Photo above is property of Escape The Crate
Company: Escape The Crate
Game: Escape On The High Seas
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Language: English
Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬
Genre: Adventure
Date Played: January 4, 2022
Difficulty (based on 1 player): 5/10
Size of Team: Unlimited
Time: Unlimited (Suggested 45 minutes per each adventure)
Price: $39.99
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A great treasure has been taken by some of the most infamous pirates to ever sail the Caribbean, Calico Jack and Anne Bonny. The pair have recently fled the safety of Nassau and are on a spree attacking ships big and small, including other pirate ships. Among their recent takes is an object you need… a time machine, hidden within a chest of gold. It is up to you to infiltrate the crew, gain their trust, and escape with the treasure before they grow wise of your plan. The only issue is that Anne Bonny is not an easy pirate to deceive. Wicked and clever, she sees through your rouse and is ready to make you pay for your deception.
Video above is property of Escape The Crate
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Two sailing vessels are locked in combat on the high seas! The striking image of this box immediately grabbed my attention, and continued to do so as I opened the box to find out the interior of the box is also a part of the game, including a pirate map! I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that the box is used as part of the game and not just for shipping and decoration!
The contents of the box are mostly paper items that are nicely printed, and a few pirate themed trinkets that feels inexpensive and a couple that are really nice. The introductory paper from the Clockmaker looks like it was made without a mastery of Desktop Publishing…and that continues onto a few of the other paper items that appear to also be made in Microsoft Word without a full understanding of tabs versus indentation (for example) and how to properly center images on a page. To be fair, none of this takes away from the gameplay itself, but improving upon these portions of the products would make the entire package feel more professional and polished.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
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The game is divided into three mini-games that increase in difficulty. The game is started online where you follow the directions, watch some videos, and find your hints if you need them (I needed four, although a couple were just me getting used to playing this format of game). I really enjoy that many people may play in a group, so online there is an audio version of the instructions that everyone can listen to. This game fully embraces the fact that it is a game versus an immersive experience and requires a few minutes of setup time in each chapter, plus occasionally paper flipping and setup during the game...I feel some of this could be enhanced, perhaps with printed booklets versus flipping pages, however that would detract from those who play with a group of players. The online instructions work nicely, provide pictures, and provide links for any missing or damaged pieces you want to reprint (or extra copies for your friends who are playing)...this is a really nice feature! The next step provides the rules of the game (again, strongly leaning into that fact this is a game, not an experience), provides a tutorial video if you need it and a trial puzzle.
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If you like puzzles as the primary game focus, then Escape the Crate is for you! It is solely a bunch of puzzles that are organized narratively through the story of the box. You solve a puzzle, move on, read the narrative. Solve a puzzle, move on, read a narrative. The puzzles ranged from super easy, to a fairly tricky logic puzzle, one puzzle that was “too obvious” (which made it tricky), and many in between. Overall this was a box of fun puzzles with a nice variety of types and varying degrees of difficulty (including one puzzle that allows you to choose your difficulty level…that is a really nice touch!)
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As a big fan of Anne Bonny and Calico Jack, I had high expectations and excitement for this game! I could not wait to time travel to this time period, especially since this would be my introduction into a new series of games for me: Escape The Crate! The premise of Escape the Crate is that you, as the player, are a time traveler being sent on various missions through time, and in this one you need to recover a lost time machine in the golden age of pirates.
I really enjoy how the story pulls you through the game and makes progress feel like moving forward through the narrative. There were a few narrative choices that could have been explained better–like why did someone ask me to solve an issue when there was no good reason given why I was chosen over any trusted people onboard the ship? A few more lines of story text could overcome logical issues such as that. Escape the Crate provides a nice at-home escape room type feel that is fun to play but there are items that could be enhanced to match up to the value. Even though this is my first “Escape the Crate” game and I do have a few issues with it, it definitely will not be my last!
I definitely recommend this game to people who want an easy to mid-level puzzling experience!
P.S. if you want to try their style and puzzles, they currently have a free mini online game called: "Escape: Christmas Past".
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:
(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 Escape The Crate for providing us with a sample of their game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.