Scarlet Envelope - "GAME XI. Time Trap Island"

Photo above is property of Scarlet Envelope

Company: Scarlet Envelope

Game: GAME XI. Time Trap Island

Country: Canada 🇨🇦

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬

Genre: Sci-Fi

Date Played: June 30, 2024

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommend 1-6 ppl)

Time: Unlimited (Suggested 1-2 Hours)

Price: $35 CAD

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On the way to your next mission, something has gone wrong with the interdimensional travel, and you have ended up on Time Trap Island, the center of a time anomaly. The island looks to have been the previous home of a research facility named Red Letter Corp. but certain anomalies and tears in the fabric of the universe seems to now exist here. Hack the Interlink Terminal and power up the main tower to make your escape but be careful with what other secrets you may discover here.

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Opening up the scarlet envelope, we were greeted with many different items, including a letter describing the island, punch cards, plastic screen cards, schematics of the main tower and more.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Logging into the Interlink Terminal, it had this old-time retro feel to it, which looked authentic and fit the story perfectly. It was easy to navigate and there were lots to click through. You will need to make sure you read and click through everything if not for the information to solve the puzzles but for the chuckles and humor in all the content. The story that was laid out through the letter we received, the dialogue that we encountered and what we discovered throughout the game tied together nicely. One thing that stood out was there were a lot of references and easter eggs to previous Scarlet Envelope games. For anyone who has been following along with their games, you will be pleasantly rewarded.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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There were some clever puzzles in this game with a couple of “Cool!” moments, once we discovered what needed to be done. One thing we enjoyed was that almost all the puzzles seemed 2-fold. Once we thought we solved the puzzle, the answer ended up being another enigma for us to unwrap.

Scarlet Envelope has always had a great tiered hint system and this one was no different. There were many tiers to each puzzle which nudged us in the right direction and never took away our eureka moment. A few times, we only needed the first hint to solve the puzzle, which still allowed us to have our eureka moments.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Scarlet Envelope says "GAME XI. Time Trap Island" was “inspired by (their) love for the iconic "Fallout", DHARMA Corp. from "Lost", and "Silo”, which they nailed. The interface was beautiful and fun to navigate. The puzzles were clever and the physical contents meshed well with what we found through the interface. The story was full of lore and gave a nod to their other games, which was a nice touch. We played with 2 people, which allowed us to see and solve everything but could easily handle 4 players comfortably. Just make sure everyone can see the computer. As usual, Scarlet Envelope continues to push the “envelope” in their game design and we “lab”-solutely can’t wait to see what they create for their finale game.

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Check out our interviews with the creators to understand more on the development side of their games:

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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(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 Scarlet Envelope 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.

#MatthewLui #AtHomeGames #TabletopGames #SubscriptionGames #PuzzlesByMail #ScarletEnvelope #Canada #SciFi #BehindTheMasterMinds