Photo above is property of Super Secret Decoder
Company: Super Secret Decoder
Games: Heironymous Vex and The Secret of the Pancetta Stone
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Language: English
Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻
Genre: Mystery
Date Played: June 14, 2022
Difficulty (based on 4 players): 3/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Up to 10 logins)
Time: Expires 72 Hours from start
Price: £25.00
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The illustrious puppet owner of Super Secret Decoder, one Archibald Equinox, has a cousin, Heironymus Vex, who loves adventure but has a somewhat clumsy demeanour. He appears to have gotten himself stuck in a Mesomanayan tomb and needs your assistance. Your task is to follow his path into the tomb and unlock cryptic chambers as you go. His cell service may be spotty, but Heironymus has left you with the knowledge the language of the lost Mesomanayan which might be the secret to learning more about the Pancetta Stone. Now, time to hurry!
Video above is property of Super Secret Decoder
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Once you receive your game confirmation code you can start your adventure on their website. As the game launches you will receive a call from Heironymus who begins to explain what he can recall about the chamber you are in but he quickly loses cell reception and you are left on your own to examine the room and figure out a way to unlock the door. This game can be shared with friends and played across different devices but each member will be playing alone with the exception of one interesting game mechanic. When the first teammate solves the puzzle room you will have the option to jump ahead with them or remain on your puzzle. You will not get another opportunity so choose wisely!
There are hints available in the top left corner of the screen. This can be accessed by clicking on the book icon, but our group ended up not using any. An issue we did run into was the game mechanics sometimes struggled to follow our dragging commands so being patient is key. In addition, we found that when we played across multiple screens that only the first player to solve the final puzzle was actually able to see the end scene (even if you tried joining them it failed) as the subsequent people who solved ended up on black screens with no recourse.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
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The puzzles within "Heironymus Vex & The Secret of the Pancetta Stone" are largely video game style activities, more so than puzzles as you manoeuvre shapes, fiddle with jugs, and line up artifacts. I felt the structure of the puzzles, after the first one, were smooth and enjoyable. But the first one came across a little confusing as we were unsure how we were meant to order something. The key thing with these games I found was that I had to keep moving things around to test and adjust our techniques. This game took our team about 45 minutes.
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"Heironymus Vex & The Secret of the Pancetta Stone" shows promise as the first game created by Super Secret Decoder. I found the activities contained within to be fun to play around with and the animation style to be appealing but some gameplay issues impeded my feeling of closure when the game ended. I also wish that Heironymus had a more active role in the game as his character is fascinating and I wanted to learn more about this lost language and the Pancetta Stone. As it stands, I would say this is a good game for someone who enjoys video game-style problem-solving and for single screen play-throughs so you can get the whole experience. I hope to see more happen with Heironymus and Archibald in the future!
(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 Super Secret Decoder 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.
