secret (Pro)"

Company: Bagels & Locks Studios

Country: Israel 🇮🇱

Language: English

Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻

Genre: Adventure, History

Size of Team: Unlimited

Time: Unlimited

Price: $36.00 (Up to 4 Connections)

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Photo above is property of Bagels & Locks Studios

Games: IsraelQuest: Challenge One

Date Played: September 16, 2021

Difficulty (based on 3 players): 4/10

Play the demo (click below)

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Your team of puzzlers is off to explore the country of Israel. Going on a tour of some of the most popular locations. Solve puzzles and learn about Israel’s rich history.

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Photo above is property of Bagels & Locks Studios

Games: IsraelQuest: The Jerusalem Secret (Pro)

Date Played: September 20, 2021

Difficulty (based on 3 players): 4.5/10

Play the demo (click below)

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In this chapter of IsraelQuest it is time for your team to visit Jerusalem! Explore the city, solve puzzles, and uncover the hidden secret.

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The game is played by logging into the website and each player is given a code to sync each instance of the game. We were running it over three computers and it worked well most of the time. It is a house built UI and there was an occasional issue during Jerusalem where we would submit the correct answer but the game would not continue. This was solved by refreshing the page (you won’t lose your progress). In order to play this game, the team will read a textbox and at the end will be a puzzle of some sort that you will then have to solve. Once you believe you have the correct answer there is an input box at the bottom of the screen. Each puzzle will tell you what input is needed to solve each puzzle. It seems like every team member needed to press continue in order to progress on with the game which we thought was nice as some teammates might need a little longer to review over the puzzles. But at times this option did not function the same way as other times.

The simplistic interface of these games makes the presentation stand out. In them, all of the information and history is provided via a text box followed by the puzzle for that particular location. It is recommended that you read the text box to enjoy the knowledge that is provided during the game. At all locations there is also a hand drawn picture depicting a specific feature at each location. Some of the pictures left much to be desired and had us wondering what exactly we were looking at until the information described the scene to us.

Photo above is property of Bagels & Locks Studios

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All of the information in the game is accessible and all of the resources are handed to you at the start of the game (in an inventory bag). There shouldn’t be any outside knowledge needed to complete the missions (that isn’t already provided). The puzzles try to relate to the missions but most of them felt like they were just a time filler/obstacle. Some of them were decent but most were solved quickly. Playing a standard and pro version of the games, our team was having a hard time trying to figure out what the difference in the challenge level was. Both seemed to have the same type of puzzle/information given. Given that there is a different difficulty level, our suggestion would probably be less cluing for the more difficult level games where players need to search for certain things themselves versus everything given to them.

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In both games it was wonderful to learn all about a country/city in another region of the world unlike our own. Learning the cultural differences and the similarities, makes the puzzlers ponder their own experiences. While some of the puzzles were fun, while playing both of these games, they felt scattered and similar to tasks simply needed to complete the game. The interface was simple to use but occasionally malfunctioned during our play experience. We learned about all of the major places to visit via text box and it made it feel as if we were completing history homework instead of an exciting quest. These games are great for puzzling beginners and if you and your friends are looking for a game to learn about the history and culture of Israel and/or Jerusalem, along with solving puzzles to make it more interactive, this would be the game series for you.

(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank Bagels & Locks Studios 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.

#MikeSchnurr #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #PointNClick #BagelsandLocksStudios #Adventure #Israel