Eleven Puzzles - "Parallel Lab"

Updated: Apr 28

Photo above is property of Eleven Puzzles

Company: Eleven Puzzles

Game: Parallel Lab

Country: Poland 🇵🇱

Language: English

Type of Game: Point-N-Click 🖱

Genre: Detective, Mystery

Date Played: May 15, 2022

Difficulty (based on 4 players): 6/10

Size of Team: Minimum of 2 Players (2 Computers) - Max 6 logins

Time: 1-2 Hours (Approximately)

Price: $20.00/team

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Detective Steve "Old Dog" Kowalski and Allison “Ally” Abernathy are back again as they continue to investigate the infamous Cryptic Killer - this time they are led to an old electronics shop. Will they unravel more of the truth or become trapped in this killer’s nefarious games?

Video above is property of Eleven Puzzles

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Much like the previous game, "Parallel Lab" is a digital point-n-click game that requires a minimum of 2 computers (2 teams) to complete. This game is a collaborative adventure where both teams must actively share their information as they navigate the shop to unlock doors and advance. At the start of the game, you'll choose if you want to be on Detective Steve's team or Detective Allison's team. Ultimately you will work on all puzzles together so there is no difference on which team you choose other than which half of the puzzle you will see.

The style of this game is quite interesting with its graphic novel style transitions to guide the story and the animated scene layouts of each room. When you are given access to the room, you can use your mouse to hover and click over certain spaces within the room to zoom in and see the puzzles and clues to solve.

Photos above are property of Eleven Puzzles

The hint system was quite extensive. There's a step by step hint system for every single item. You can access it by hitting the hint button (light bulb icon) and zoom in on the item you need the hint for. The final clue will reveal the solution.

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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I thoroughly enjoyed the style of puzzling this game offered. It truly engages all players and keeps you moving through the game together. This is not a divide and conquer style kind of game, rather, you need to be in constant communication with your partner(s) as you explore the room. You might have a keypad with periodic table symbols and your partner has a lab note about them or you might have one half a page and they have the other. I found that the puzzles weren't hard - the challenge comes from building communication between your group. I would say this kind of puzzling is excellent for groups looking to truly collaborate.

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Overall, "Parallel Lab" has an excellent theme and style that draws on classic retro style animation and encourages a level of collaboration while still giving each player something to do, which can be hard to navigate in the online realm of puzzling. Eleven Puzzles does it quite seamlessly! This game takes a little longer than the average escape room - our group took about an hour and nine minutes, so you definitely get your money’s worth! The ending suggests more is to come and I am definitely on board to see where Old Dog and Ally’s adventure takes them to next!

Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of their game:

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(If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank Eleven Puzzles 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.