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Photos provided by The Virtual Breakout Company: The Virtual Breakout Game: Operation Apex Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game W/ GM 💻 Genre: Detective, Mission Date Played: 3/4/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 5/10 Size of Team: 2-8 Players Time: 60 Minutes Price: $15.00/PP 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 It's always your dream to become a part of the agency. You just didn't expect your first mission to be saving the world! You're faced with the world's most dangerous hacker. He must be stopped before he detonates that bomb! 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 We were welcomed by Agent Anita Knapp over Zoom. She was hilarious and used just the right amount of puns but also did not lose the seriousness of this mission. Anita also had us use a "codename" right at the beginning and assigned each of us a "specialty task" based our strength. The actual game play was in a program called Telescape. All the puzzles were designed to be clickable and some were also interactive. Whenever we solved a puzzle, the live host would congratulate us with a quick victory skit and announce the next assignment. We quite liked this style as the host was not just servicing as a "hint giver" but also made us feel like we're part of a real mission. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Since we were assigned various titles at the beginning, we were also given clues that only the individual with the assigned task could see through the private chat on Zoom. While we were solving puzzles together as a team, it felt good to also have certain puzzles that each of us were able to solve on our own. And if one of our teammates needed help, we were easily able to share our screens. It was a clever way to make each player felt like they've contributed something to the victory at the end. They were a good amount of puzzles that might not be super difficult for enthusiasts but it had a nice flow. My favorite part was the silly charade moment! 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 The cooperative game play style, synced interface, humorous storyline and interactive host made this game really enjoyable for us. You might also notice a few "special appearances" by the guys at Escape One Algarve as they were the designers of the digital interface for Telescape. This was a great team effort and we can't wait to see what their new game is going to be like! 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Jakal B. & Sarah S. Operation Apex was a lighthearted game with a good storyline and fantastic characters. Our GM, EX-Agent Anita Knapp was very engaging and helped the story continue forward. The puzzles were fairly straightforward and may be on the easier side for a group of seasoned Telescape players. We do think they would be a great challenge for newer players. We really enjoyed the aspect of the team building exercise in the beginning to get our code names and jobs for use within the game. The game was a good mix of Telescape style search and find and tangible puzzles to play with, making for a very smooth game play experience. *** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors *** Disclosure: We thank The Virtual Breakout for providing us with a sample of the game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #TheVirtualBreakout #LiveStreamEscape #DigitalEscapeGames #Mystery #Detective #Hacker #Thriller #OnlineEscape

Photos provided by Hidden Key Escapes Company: Hidden Key Escapes Games: The Hideaway Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Thriller Date Played: 1/24/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 5.5/10 Size of Team: Up to 8 Connections (4-6 Players Recommended) Time: 60-90 Minutes (Approximately) Price: $27.99/ team 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 It is the year 1937. Charles Ross was kidnapped by two men, John Seadlund and James Gray. They kept Charles in a hideaway cabin while they went to retrieve their $50,000 ransom money. This was the only chance for Charles to escape before his fate is sealed... 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a point-n-click game designed in the Telescape platform. We played over Zoom with a group of 4. If you're interested in learning the back story to the game, there's a fairly long description that will be emailed to you along with the game login. This game is synced for the entire team. Once a player finds something or opens something, it'll update for the other players as well. We quite like this type of game play as the team can progress forward at the same time. Although the game setting was just in one room, there were plenty of things that our team had to do. The 360 view of the room really helped with the search process. We're able to zoom into items that needed a closer look. Two players felt the game platform was lagging. One of them played in the same household as I did so we don't think it's the internet issue so we're unsure if it's a one time thing or if it's Telescape's internal issue. Me and the other player had no issues at all throughout our play. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There were a good amount of puzzles in this game. We really enjoyed the "secret" reveals and how the puzzles were able to interact with each other without typing in specific words to combine them like some of the other Telescape digital games we've experienced. The locks felt more real as well in terms of how we're able to operate them. You might want to note that the four digit code is to be entered from bottom to top versus the other way around. This confused me a bit as I was used to entering from top to bottom in real escape rooms. One other thing that made us use a hint was an item that we couldn't find. It was camouflaged pretty well with the same background color of an item we've already opened. You should definitely click around after opening an item just incase there's still something left in there. If you do get stuck, there is a build-in hint systems and it worked quite well. You'll get a scoring chart at the end informing your team on how many hints you've used and on which puzzles. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 From the first look, we thought we're going to go finish the game quite quickly as it's just one room. It was nice to discover hidden elements and secret reveals as the game proceeded. It would've been nice to have a more conclusive ending as Charles escapes the room. Although we're quite content with ourselves for figuring out these puzzles so he could be set free! 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 CharLee B. This adventure started by giving us a write up of the story. A Chicago kidnapping in which the players are put in the position of Charles Ross: the kidnapped retired CEO. With only one shot to escape, you must figure your way out of a locked room. We were given the link to a Telescape.live site that placed us in the room we were trying to virtually escape. The room was structured as a 360˚ view of a real room with many options to click on whatever we wanted to investigate. Whenever we found something important, we could go and see it in an “inventory” within the room. Within the inventory, you’re allowed to ask for hints and receive them without the need of a host. “The Hideaway” came with a welcome challenge between finding important items and having many puzzles to solve. It was an impressive use of the software, doing its best to simulate an actual real-life experience. One of the challenges came with having to closely inspect the images used as it was sometimes difficult to make out a few items as well as taking a good amount of time to figure out how to play. If you’re looking for a good challenge and a chance to showcase your group’s teamwork skills, “The Hideaway” might just be for you. Pros: - Lots of challenging puzzles - Good simulation of real-life experience - Good amount of teamwork involved - Impressive use of Telescape - Playable without the need of a host Cons: - Images used are sometimes difficult to make out - “How to play” a little unclear Marti B. The Hidden Key seemed to be well thought out with lots of puzzles. There were many different types of locks to solve, 3 and 4 digit combos, word combos, cut out word puzzles, etc. Having all the clues and items together on the bookcase was an interesting idea. Unfortunately, I believe my laptop was the culprit and it lagged so far behind everyone else in the group I was playing with, that it was more frustrating trying to play and I couldn't really contribute much. The graphics looked fairly high quality, and I think I really would have enjoyed playing the actual escape room. If this game is available for purchase to play, it should come with what type notification for what type of system will actually run it smoothly. I would hate to be in the same situation with a group of friends having paid to play the game, and not being able to get much out of it. I appreciate being able to be part of the trial even if I couldn't do much. I love escape rooms, and have wanted to try an online version. (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 Hidden Key Escapes for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #HiddenKeyEscapes #TheHideaway #kidnapped #ransom #cabin #trapped #DigitalEscapeGames #thriller

Photos provided by eScape-room.UK Company: eScape-room.UK Games: The Fitzwilliam Heirs Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Mystery Date Played: 1/23/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 5.5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Approximately 60-120 min) Price: £10.00 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Courtney Fitzwilliam wants to find a sole heir to his fortune. You and your cousins are all invited to his manor and the fortunes are hidden behind puzzles within Draycott Hall. Can you find the fortune before your cousins do? 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a point-n-click style game. We played this game as a team over Zoom and shared the same login. The game is not synced so you'll have to share the solution code with your teammates once you've solved a puzzle. It was a bit tricky to remember and share where items were found with our teammates as once we picked up an item it'll be saved into the inventory. Once an item was used, it would disappear from the inventory and this was quite useful for us to track what else was needed to be done. There's a timer that would start when you open the game but that's mainly for tracking as the game will never actually time you out. You might need a bit of time to get use to how the point-n-click works at first. When you find a key, there's no need to click on a certain door. Just click on the key and it'll inform you which door opened with that key. The graphics were great and there were many places (kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, etc.) to explore in this mansion. You can easily get lost but playing with a team helped a lot as everyone remembered bits and pieces of information that others didn't. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There was a good amount of puzzles in this game. Some were quite easy and others took us a few steps to solve. One issue we had was that the puzzles we've solved won't stay open and we'll have to go back to solve it again in order to see what's inside. Some of these were jigsaw or puzzle boxes so it'll take a awhile to open them again. Ultimately, we took photos with our phones so that we didn't have to open them again. If the developer could have items that were open stay open, it would greatly improve the game flow. One other thing we noticed was that there were a few incidences where we were unsure of how certain solutions was associated with certain drawer or box that we had to open. Eventually, we started using the 4 digits or 4 letters we found and randomly started to try on the things we haven't opened. But I think there were only a few of these occasions. One of our player's puzzles also had missing components that started occurring during his game so he had to restart from the beginning but I'm not sure if that's because we're using the same login or not. Other than that, we had a great time solving various puzzles and searching for items to put together. We really enjoyed the puzzles that were interactive within the platform. There's a build-in "nudging" hint system if you get stuck. The game will not save your progress so definitely finish the game or else you'll have to start from the beginning if you login again. Here are some updates we've received from the creator on this game so you may not be experiencing what we've had when we wrote the review - 2/3/2021: made the open items stay open added more visual clues to locks made the inventory stay open shown the name of all items in the inventory (on mouse over) - so keys are now named made the close button larger made the gears move on hold down. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 If you're a puzzle lover and loves to open locks, then you'll definitely satisfy your hunger in this game. Finding items through various rooms, objects and puzzle boxes was a lot of fun but the ultimate meta puzzle seamlessly strung everything together. We felt quite satisfied at the end. I mean I would've been more satisfied if we were able to receive some of that fortune? 😜 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Matt L. Pros + There were a good variety of different puzzles that made the game diverse enough to enjoy for everyone. The puzzles were also a good mix of difficulty as well. + Personally, I'm not a huge fan of point/click games using real photos but I feel they pulled it off for a nice aesthetic look. + One thing that was cool was that there was some artwork on the wall that was created by artists with a link to their website. As a fan of the arts, this was nice to see and something I feel more escape rooms should try doing. Cons - One frustrating thing was that all the combination lock boxes would lock again after you exit them. This meant every time you would go back into the room, you did not know if you had opened the box previously or not. Good note taking had to be done. - At one point in the game, one of the puzzles did not properly load. The only way to fix it was to refresh the game, which would start you back from the beginning. - There were a couple of puzzles that seemed disjointed and the answers were not clued super well. Overall This game was a fun point/click game to play for both beginners and experienced players. The controls to the game were not intuitive at first but once we figured it out, we were well on our way. I would recommend this with a smaller group of people (2-3) and only on 1 or 2 screens since you all do not progress together and everyone moves independently. Helen B. With physical room escapes being inaccessible at the moment, we are turning to digital alternatives for our entertainment, and I had the chance to play The Fitzwilliam Heirs with the ESCAPETHEROOMers team and a fourth, independent player. We "showed up" at the entrance to a very grand looking house - and having read our letter and found the obligatory "key under the mat" (spoiler alert - it's not under the mat!) we were able to enter said house. I would LOVE to be able to explore this house in a real-life escape room scenario with its quirky rooms and grand staircase! Although I'm not sure that this house exists exactly as we see it depicted by the imagery. With all rooms locked at first, we set about examining the hallway for clues, and solving the first of a series of puzzle boxes to make progress. Using information we found in various places, we made our way through the rooms, opening more boxes and combination locks, finding items to collect and use later, and the usual point and click adventure game mechanics. A couple of nice touches and some fun animations made the experience a satisfying one, albeit with a few frustrations with the drag and drop elements which we mainly persevered with, apart from when one player came unstuck when a graphic glitch meant he could no longer enter a code into a combination lock. The other annoyance was that boxes reset to locked when you move away from them, so revisiting one to remind oneself of the clue within meant solving the whole thing again. This led to a bit of RSI in the old mouse finger! All in all, an enjoyable mix of puzzles with some themed elements and codes which were fun to solve and took us around an hour and a half to solve, although I suspect if the UI improvements are made this would come down, as a lot of that time was spent revisiting rooms and repeating code entries or opening boxes. (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-room.UK 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #eScaperoomUK #TheFitzwilliamHeirs #mystery #will #family #WWII #search #clickandpoint #learningconnections

Photos provided by eScape-room.UK Company: eScape-room.UK Games: The Clocksmith's Apprentice Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Mystery Date Played: 2/16/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Approximately 60-120 min) Price: £10.00 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 The Master Clocksmith wants to see who's the best out of his apprentices. He's created a challenge for you all. Will you be able to pass his test? The clock is ticking... 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a point-n-click game that you can play with a team remotely or just on your own. Although your teammates can use the same login to log on, everyone will have to enter the codes on their own to unlock and proceed with the game. eScape-room.UK has improved their interface a lot since we played their last game. All the items that we've unlocked will now stay unlocked. This caused a little problem during this game play as we had to remember something prior to unlocking a mechanism and there was no way to go back to look at it again. One of the players also experienced some lost puzzle elements during the game play but others were totally fine throughout the game. The interface was definitely more user friendly than when we first started playing their games. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There were a lot fun puzzles in this game. You're able to roam around in various rooms and all the graphics stuck to the theme. There was a part where we had to open a dresser with endless locks of all sorts of colors. I really enjoyed that coming from an escape room enthusiast background. We did get stuck during one part of the game as one of our players jumped over a puzzle when he realized a visual clue. This really confused us as the previous clue was bringing us to a different solution. I'm not sure how many players would be able to jump over that puzzle but being in the USA definitely gave us an advantage over European players on this particular puzzle. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 We're becoming fans of eScape-room.UK's digital games now. The creator is great at making changes according to our feedback and we are seeing them being implemented immediately into his games. His games always remind us of in-person escape rooms and we love that there's always so many different areas to explore in a single game. The graphics are done really well along with the variations in puzzles. The physical puzzle boxes are a lot of fun too. We look forward to playing more games from them very soon! 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Jorge L. The Clocksmith Apprentice was a fun point-and-click digital game. Our adventure was non-hosted with a seamless login process that allowed our team of 4 to quickly sign into the game and divide and conquer. The theme of the game really carried itself well throughout the entire experience, revolving around a clocksmith and the inner workings of clocks through multiple eras. From a game mechanic standpoint, this was definitely one of the better point-and-click experiences with great use of the entire environment as you progressed in the game. There were a number of puzzles that really made you think as to why a certain thing was done in such a certain way, until you realize that's the important part of the question that will lead to your answer and I absolutely love these styles of puzzles. We did have to use a few hints to ensure we were on the right track, but overall this is a good game for more experienced players to tackle as a group. ______________________________________________________________ Jasmin H. I enjoyed The Clocksmith's Apprentice, it was challenging and fun. I am not a great puzzle solver and needed a lot of help, but I still enjoyed the adventure and the overall design. There were some fun sounds, but I would have loved to have a continuous soundtrack, some fitting atmospheric background music. Most of the game was intuitive but could have had some more specific hints (For dummies like me). It was the first time I played a game that required outside knowledge. In a way, I think that if you really pay attention you can figure most of the things out, but I did find myself googling occasionally. For people who really enjoy point-and-click escape rooms with lots of puzzles, this is a good game to try. If you are more into story-based games, with effects, visuals, and music, it might not be for you. (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-room.UK 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #eScaperoomUK #TheClocksmithsApprentice #mystery #clocks #locksmith #search #clickandpoint #learningconnections

Photos provided by eScape-room.UK Company: eScape-room.UK Games: The Studio Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Mystery Date Played: 3/20/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Approximately 60-120 min) Price: £10.00 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You were staying in your good friend Pamela's studio while she's away. Her passion was always revolved around puzzles. Recently she's been quite forgetful and has been leaving clues around her studio to remind herself of her daily routines. The thing she forgot to tell you was how to decipher them when she left. It's up to you to solve these riddles in order to leave her apartment. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 If you purchase the game, you can gather a group of friends to play over zoom using the same game code. Your game won't be synced so make sure to inform everyone of the codes you find so you guys can progress at the same time. This is a point-n-click style digital game. There's a timer build-in to the game's interface for you to use solely as as tracker but doesn't actually run out. Make sure you're careful about closing your windows because the game will not auto save so you'll have to enter all the codes again if you closed it by accident. This is one of their older games and although there were some new revisions done according to our suggestions from the prior games, we still struggled with some unfixed part of the interface. For instance, the nudging hint system was not very clear and especially not useful for one of the puzzles. There was no actual solution given so if you're stuck, the only thing you can do is email the creator and wait for assistance. Most of the items have been corrected to stay open after the right code was punched in but there were a few that would still relock so make sure you write all the answers down while playing this game. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There was a lot of deciphering in this game. Some might even call it a bit tedious but that's really a preference thing. There's also a good amount of pop culture and history references used in the game. If you don't know them by heart then you'll have to rely on Google for a decent part of the game play. The final puzzle really got us stumped for awhile. Besides the deciphering, we also had to string some trivia knowledge along with the puzzle. There was no clear cluing on how we're suppose to achieve that answer. We did report this to the creator and he has informed us that he will be making a clearer hint for this puzzle. Hopefully when you play this game the issue would've been resolved. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 We've enjoyed the various themes eScape-room.UK has created so far. The puzzles are also very different in each of the games. Our favorite so far is The Clocksmith's Apprentice. If you enjoy deciphering and perhaps some general knowledge trivia and don't mind Googling at times for information then perhaps you'll enjoy this one. As for us, after 2 days of being stuck in the studio, we finally escaped! 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Jakal B. & Sarah S. The game play This game has a heavy search and find aspect to it with lots of things to look at as you go through each space. There is a decently structured inventory system to keep track of different things you find. This game does require all users to enter a code to unlock or view parts of the game. Personally, I am not a fan of games that do this, but we worked together on most things, which made it easier for everyone to keep up. The majority of the time I would say that it felt like a mostly completed game, but could have used just a little bit more to send it over the top. All in all I had a good time playing with our team and laughing about different things we encountered. The Puzzles The puzzles for this game were decently crafted semi-difficult puzzles that definitely kept us working for a while. Personally, I can't stand slide puzzles, but this game had something that made them a little easier to deal with, which I was fond of. The main puzzling uses a lot of the same mechanic, and can be quite tedious. I think that you need to have a good deduction brain for this one, and more than one is helpful. Outside knowledge is required for this game and the game tells you to go search the web if you need to. Some people may already know all of the things you will find, but we did not. Some of the search and find aspects of this game I was not very fond of, as it seemed a little off and I think we definitely skipped certain things because we didn't have items then went back to them much later in the game. Final Thoughts I had a lot of fun playing with our team on this one. We definitely had a lot of good laughs, and plenty of AHA moments. I would absolutely play anything this creator puts out, as the puzzles are a bit abstract and do challenge my brain. It's definitely worth giving a shot, especially if you like things that are a bit more puzzle hunt feeling. (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-room.UK 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #eScaperoomUK #TheStudio #mystery #search #clickandpoint #learningconnections

Photos above are property of eScape-room.UK Company: eScape-room.UK Games: Space Freighter Heimdall Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Sci-Fi Date Played: September 9, 2021 Difficulty (based on 5 players): 7/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Approximately 60-120 min) Price: £10.00 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You have entered Sector K-2074 and are approaching the Star Freighter Heimdall. There has been no contact from the ship’s crew or computer since an intense Solar Flare activity was recorded in the Sector several months ago. Your mission is to gain access to the ship to assess the level of damage and if possible, to rescue any of the crew that may have survived. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a point and click game that can be played solo or together with friends over a video call. One of you will receive the link and login information that you will share with the rest of the team to access the Heimdall. Although my suggestion is to purchase your own code as many people using the same link might mess up some components in the game. The game is not synced for everyone so you must collect all items and solve all the puzzles on your own. This means that it’s important that you communicate everything with your team to make sure that no one falls behind. This is a big spaceship and there is a LOT of stuff to find, click on and make sense out out of. You start off on the first floor (there's 4 in total!), navigating between the rooms by clicking arrows on the screen. You have with you a wheelie-bag to store interesting items in, including a tablet that will receive important messages. I’m not sure if a wheelie-bag would be my bag of choice for intergalactic travel, but I’m no astronaut so what do I know? 😂 Each floor of the ship has multiple rooms on them, but to explore them you must first find key cards with enough security access to operate the elevator and specific rooms. Once you have collected them and can move freely across the floors, you will realise that clues and hints are spread out all over the ship and that you will spend a fair bit of time traveling in that elevator. At some point you will need a camera device to scan QR codes and unless you happen to know some very specific pieces of trivia; prepare to use a search engine at least a few times. After 2 hours I had to leave the game for something way less fun. The great thing is that you get unlimited game play, so I could just keep my tab open and continue playing on my own at a later time. My team solved the entire game in about 2 hours & 30 minutes, and I managed to do it in just under 3 (2 hours, 58 minutes and 27 seconds baby)! 🙈 Photos above are property of eScape-room.UK 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Even though deciphering substitution puzzles aren’t my usual cup of tea, in this game I enjoyed working together as a team to spell out the messages. It became well needed breaks in the (at times) chaotic searching and solving that was going on between all of us. There is a fair amount of search and find, for example you need to collect puzzle pieces and laser thingy things. Make sure to tell your team when you find a collectible or there will be a lot of “Wait what, but I only found 4 puzzle pieces. Where's the 5th one?!” As mentioned earlier, there are a few occasions where you need outside knowledge to solve the puzzles. Some are more obvious and easier than others; names are easier to search for than astronomical icons are for example. And even though I don’t mind looking outside the Heimdall; it would have been nice to get a little hint as to when that was necessary. The external sites will also give you clues on how to solve some puzzles so definitely don't forget to use them. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; there are a LOT of puzzles to solve on board Heimdall. At points, I felt overwhelmed and had to focus on keeping up with my team and letting them guide me through the solves. But the puzzles are a wide mix of everything and I believe there’s something for everyone. How about old school programming, adventurous poems or Star Wars puns? My favourite one was a clever twist on the very common periodic table spelling puzzle! 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Accessing the Space Freighter Heimdall is not a small task and you should make sure that you have enough energy and time to put into it. Do not be afraid to take one (or many) hints. They are cryptic enough to give you a challenge anyways. I really like that you can pause the game at any time and continue at your own pace. I got the experience of both playing with a group as well as on my own and there were positives to both. There were some puzzles and clues that I’m unlikely to have figured out on my own, but I also found it easier at times to be able to investigate the ship at my own speed. And the pride that comes with solving a puzzle completely on your own is hard to beat! One of my favourite parts about this game is the outro. After 3 hours in when all the puzzles are solved and tasks are done, I was reminded about the storyline and why I was onboard the ship. I think this is the first time that a point-n-click game has given me goosebumps. Good goosebumps... (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-room.UK 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. #HannaNyberg #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #PointNClick #eScaperoomuk #SciFi #UK

Photo above is property of eScape-room.UK Company: eScape-room.UK Games: The Beach Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Point-N-Click 🖱️ Genre: Mystery Date Played: June 10, 2022 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 4/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Approximately 60-120 min) Price: £10.00 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You awake from your afternoon fiesta on a deck chair to find yourself trapped on a deserted beach with only two ways out - a dangerous cliff path and a locked gate. You plan on wringing the necks of your friends once you see them… but first you need to find how in the world you leave this hot and sandy place! 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This style of game follows a traditional point-n-click gameplay that you can login with a team remotely or just on your own. Each member of your group will be playing separately on their screen so make sure as you move along you keep your group updated to not fall behind each other as all passcodes need to be entered by each individually. The game emphasizes the need to examine things carefully and there is some general knowledge that you are expected to know, for example looking at an image and identifying which planet it is. There are also some puzzle clues that can be bypassed by accident if you are not mindful, so make sure you have all the pieces together before attempting in order to not create confusion down the line. Photo above are property of eScape-room.UK 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 I found "The Beach" to encapsulate an online digital escape room experience pretty well. The puzzles are layered and the element of collecting pieces added to the experience because you knew you were onto something when you noticed a series of similar items showing up. There were also some really well-hidden components that surprised me in a good way. The game in general is easy (we escaped in about 39 minutes), but the movement across different scenes and the aim to collect items helped engage players to keep moving which is key in any escape room. We ended up not requiring any clues for the game, but I would say there is one puzzle I feel some people might get stuck on if they don’t have some general knowledge or don’t catch the very light clues hidden around. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 "The Beach" is another great edition to eScape-room.UK's digital games through its smooth interface and engaging puzzling. I felt the experience encouraged players to explore and utilize the digital space in a thoughtful manner to give players a sense of adventure and thrill as they found details. This company and creator is consistently making changes to each game that show a true deduction and passion towards player experience so I can only imagine what is in store next! (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-room.UK 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. #JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #PointNClick #eScaperoomUK #mystery #UK

Photo above is property of eScape-room.UK Company: eScape-room.UK Games: Mythologik Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Point-N-Click 🖱️ Genre: Adventure Date Played: August 16, 2022 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 6/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Approximately 60-120 min) Price: £10.00 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 A new global tycoon company, renowned for their virus protection, has launched an attack on the world in a vengeful act that threatens the world as we know it. You are tasked with entering the facility and stopping the virus from being released into the digital world before it is too late! 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 When you start the game, each member of your group can enter using the same game code, but you will not be synced up when you play. So using your preferred communication (Discord, Zoom, Outlook, etc) make sure you are keeping everyone in the loop as you progress in the game. This game, much like the previous games by eScape-room.uk, is a point-n-click style digital game.Your task is to enter deeper into the rooms of AzTec by unlocking doors. Around the room lies clues to unlock the doors. Some clues will be more obvious (i.e. you can click them) but make sure to keep track of your inventory and the things you observe in the rooms as they provide important clues! Of note, if you decide to take a break or exit your game, this interface will not save your data so you will have to restart each time. We also want to say the hint system (click on the light bulb in the top left of the screen) was not very clear. There is no actual solution given so if you're stuck, the only thing you can do is email the creator and wait for assistance. In this frame of mind, I would say this game is better suited for more experienced players. Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The game builds its puzzles up for players but at a certain stage you start seeing quite a bit of deciphering. I will say it can be a bit overwhelming, especially when you start acquiring pieces and clues for later puzzles that you don’t know are needed for later. I liked how they mixed the puzzles between traditional puzzles and the coding but you will be seeing a similar rinse and repeat style as your progress. For a larger group this will have no impact as you can easily divide and conquer but single players may notice a general theme to the puzzles as a result. In addition, some outside knowledge is required so don’t be afraid to google things - this is really important for the first puzzle to give you a frame of mind. Overall I found that when the cluing was done right the experience was quite enjoyable. I found myself stumped quite a few times and spent far longer on a puzzle than I should have, even when looking at the hints (10/18/22 - The creator has updated the hint system to include solutions to all puzzles). 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 The set out and layout of "Mythologlik" is well executed and the theme was an interesting mix of Aztec and Norse mythology, which as a history lover I was quite curious about. I found the majority of the puzzles were well set up but the weak hint system did drag me down when I got stuck on puzzles with unclear clues (10/18/22 - The creator has updated the hint system to include solutions to all puzzles) I have taken the comments onboard and rewritten the Hints to include access to all solutions if the player gets stuck.. Each game I have played so far from eScape-room.UK has provided unique and very different concepts that keeps me coming back. If you like a bit of a challenge and enjoy deciphering and decoding then this should be quite the adventure for you! (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-room.UK 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. #JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #PointNClick #eScaperoomUK #Adventure #UK

Videos/ Photos provided by HOUSE of TALES Company: HOUSE of TALES Games: HONG KONG - The Night Before Country: Germany 🇩🇪 Language: English, German Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Crime Date Played: 1/17/2021 Difficulty (based on 5 players): 6.5/10 Size of Team: 1-6 people (recommended) Time: Unlimited (Suggested time 90-120 Minutes) Price: €24.99/ team 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 The two most influential triads in Hong Kong ("Red Lotus" and "Blue Phoenix") seems to be on the edge of their seats. Wen De has been assigned to retrieve something. This could be "life or death" for him. Can you help him survive this test? 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a digital point-n-click game that can be played as a team. Once you enter the code after purchasing the game voucher, your team can use the same link to start the game at the same time. It would be best if you wear headsets when playing this game since there are many audio components. If you are playing with a team, "muting" and "unmuting" on Zoom could become cumbersome. We quite like the audio narrations and sound effects that were implemented in the game. The graphics were beautiful. They all helped set the tone for the back story. One thing we did find quite inconvenient is that all the members will have to stick with the same pop up clue whenever something was found. Although there wasn't much "searching" components in the game at the beginning, there were more items we're able to click on in various areas in the latter parts of the game. So if a player wanted to look at one clue and another player wanted to look at something else, it would become a "battle" for screen time. Eventually we just took snapshots of the clues with our phones. The process of entering answers only had to be done by one member. If the answer was correct, the screen will continue to the next seen automatically for everyone. There were occasions where we had to use some outside resources (Google/Social Media) for game which some players may not prefer. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There were quite a handful of riddles used in this game. It felt appropriate if the game was sticking to an "Asian wisdom" type of vibe. However we did want to see more variations in puzzle types. Some answers felt like you can "brutal force" them but that wouldn't be fun (although there's no penalty for guessing). There were "progressive" styled hints build into the game. The final hint would reveal the solution. There was no time limit to finish the game so you could take your time to think through the puzzles. Some may require some good old Math skills. One puzzle's clues seemed quite vague to us. When we read the hint we understood what we were supposed to use and what we weren't but you wouldn't be able to tell from the clues that were provided to us (this puzzle have been improved based on our suggestions by the game creator). We did enjoy the way the puzzles were intertwined with the story of the gang and how it made us feel like we're breaking into their headquarters and every puzzle we solved led us closer to our end goal. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 With the way the game was designed, I would designate a team leader. It almost feels like we're just sharing a game screen over zoom. There was really no point in multiple people clicking different things at the same time because the puzzles were linear and it had to be solved as a team before moving on. If HOUSE of TALES want to make a more cooperative type of game, they'll have to implement more puzzles that teams can construct together or build an inventory system where the players can at least "search and find" items separately. A non-linear play could be quite interesting to see. We did love the uniqueness of the story line and the graphics of the game a lot. The ending also left us a nice cliffhanger which I assume there will be a sequel coming in the near future? 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Jen M. The theme of 'Hong Kong - The Night Before' is super intriguing. Set amid rival Chinese gangs in the underbelly of the city, it felt like a journey to someplace I've never been. The images and videos featured in the game are gritty and atmospheric. The consistently grimy aesthetic as you move from location to location in the game does a great job of setting the tone and transporting you to the world of the game. The puzzles were a mixed bag. There are a good number of puzzles, and many are solid escape room style puzzles. A few comments on the ones that didn't work as well for me: Right off the bat there was a puzzle that required outside knowledge—and it turned out to be the only puzzle that needed outside knowledge (although other puzzles do take you out of the game UI to Instagram and email). Another set of puzzles overtly leveraged classic river crossing and hat riddles. Those unfamiliar with the riddles might find them challenging, and those who are familiar (like me) would prefer to see a little more reinvention of them. There was one puzzle that we didn't understand even after revealing the hints and solution. Directional locks can sometimes be temperamental and frustrating in real life escape rooms—and they perfectly recreated that experience online. For me, the biggest 'pros' were the atmospheric visuals and theme, and the biggest 'cons' were a few tedious puzzles. This online game is set up as a prequel to one of their physical escape rooms, a clever strategy to connect their online and in-person experiences. The ending was a little confusing since it both celebrates your success in this online game and sets up the sequel, but the overall online experience did make me curious to continue the story in the escape room someday. (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 HOUSE of TALES 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #HOUSEofTALES #HONGKONGthenightbefore #triads #gangs #crime #criminalactivity #DigitalEscapeGames

Photos provided by Pod klobúkom Company: Pod klobúkom Country: Slovakia 🇸🇰 Language: English, Slovakian, Czech Type of Game: Digital Puzzle Game 💻 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 After purchasing the game, you'll receive an email with login details. Make sure you select "English" as the language when purchasing as the game is also available in Slovakian. Your teammates can use the same login and password (up to 5) to access the game. Press "start" at the same time to play the game together (although it's not synced in anyway). At the beginning of each puzzle, there'll be an automatic audio read of the backstory. We recommend wearing headphones (if playing with a team over Zoom) or mute the site or yourself you can also read the text format of the backstory if that's your preference. The puzzles are always given in forms of images. This is not a clickable game. You'll just need to interpret the information from the images given and solve the puzzles. Only one team member need to enter the solution. This will unlock the chapter for the rest of the team. For some reason, when we tried this method, it didn't unlock for the rest of the team so we just had to enter the passwords separately. It would've been nice if after "unlocking" the puzzle, the page could automatically take us to the next puzzle instead of us having to click the "back" button on the website in order to click on to the next chapter. The website was also loading quite slow for some of our players due to this action that they had to take. The online platform also offered hints that could be taken if your team gets stuck. A full solution was revealed at the end if the "nudging" hints are not helpful. If you do decide to take a hint, points will be deducted from the final score. If you want to make it onto the leader board, you might want to consider not using hints unless its absolutely necessary. At times, it's so hard to hold back on that urge of wanting to press the hint button.... Game: The Story Begins... Genre: Detective Date Played: 12/8/2020 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5/10 Size of Team: Recommend a team of 2 - 5pp (ages 12+) Time: Unlimited (suggested time 30-90 mins) Price: Free 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 A mysterious envelope was delivered under our doors. What could this be? Our journey to the "Biohazard" trilogy begins here... 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There are 5 fun ciphers in this puzzle. If you are an experienced puzzler, you might get 4 of them with ease. The last one might take you a bit longer. If you haven't encountered many ciphers before, this could be a great "lesson" for you and it'll get you prepared and warmed up for the next two episodes. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 It took us a bit of time to get use to their online game portal. We wasted a bit of time wondering why nothing happened after we entered the right answer until we realized we had to press the "back" button to unlock the next chapter. We enjoy the added option of the voice read backstory and music at the beginning of each puzzle. It gave the game more context than just a puzzle hunt. We didn't use any hints for this game so we're glad to make it onto the leader board! Game: Quarantine Genre: Sci-Fi Date Played: 1/16/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 6.5/10 Size of Team: Recommend a team of 2 - 5pp (ages 15+) Time: Unlimited (suggested time 1.5-3 hrs ) Price: €25/ Team 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You're stuck at home under a mandatory home quarantine in a pandemic. Since there's nothing else to do, you begin to wonder if there's any secrets hidden in this new house you just purchased. I mean what else is there to do? 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Our game started with a funny audio intro. There were 10 puzzles in this game. You can definitely feel the progression on the difficulty level from the "free" game above. The puzzles were all pretty creative and most of them were multi-step puzzles. One music puzzle felt like there were outside knowledge required (I'm glad we had some 80s music lovers on our team). There was one imagery that was used in a puzzle that potentially could raise our recommended age group to 18+. Since our teammates were also experienced puzzlers, this game still felt like a 5/10 in terms of level of difficulty. What raise the bar was the last puzzle. You really had to be good at spatial recognition, memory along with some added patience. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 We played the game with a total of 4 players over Zoom and finished the game in 1 hour and 7 minutes. It's been awhile since we've played a game that concentrated more on the puzzle side than story (although we really enjoyed the humor in this storyline). This is probably our favorite game out of this trilogy set and it seems like the player agrees as it made it as a "finalists" on "Bullseye Award - Player's Choice". 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Stacey M. An enjoyable room with some pretty complex puzzles. The room is very linear. It plays more like a series of distinct puzzles than an escape room. That is, you are given only the information you need to solve the current puzzle rather than a room with various elements and clues all at once and you can only move onto the next puzzle once you solve the current one. The puzzles definitely increase with difficulty as you go along. One thing to note is that some outside knowledge is required to solve these and you will like need to use the internet to look up facts. Although, some sensitive players may take issue with a photo that appears part-way through (nothing gruesome or R-rated). Jorge L. Quarantine was a fun and challenging adventure that took our team of 4 a few minutes over an hour to finish. With one exception, the puzzles increased in difficulty along the way, which is perfect for those that like challenging adventures and puzzles with great "Ah!" moments. For pros, the puzzles were quite fresh. Nothing felt repetitive in nature either against itself or from other adventures that a standard escape room player would recognize. The humor in the storyline was also quite nice as it aided in building into each of the puzzles that were at hand. For cons, we did find the website loading speeds to be quite slow for most of the adventure, but otherwise we were easily able to keep up with our team and enjoy our escape as a group! Game: Microscoped Genre: Sci-Fi Date Played: 1/16/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 8/10 Size of Team: Recommend a team of 2 - 5pp (ages 15+) Time: Unlimited (suggested time 3-4 hours) Price: €25/ Team 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Our investigation finally led us to a suspicious building for the company Animexit. Someone has been leaving breadcrumbs so we can find this place. Is this company a cover up for an organization for developing biological weapons? Are you ready to find out the truth? 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Since the game is played in a linear way, we had to solve the puzzles together as a team. Once again we had 4 ppl playing this over zoom. For some reason (unless I remembered wrong), there was no "read out loud" option for the backstory on this game like the other two. We missed that component. My initial thought was that the puzzles were going to get progressively harder like the other two but this one was quite mixed. Some puzzles took us minutes to complete where as others had us staring at the computer screen for 30 minutes. We did have an issue with one puzzle. We spoke to another good friend of ours after the game as well that on that specific puzzle and we all agreed that there's definitely an error in the solution. We were able to get the solution without using a hint by visualizing the letters and unscrambling it but the explanation on the solution didn't agree with what we figured out as an answer. We were quite happy with the rest of the multi-step puzzles though as they all gave us that satisfying "aha" moment. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This game would be quite challenging for beginner puzzlers. Since most puzzles took multiple steps to complete,, there were a lot of things you'll have to recognize and associate together. Some Googling may be required for some outside knowledge. This time the final puzzle was surprisingly not difficult. I guess it was a reward from the company to celebrate our escape from this trilogy journey especially when we played ep 2 and eps 3 back to back! 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Mindy Z. The puzzles are creative, as it ties in to the story and fun. It has a range of variety and difficulty levels on the puzzle. Overall, fun experience and enjoyable. Lee B. I am personally very fond of puzzle games that are very puzzle-focused, and require pondering on. Story and plot are also great, but sometimes "pure" puzzle games are fantastic. Microscoped does have a storyline, but its main focus is indeed the puzzles, and they are a lot of fun! They had a usually increasing level of difficulty, and a few of them did leave us thinking for quite a while until we cracked them. An absolutely fun game, and I will definitely play a similar game again! (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 Pod klobúkom 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. #escapetheroomers #escaperoom #podklobukom #thestorybegins #quarantine #microscoped detective #review #mystery #onlinegames #digitalgames #scifi

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 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 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 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 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 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 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. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 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: (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. #JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #PointNClick #ElevenPuzzles #Detective #Poland

Photos provided by Eleven Puzzles Company: Eleven Puzzles Game: Unboxing The Mind Of A Cryptic Killer Country: Poland 🇵🇱 Language: English Type of Game: Online Escape Game 💻 Genre: Detective, Mystery Date Played: 1/9/2021 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 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Detective Steve "Old Dog" Kowalski and Allison Abernathy have recently been reunited by a cold case they've tried to solve years ago. It seems like this time they are the targets of the Cryptic Killer. They need your help to solve this suspicious chest that's been left by the killer... 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a digital point-n-click game that requires a minimum of 2 computers (2 teams) to complete. We played the game with 4 team members with 2 members on each team. At the start of the game, you'll chose if you want to be on Detective Steve's team or Detective Allison's team. There's really no difference on which team you choose but each team will be seeing different game elements and you'll need to work together to solve the puzzles. The entire "action" will be taken place on still shot artwork images. The artwork reminded us of a 80s retro vibe. We dug it. We also like the audio narrations and sound effects that was added to the game. Once you solved a puzzle, each teammate will need to input the same code on their screen in order to unlock that item so it's not synced in that sense. We did enjoy the fact that we're able to click on different items and work on various puzzles in a nonlinear way instead of having to look at the same screen as a team. 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. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles were really creative. There were a mixture of deciphers, audio, and logic puzzles. We loved the aspects of having the teams communicate with each other in order to come up with the final solution. The puzzles were not repetitive which made it very enjoyable to play through the game. The clicking sounds from unlocking the locks really felt like we're on scene. Towards the end of the game, you'll have to dismantle a bomb ( I don't think this is consider a spoiler since you'll all get there eventually). My hands actually felt like they were shaking since I'm unsure which wire to cut as the timer counts down. With 30 seconds left on the clock, we cut the right wire. The joyful scream from the team was really pleasant to hear. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 I think we've found our first favorite cooperative puzzle game in 2021! This game really bought out the teamwork aspect through the puzzles and game design. The final challenge with the timer countdown (you won't actually run out of time so don't worry, everyone will be able to finish) really captured that final urgency that we would feel in a real life escape room. We completed the game in 1 hours time and was left feeling wanting more! Being new creators in the digital game world, this was an amazing product. We can't wait to see what Eleven Puzzles will be able to whip up in the near future! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of their game: (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. #CiciCao #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #PointNClick #ElevenPuzzles #CrypticKiller #DigitalEscapeGame #onlinegames #detective #puzzles #cooperativegame #teamwork #solve #teamwork

Photos provided by Catch 22 Rooms Company: Catch 22 Rooms Game: The Night Before Christmas Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Holiday Date Played: 1/9/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 3.5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited (suggested 1-6 Players) Time: 60 Minutes Price: £15 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 It seems like the Head Elf misplaced all the keys to the workshop. Santa's sleigh leaves in 60 minutes. Will you be able to help him and save Christmas? (you'll also be able to see a preview of the room on their website). 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a self guided digital point-n-click game designed on the Telescape platform. Since we've used Telescape numerous times, it wasn't difficult to figure out what we were supposed to do when the game started. We were a bit surprised as there's a super quick intro video at the start and the countdown timer started right away. It would be nice to add a longer backstory video prior to game start along with some instructions on how to use the system. For anyone who haven't used Telescape before, there's a box on the top left corner and all the codes and passwords should be entered through there. If you are playing with a team, make sure to update everyone before entering a code as a video will play right after that if the code is correct. Some teammates might miss out on what had just been solved as the game is not linear so different teammates can be working on different puzzles. There is a build-in hint system should you need to use it. It was nice to see that items that needed to be closely examined had an option to be zoomed in on. There were also some elements that you can interact with by click and drag. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles were quite easy. For enthusiasts, this game will probably take you less than 30 minutes. Most of the puzzles were "search and find" or "counting" types. It felt like it was designed for a younger audience. Kids would really enjoy this room. One puzzle that involved colors confused us for a short bit as few of the colors looked similar. It also took a bit for the platform to be able to recognize the "hot-spots" that we had to place objects on. Since all 4 of us have played many games, it was definitely a quick game session for us. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Although the puzzles were quite easy, we had a lot of fun playing this game. Our team was high on energy throughout the game since we weren't stumped on any puzzles. The holiday atmosphere and jolly sound effects also made this a very pleasant experience. If you are a beginner puzzler looking for a cheerful game (especially if you have young kids), then get ready to assist the Head Elf in "The Night Before Christmas"! *** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors *** Disclosure: We thank Catch 22 Rooms 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. #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #ESCAPETHEROOMers #Catch22Rooms #TheNightBeforeChristmas #DigitalEscapeGame #onlinegames #fantasy #holiday #christmas #santa #fun #puzzles #teamwork #solve

Photos provided by Can You Escape? - Malta Company: Can You Escape? - Malta Game: Santa's Hard Disk Broke! Country: Malta 🇲🇹 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Adventure Date Played: 11/28/2020 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5.5/10 Size of Team: 1-6 Players Time: Unlimited Price: €19.85 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Santa has been quite busy preparing for this year's gift delivery. It's finally Christmas Eve and everything is ready to go or so he thought...It seems like the Hard Disk that contains everyone's address has became corrupted and you as his security officer needs to find a way to recover the information for him! You are the only hope to save Christmas this year! 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 You can purchase one code and play it as a team of up to 6 players. You can also easily play the game as a single player. We played it as a team of two and used around an hours time with no hints. The entire game is designed with an online portal called Telescape. In the portal, you're able to search for items separately and input passwords in your individual screen. Once a correct code has been entered, the item will unlock for the rest of the players. We enjoyed seeing the prerecorded lock opening videos as they added realism to the game. You might have to get use to the "unlocking" process as some are digits but other times you'll need to know how to combine items using words. Do read the instructions clearly before you start the game. We obviously didn't and had to go back to read the "tricky" question. There's a build-in hint system if you ever get stuck. The main focus on the game is around an office desk. You'll be able to zoom in and out to search for items and get a closer look on items that are useful. The desk is decorated with all sorts of festivity items. It was easy to get lost but the creator did a great job with sorting together items that we still need to use and removing ones we've already used. We were surprised at how much content the creator was able to utilize from the design "space". 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Since the puzzles were non linear, we split up and kept each other informed on the progress over Zoom. Being that whenever a player solves the right code a video will pop up for the rest of the players, everyone was kept up to speed on the progression of the game. The puzzles were really creative and had a good mixture of level of difficulty. I actually enjoyed one of the sudoku-like type of puzzle (I know right? That's got to say something)! Since we're quite familiar with this platform, it might have made it easier for us to get through the game but this is definitely one of the better games we've seen that used this portal design. The interactive puzzles were a lot of fun to do as a team. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 I'm a sucker for holiday theme games. Christmas happens to be my favorite holiday of the year. The colorful decorations and joyful puzzle designs in this game really bought a smile to our faces. It's been a tough year and whenever we play a game that can make us forget reality for just a little bit, we're very grateful. This game is great for the holidays and can be enjoyed with friends and family all around. So gather your favorite people and organize a game date now! (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 Can You Escape? - Malta for providing us with a sample of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #CanYouEscapeMalta #SantasHardDiskBroke #OnlineEscapeRoom #DigitalEscapeGame #mystery #adventure #holiday #christmas #santaclaus #santa

Photos provided by Can You Escape? - Malta Company: Can You Escape? - Malta Country: Malta 🇲🇹 Language: English Type of Games: Digital Escape Game 💻 Size of Team: No limit, recommend 2-4 ppl Time: Unlimited Price: €4.25 Game: The Antidote Genre: Action Date Played: 3/29/20 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5/10 "Covid-19: The Antidote" was definitely meant for beginner puzzlers as it we completed the game in about 20 minute or so. It's a good starting point if you like to try their entire series. We liked that the puzzles were clear and straight to the point. There weren't many instances you'll need to go online to search for things in case you're not a fan of those types of games. It's the type of game where you'll feel quite good about yourself for getting the antidote and saving the world. Game: The Serial Killer Genre: Crime Date Played: 4/15/2020 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5/10 "The Serial Killer" was a sequel to the "Covid-19". There's was definitely more puzzles to solve in this game. I liked how a clear check list was provided just like if you were working combining items you found in an escape room so this way you are able to refer back to it to put the pieces together at the end. You do not need to play "Covid-19" in order to play this game but it's always fun to see the full development of a story. Game: The Breakup Genre: Romantic Comedy Date Played: 4/27/20 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5/10 "The Breakup" was the last of its series of digital escape games from Can You Escape Malta and my personal favorite. Right from the beginning I was absorbed into the story. I don't want to give away any spoilers but it's the first time we saw a digital game starting like this. This game incorporated a lot more social media apps usage than the previous two but in very clever ways. Sometimes the social media content that we've seen other companies use isn't as intriguing but with this game I felt like I was traveling around the world through the girlfriend's eyes. I much prefer this game over some high tech point and click, especially for the price! Can't wait for another digital story from them! *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available for purchase but check out other games on their website*** Disclosure: We thank Can You Escape? - Malta for providing us with a sample of the game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #CanYouEscapeMalta #Covid19 #Antitode #SerialKillers #TheBreakup #DigitalEscapeRoom #escaperoom #escapetheroomers