Scarlet Envelope - "GAME XII. Scarlet Manuscript"
- Matthew Lui
- 21 hours ago
- 3 min read
Photo above is property of Scarlet Envelope
Company: Scarlet Envelope
Game: GAME XII. Scarlet Manuscript
Country: Canada 🇨🇦
Language: English
Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬
Genre: Mystery
Date Played: August 14, 2026
Difficulty (based on 3 players): 6/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommend 1-6 ppl)
Time: Unlimited (Suggested 1-2 Hours)
Price: $35 CAD
🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈
This is it! After venturing across time and space and investigating Time Trap Island, what lies before you is the Scarlet Manuscript. It will take all your skills to unravel the mystery behind it and if you do, you will be rewarded with the legendary Athenaeum, a doorway to inter-dimensional travel and find your place among the stars.
🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞
Opening the scarlet envelope, we find a small journal with the Scarlet Envelope logo on it, a fragile manuscript with medieval, gothic text on it, a photo with some QR codes on the back as well as an additional envelope with a cryptic SE XIII on it.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈
One of the QR codes will kick things off with an intro video where we then dove into the game. The gameplay was all offline which was refreshing. Going through the clues in the journal, the game was laid out and sign posted fantastically. There was also some great world building in the journal. This was a great wrap up for the entire series.
The intro video gave a nice recap to the overall events and had some noticeable throwbacks. To see the complete ending, you will need all the collected letters from their previous games to spell out the final phrase.
They also included a QR code to a Spotify playlist with some great tracks to listen while puzzling.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂
How many puzzles can you hide in a manuscript and short journal? Turns out a lot! Opening the envelope, we expected a heavy online component to this game with what looks like minimal content but as we played, everything was hidden in front of us. The only online component to the game was the intro and outro parts.
There was a great variety of puzzles. We enjoyed struggling through the tough puzzles, relished in the simple wins and had a great time with the experience overall. The final puzzle though was the chef's kiss.
The hint system was well tiered as they took you step by step without giving too much and allowing you your aha moment.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂
"Scarlet Manuscript" was the cherry on top of a amazing series of envelopes by Scarlet Envelope. This game had a lot of great puzzles and moments, specifically the final puzzle. We played with 3 puzzle enthusiasts and we all had a great time together. Though this game is only available if you buy the complete series together, this game is worth obtaining, especially having played any or all the other Scarlet Envelope games.
Check out our interviews with the creators to understand more on the development side of their games:
Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(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.
Our board game group loved working through tabletop mystery games during last winter's rainy weekends, so themed puzzle boxes like this always catch my eye. There is something really satisfying about piecing together cryptic clues, decoded manuscripts, and narrative storylines right from your living room table. While organizing our last big community game night, we actually ended up using an event platform and looked for the Eventsquid phone number to clarify a quick ticketing question. Finding well-crafted, immersive home escape games makes hosting those game nights so much fun!
scrandle is a fun little daily game because there is no timer pushing you to guess quickly. I usually take a few seconds to compare the images before deciding which matchday food seems more popular.