Search this site

Video/ Photos provided by CODE D'AZUR Company: CODE D'AZUR Game: The Lockdown Country: Netherlands 🇳🇱 Language: English Type of Game: Augmented Reality (AR) Game 📱 Genre: Suspense, Detective Date Played: 5/14/2020 Difficulty (based on 1 players): 5/10 Size of Team: 1 Player Time: Unlimited Price: Free This game was suggested to us by a friend we met at UTG. We were really glad to have discovered it because the AR design in this game was amazing. Even though this was just created to be a teaser, you could see how much work was put into it. We suggest you wear your headphones for the entire game. I felt like I was THERE talking to the person face to face. When I pulled up the clues and information we had to look through (floating in the air), I wondered if that's how we might play escape rooms one day? I know there are a lot of AR games out there and some escape rooms have already incorporated this technology into their games, but I wonder if this is where the future holds? Take 20 minute of your day and feel the immersion of this game. You can download it for free on the app store or google play. *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available*** #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #CODED'AZUR #TheLockdown #AugmentedReality #AR #VideoGame #free #future #DownloadApp #AppGames #Download #AppStore #GooglePlay

Videos/ Photos provided by Yak & Co Company: Yak & Co Game: Agent A Country: Australia 🇦🇺 Language: English Type of Game: Video Escape Game 📱 Genre: Espionage Date Played: 5/30/2020 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 5/10 Price: $0.99 (App Store)/ $4.99 (Google Play) A suave secret agent adventure game. Your mission (should you choose to accept) is to infiltrate enemy spy Ruby La Rouge’s secret hideaway and put a stop to her evil plans! You play as Agent A in this stylish secret agent world full of retro futuristic contraptions, hidden gizmos, gadgets and clever logic based puzzles. But do be warned… Ruby La Rouge is no spy to be taken lightly! Explore a labyrinth of perplexing puzzles in this quirky game of cat and mouse that’ll have you wondering whether you’re the cat… or the mouse!! Notice something strange or out of place? Making mental notes and observations (like a good secret agent) will aid you in solving tricky puzzles later on. As you explore Rubys secret hideout, collecting objects and using them cleverly is crucial in unlocking a trail of puzzles leading you ever closer to your target! I was very excited to try this game as I've heard great things about Yak & Co! Everything about "Agent A" makes you feel like you're part of the spy world. The design and graphics is truly amazing. As an escape video game, all of the puzzle challenges made sense and correlated with the storyline. The one thing that I had an issue with was that the game would freeze from time to time and I would have to close and reopen the app. I played this game mainly on my iPhone so I'm not sure if other platforms are having the same issue. Other than that, I can't wait for the sequel (hint, hint)... (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"!) #ESCAPETHEROOmers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #Yak&Co #AgentA #EscapeVideoGame #Espionage #Spy

Videos/ Photos provided by Fireproof Games Company: Fireproof Games Game: The Room Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Video Escape Game 📱 Genre: Adventure, Mystery Date Played: 6/3/2020 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 6.5/10 Price: The following is available for purchase & download - App Store, Google Play, Steam, Nintendo Switch: Free - The Room (Pocket Version) $0.99 - The Room $1.99 - The Room Two $3.99 - The Room Three $4.99 - The Room - Old Sins The following is available for purchase & download - Oculus, Steam VR, Playstation VR: $29.99 - The Room VR - Dark Matter I've heard some great things about Fireproof Games based on their VR game - "Omega Agent" and "The Room VR - Dark Matter"! Before playing those two, I wanted to start from the very beginning with "The Room (Pocket Version)" and "The Room" to compare the difference and analyze the progression. I just finished and they are both incredible! To be fair, "The Room" games prior to "Old Sins" and "Dark Matter" are more puzzle heavy and less story driven. So if you're looking to crack open a mysterious object with a bunch of hidden puzzle challenges, these are the games for you! This is probably what it feels like to be Chris Ramsay on an iPhone... The picture quality and sound effects is astonishing and the puzzle challenges are cleverly constructed! Playing the "The Room (Pocket Version)" definitely wets the appetite and leaves you wanting more, enough to purchase the next level - "The Room" for $0.99! In regards to "The Room - Old Sins" and "The Room VR - Dark Matter", those are more story-driven and what most escape room enthusiasts are used to. I haven't had the pleasure of playing either one of them yet, but I've seen some of the gameplay on YouTube and it looks amazing! The VR game alone can definitely make up for not being able to get your escape room fix. Bottom line, Fireproof Games packs a punch with their visual & sound quality as well as their puzzle design creativity! (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"!) #ESCAPETHEROOmers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #FireproofGames #TheRoom #EscapeVideoGame #Adventure #Mystery #PuzzleBoxes #PuzzleGames #Puzzles #AppStore #GooglePlay #NintentoSwitch #Steam #ChrisRamsay

Photo above is property of Fireproof Games Company: Fireproof Games Game: The Room VR: A Dark Matter Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Video Escape Game 📱 Genre: Supernatural Mystery, Suspense Date Played: September 2, 2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 8/10 Price: $29.99 - The Room VR - Dark Matter (available for purchase & download - Oculus, Steam VR, PSVR) 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You are a detective in a relatively drab office, assigned to solve the mystery of a missing scientist. The initial search quickly takes an unexpected turn, and you learn there is far more to this than a simple missing person case. In fact, the circumstances behind the scientist's disappearance are far more nefarious and otherworldly than you ever would've imagined. Video above is property of Fireproof Games 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ In a word, ENTHRALLING. The set design is consistently intricate and beautifully rendered, making it easy to get sucked into the virtual world that Fireproof has created. As the mystery unfolds, the set design continues to impress. Take your time to look around - attention to detail will serve you well when solving the various puzzles and challenges, and will also do justice to the work the designers put into both the game-related elements as well as general set decoration. Photos above are properties of Fireproof Games 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Initially, the game guides you through exactly what to do, and it may feel a bit simplistic. Fear not! It will become complex soon enough, and the clear explanations of how to move, manipulate objects, and interact with the world are quite helpful in getting started. The movement is station-to-station in that there are certain areas in the room that you can move to (clearly indicated), and the mode of movement is smoothly implemented. As someone who occasionally gets nauseous in VR games with a lot of movement, I was pleased that the motion is smooth enough that I could play for an hour-plus at a stretch without a hint of nausea. You collect objects to an inventory, and they will disappear when they have outlived their usefulness, preventing needless clutter. You will also manipulate many of the real-world objects in the game space. For the most part, I found the grasping and object manipulation to be consistent and relatively stable. Also, while the puzzles are initially sequential, you can move where you want to, when you want to, and as the game unfolds you will have more freedom. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 A Dark Matter contains a variety of puzzles. Some require simple physical manipulation based on standard laws of physics, some require following instructions that may not be immediately obvious, some require pairing items together, and some require a blend of all these concepts. There is a sequential hint system that is simple to use (a component of the inventory) and provides both basic clues ('Did you see a thing somewhere?) and more direct instructions ('Check over there'), in case the initial nudges aren't sufficient. As some of the puzzles require revisiting objects and areas that seemed to be previously 'solved', these clues can be helpful signposts, without giving away the actual solution or mechanism. This last detail was initially a source of minor frustration, simply due to my being in the habit of 'solve it and forget it'. It soon became a source of excitement - 'hmmm, I bet that will have more layers', and as I became more and more comfortable with the game's internal logic and modus operandi, this element became more and more enticing. Photos above are properties of Fireproof Games 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Playing "The Room VR: A Dark Matter" was a wondrous experience. It sucked me in and kept me wondering how it would develop further. There were enough twists and turns to keep the gameplay fresh and exciting, with just enough returns to consistent elements to give an occasional sense of comfort. Additionally, the complexity of the game evolved such that just as I felt like I had things in hand, the game turned things up a notch to draw me in even more. If you are a bit frustrated in the early going (as I admittedly was) stick with it - believe me, it is well worth working through that and getting in sync with the rhythm of The Room. The eventual mastery of how to operate things is well-balanced with the escalating difficulty. As it becomes more intricate, it becomes more satisfying as well. It uses the VR capability to blend real and surreal incredibly well, providing a great mix of 'That's how it would work in real life' and 'Yeah, I get to do that!' Although many puzzle games and rooms are one and done, I am excited to play A Dark Matter a second time. While many of the puzzles will obviously be simpler, I will be better Positioned to savor the set design and have fun with the myriad challenges that are posed. As The Room (original) was something I downloaded on an older phone but never played, A Dark Matter has me very excited to explore that app, as well as any other offerings from Fireproof. (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"!) #DaveBristol #AtHomeGames #VideoGames #VRGames #FireproofGames #TheRoom #Mystery #UnitedKingdom #VR

Videos/ Photos provided by Other Tales Interactive Company: Other Tales Interactive Game: Tick Tock: A Tale for Two Country: Sweden 🇸🇪 Language: English/ German/ French/ Simplified Chinese/ Spanish/ Brazilian Portuguese/ Japanese/ Danish/ Swedish/ Traditional Chinese (coming soon)/ Korean (coming soon) Type of Game: Video Escape Game (Apple Store, Steam, Nintendo Switch,Google Play Store) 📱 Genre: Adventure, Mystery Date Played: 6/21/2020 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7.5/10 Price: $5.99 (Steam)/ $5.99 (Nintendo Switch)/ $2.99 (App Store)/ $2.99 (Google Play) "Tick Tock: A Tale for Two" is set in a mystical world where you and your friend will travel back in time to discover the hidden past. We each downloaded a version of the game onto our Iphones through the App store. As we've played a bunch of online games where we had to work together as a team in order to "escape", we were familiar with what we needed to do. We were excited to try out this game since we've heard many of our friends talk about how great it was and this would be the first cooperative App game we've ever tried. We started the game at the same time by pressing either player 1 or player 2. It doesn't matter if you were off by a few seconds from each other since the game is not really synced. You won't be able to proceed without the other person as they will have information you need to help your side of the puzzle. One of the things that we love about cooperative escape games is the required amount of communication between two players. It's really satisfying to be able to help the other person by providing him/her with the right information. The graphics and music felt poetic at times. It was interesting to see how the game creator was able evolve the same scenery into something so different by the puzzles. Some puzzles were quite clever as it was used to build a story line. I'm not going to lie, there were definitely moments of frustration as the puzzles were not easy (we probably spent about 2 hours on the game). This game would be extremely difficult if you didn't take notes on the side. We realized when we got to certain puzzles that having a photogenic memory would be pretty useful. But when we were able to figure out the final solutions, it was quite satisfying. It felt like we were creating the happy ending for the story together while creating wonderful memories with each other. (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 Other Tales Interactive 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 #OtherTalesInteractive #TickTockATaleForTwo #EscapeVideoGame #Adventure #Mystery #PuzzleGames #Puzzles #AppStore #GooglePlay #NintentoSwitch #Steam #cooperative #teamwork

Video/ Photos provided by Scriptum by Adver2Play Adver2Play (developer of the Scriptum series) currently has 4 app-based augmented reality games - "Scriptum Classic", "Scriptum Christmas", "Scriptum Horror", and "Scriptum Future" with a 5th on on the way - "Scriptum Dragons". All games are available for purchase & download on the Apple App Store and Google Play. We've played 4 of 5 games and here are our thoughts... Company: Scriptum by Adver2Play Country: Spain 🇪🇸 Language: Available in 17 Languages (including - English, Spanish, Deutsch, French, Italian, etc.) Type of Game: Escape Video Game (APP) 📱 Date Played: 7/3/2020 Size of Team: 1 Player Time: 30 Minutes SCRIPTUM CLASSIC Game: Scriptum Classic Genre: Detective Difficulty (based on 1 players): 5.5/10 Price: Free Scriptum Classic is available to play for free and it definitely wets the appetite for AR game enthusiasts. It has a nice blend of escape room puzzles and storyline. The game allows you to feel as if you are playing in-person trapped inside with a particular mission. You would want to start with this one to test out the waters. There's a 30 minute count down clock but you probably won't need to use the entire 30 minutes. It does get a bit tricky when you want to interact with certain items. Make sure you get very close (at time you'll need to bend down) to the object and you'll only be able to pick them up (simply by tapping) if they have a yellow grow around it. It was nice to be able to feel like we've entered into another realm since we've been cooped up at home for so long! SCRIPTUM CHRISTMAS Game: Scriptum Christmas Genre: Fantasy Difficulty (based on 1 players): 5/10 Price: Free Scriptum Christmas was the perfect blend of fun and mischief! The storyline was creative and allowed us to get into the holiday spirit while still having to solve puzzles to achieve our goal! There were definitely some "wow" moments that we're able to experience with certain objects (especially when the cute teddy bear did its thing!). Some details on these objects felt so real. The music in the background added some memories of Christmas for sure. It was nice to experience some holiday feel during this "house arrest" period. SCRIPTUM HORROR Game: Scriptum Horror Genre: Horror Difficulty (based on 1 players): 4.5/10 Price: $4.99 Being that I love horror/ thriller-type genre escape room games, Scriptum Horror would've obviously been my favorite out of all of them. However, I felt that it was too simple and didn't have enough puzzles. I was able to escape in 8 minutes and 2 seconds without any hints. The decor and tone of the room was definitely on point, but it needed to have some more challenging obstacles. I would love to see this game developed into a longer story which is why I can't wait to try "The Neighbor's House Escape Room" SCRIPTUM FUTURE Game: Scriptum Future Genre: Sci-Fi Difficulty (based on 1 players): 5.5/10 Price: $4.99 Scriptum Future was my favorite out of the 4 games that I played for a couple of reasons. First, there was a lot more to do and the game felt longer than the others. The puzzle designs were so well thought out and made sense from beginning to end. Second, it's the first time that I've ever played a multi-room AR game. Aside from actually being able to grab and touch objects, this room felt incredibly REAL! (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 Adver2Play for providing us with samples of their Scriptum games. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #Adver2Play #Scriptum #Classic #Christmas #Future #Horror #Dragon #AugmentedReality #AR #VideoGame #AppStore #GooglePlay

Video/ Photos provided by Big Giant Games Company: Big Giant Games Country: Philippines 🇵🇭 Language: Available in 16 Languages (including - English, Espanol, Deutsch, Francais, Italiano, etc.) Type of Game: Escape Video Game (APP) 📱 Date Played: 7/6/2020 Size of Team: 1 Player Time: Unlimited Game: Prison Escape Genre: Adventure Difficulty (based on 1 players): 5.5/10 Price: Free You find yourself locked inside an old city prison. Solve puzzles and find items that will aid you in your escape. "Prison Escape" starts you off locked inside of a dingy cell with tools and objects that could become useful. The set design looks great and definitely provides an immersive feel to the game. There are 3 levels that you need to pass in order to escape - "Prison Cell", "Security Cell", and "East Wing". As a point-n-click game, the puzzles all made sense and wasn't too farfetched. What I loved the most about it is that it correlates with the setting and made me feel like I would need to solve and do what is required to achieve my objective. I also loved the designs and the atmosphere for each level. Game: New Dawn Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery Difficulty (based on 1 players): 6/10 Price: Free "New Dawn" takes place in a research facility and your mission is to obtain the vaccine from inside as it's claimed to be the only chance of protecting people from the devastating effects of the virus. This game reminded me a lot of the first Resident Evil game. Much like Prison Escape, the design quality was great and the puzzles all made sense. I did feel as if the difficulty level was a little bit more challenging for this one but definitely achievable. Game: Adventures/Pandemic Genre: Adventure Difficulty (based on 1 players): 5.5/10 Price: $1.99 (Adventures), $1.99 (Pandemic), $2.99 (Adventures + Pandemic) If prison and research lab type games have become too redundant for you, these were definitely a nice addition to the line of Big Giant Games! Talk about adventurous - "Adventures" has a bunch of different set design locations for you to tackle and "Pandemic" creates a little bit more of a sci-fi thriller feel to your game! Both deliver the same quality as the first two and deliver the same puzzle-packed gaming experience! One of the most enjoyable escape room app that I've played in a long time! I can't wait to see what they introduce to us next. (If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!) #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #BigGiantGames #PrisonEscape #NewDawnVirus #Pandemic #Adventure #VideoGame #ClickandPoint #AppStore #GooglePlay

Photos provided by Intruder Escape (The App) Company: Intruder Escape Game: CHAPTER I: Stone Playground Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: App Game 📱 Genre: Horror Date Played: 11/28/2020 Difficulty (based on 1 players): 2.5/10 Size of Team: 1 Player Time: Unlimited Price: $2.99 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 What seems like a romantic getaway at first quickly escalates to something wildly different. Play safe, choose wisely, and always watch your back. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 The game play for "CHAPTER 1: Stone Playground" has more of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" format where you are faced with different scenarios as opposed to puzzle challenges. Similar to "Bandersnatch", users make decision that alter the outcome of a home invasion. There are multiple deaths and survival routes that can be selected based on the interactive map provided to allow the player to directly resume without having to replay the game. I really enjoyed how intense the immersive experience was and how real it felt. Almost as if I was one that needed to survive this horror film. The jump-scares were orchestrated really well! 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Because this game isn't your typical escape room and it's more focused on the immersive experience, there weren't any puzzles to solve. The challenges were more of an "A or B" option that determines your fate. Most of the options made sense based on the location and backstory. However, I still think that puzzles could've been implemented throughout certain parts of the game that allow you unlock alternate options. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 If you're looking for a really good horror game with REAL footage and perfectly timed jump-scares, this is the game for you! Intruder Escape has classified themselves as a new breed of entertainment allowing players to play and star in realistic horror movies based on popular movies such as "You're Next" and "Strangers"! This game definitely puts you in the driver's seat with the ability to create your own ending with every decision, action, and approach to determining your survival! *** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors *** Disclosure: We thank Intruder Escape 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 #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #IntruderEscape #TheApp #ChapterIStonePlayground #AppGames #VideoGame #horror #DownloadApp #AppGames #Download #AppStore

Photos provided by Puzzling Hunts Company: Puzzling Hunts Games: SLEIGHLINK II - Santa's Secret Mission Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: APP Puzzle Game 📱 Genre: Fantasy, Holiday Date Played: 1/26/2021 Difficulty (based on 5 players): 6.5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited (Up to 5 connections) Time: Unlimited (Suggested time Approx. 2 - 3 Hours) Price: $11-$18 per team (pending on team size) - On sale currently at $9.99 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Rumor has it, Musk of SpaceX and Santa have been working on a special project together. Agents from the Santa Containment Reconnaissance Order of Global Encirclement wants us to infiltrate the North Pole and stop anything that seems naughty! 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This game is played over the ClueKeeper App. We played it on our mobile device. The App is free to download. Once you purchase the game, the team leader will be able to invite the rest of the players by email. Once all the team members join in on the game's interface, the team leader can press "start" for the hunt to begin. The game is synced for all players so if one player enters a password correctly, it'll update for the rest of the team. All the clues are presented in text or image formats. There are 15 puzzles in total and each is worth 5-10 points. If you don't use points to purchase hints, you'll end up with a perfect score of 155 points (which is what our team got. Go team!). Free hints are also available after a certain period of time. You will encounter the usage of Zappar (AR) which was embedded inside the app. Although the description of the game said printer is needed, we didn't encounter any puzzles that we felt needed to be printed. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles varied in terms of difficulty. Some took us a minute where as others took us half an hour. It's interesting to see the results later with the time stamps as it showed what type of puzzle our team was good at and what we got stumped on. Some puzzles required outside knowledge so be sure to make Google your friend. One puzzle in particular was really difficult as it required not only understanding the logic behind it but also the back story for a specific event. This was extremely hard to understand for some of our international players as after reading the context, we still needed to interpret it into a logical format. Our favorite puzzles in the game were the various types of ciphers. This was a linear hunt where you can only move on after solving that specific puzzle. Since there's no time limit, you can be hardheaded and not use any clues and dwell on it for as long as you like. Or just use a clue and move on. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This puzzle hunt is probably best for players who's had some experiences with puzzles. There were ciphers we've seen regularly as puzzlers but would probably be quite challenging for beginner puzzlers. We were lucky to have a strong team of veteran puzzlers with us for this game and without using any hints, we finished the hunt in less than 2 hours. It was fun to have to make a final decision at the end. Hopefully you'll read through the context and pick the right decision! 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Koen & Margot D. Pro's: - Stable working system via the app - Cool teamwork feature - Generally fun puzzles (some exceptions) Con's: - Level of difficulty varied a bit too much between puzzles - Lack of media (only some pictures) - Bit of a hard to understand storyline (think mostly because of the lack of background text and media) - Some puzzles needed to much outside knowledge - Hard to split tasks, solving the same puzzle at the same time with other teammates (so doing double work, or doing nothing) Yoni Y. We have been invited to play the Sleighlink II - Santa’s Secret Mission puzzle hunt with people who haven't met before (due to ETR's P.I. program), but during the game we have become a coordinated group with team spirit. The game is a puzzle hunt, composed of several riddles with a touch of story elements relating to Christmas. Despite the light and supposedly "childish" story line, the riddles are not simple and require cultural knowledge that may be lacking for international players. Some riddles are less than "fair" and require either experienced players or utilizing clues in order to understand how to approach the riddle. We have used google (a lot) and received a lot of help from other members of the team, enabling us to complete the puzzle hunt, needing hints for only one riddle. Other, less experienced players might become frustrated with some of the riddles. A few hours before the game we received a file that explained several ciphers, some of them were used during the hunt. On one hand this helped focus and reduced the need to search for the ciphers (or pull our "cheat sheet" :-) ) during the game, and we did learn one cipher we were not familiar with, but on the other hand, having this file reduced the challenge on some of the riddles to the technical actions of translating the ciphers with little need to figure out what cipher to use. The game is linear - you have to solve one puzzle in order to advance to the next. This caused some frustration when we got stuck with a puzzle and could not move to another one. On the other hand, it forced all players to a group effort and brainstorming that helped integrate the team. Our feeling is that the difficulty level of the riddles is mixed and not gradual, and we got a little stuck in one of the early puzzles, which affected the rest of the game. This is even more pronounced to non-native English speakers and to people lacking US cultural knowledge. The puzzles were relatively heavy on text and less using the visual medium. Most riddles, while not very original, were executed nicely. One riddle was unique in our experience and executed very well. Conclusion: Fun and challenging experience, requires US cultural knowledge and google search capabilities. This hunt can be used as either a team building exercise or as a "race" between small groups. (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 Puzzling Hunts 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 #PuzzlingHunts #SLEIGHLINKII #SantasSecretMission #Cluekeeper #app #fantasy #santa #holiday #christmas #mission

Videos/ Photos provided by Patrones Y Escondites Company: Patrones Y Escondites Game: UNMEMORY Country: Spain 🇪🇸 Language: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian Type of Game: Video Escape Game 📱 Genre: Mystery Date Played: 1/28/2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 7/10 Size of Team: Unlimited (Suggested 1-2 Players) Time: Unlimited (Approx. 8 Hours of Gameplay) Price: $5.99 (App Store)/ $4.49 (Google Play)/ $9.99 (Steam) 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You woke up covered in blood. What happened? Who killed your girlfriend? It seems like you can't remember a thing. Hopefully you can piece together the clues and find the person who's responsible for this murder. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 We played this game on our mobile device by downloading the App from the App store. We strongly recommend wearing headphones so you can experience the amazing sound effects in this game. There's a total of 8 chapters. Each chapter will take you through the journey of the main character back tracking his lost memories and piecing them together with the clues he found along the way by solving various puzzles. I'm quite surprised at how the game creators were able to make a text based game so interactive. Even someone like Brandon who usually prefers games with less reading was very hooked onto the storyline. The way the game was able to utilize various ways to "reveal" secret messages was genius. By simple clicking on the screen, the game gave the players control over creating the story themselves. We're able "open" curtains, close lights, make an instrument play music, drink beer etc...The game also was able to utilize music and visual aids at the perfect moments to draw us deeper into the game. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 When we first started the game, the puzzles were quite easy. There were pretty direct one step puzzles. This was really just to warm up the players. You'll gradually feel the level of difficulty rise. In the later chapters, most of the puzzles turned into multi-step ones and some even had a meta-puzzle at the end. What we really enjoyed was how different the puzzles were in each chapter but the creators were able to link all of them to the storyline and stay in the era of the 90s. I haven't seen those Motorola phones, polaroid cameras, tape recorder, arcade games for a long time. It's definitely brought back feelings of nostalgia. The puzzles also made us feel like we're detectives. There were a lot of use of information recovery through the stories from the various characters. By identifying who they were and unlocking the clues they gave to the main character, the truth slowly started to "appear", literally. The build-in hints were just nudges. They don't actually reveal the solution. I found it useful to google walkthroughs if you are really stuck at a certain part. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This was a very enjoyable game to play. Even if you're a person who normally wouldn't enjoy a narrative heavy game, you should give this game a try. Although you can play the 8 chapters at your own pace (the game automatically saves your progress), you probably wouldn't be able to put it down after playing the first chapter. Its like watching a Netflix series, You have to find out what happened in the next episode right away. The game also finished with an excellent twist for an ending. I can't wait to see what Patrones Y Escondites develops as their second game! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these 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 Patrones Y Escondites 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 #PatronesYEscondites #UNMEMORY #EscapeVideoGame #Mystery #Memento #TheHangover #PuzzleGames #Puzzles #AppStore #GooglePlay #Steam

Photos provided by Serial Events Company: Serial Events Games: SPG: Serial Proving Grounds Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: App Puzzle Game 📱 Genre: Puzzles Date Played: 1/31/2021 Difficulty (based on 6 players): 4/10 Size of Team: Up to 5 logins Time: 60 Minutes (Approximately) Price: $29.99/ team 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a puzzle hunt game using the ClueKeeper App. The App is free to download. Once you purchase the game, the team leader can add 4 more players to the hunt from the App. You can play with less players but 5 is the max amount of logins allowed. There's a total of 30 independent puzzles and they can be done in any order. You and your teammates can decide to work on them together or divide and conquer. The game is synced so if one player types in an answer, it'll show up as "solved" for all the other players. You're allowed a "free hint" for some puzzles but for others you'll have to purchase a hint with points. If you want to go for the leaderboard, you'll probably want to hold off on purchasing hints until absolutely necessary. If you don't use any hints, the maximum score you can receive is 4,000 points. You're also being timed so after 60 minutes is up, you'll receive a final score and anything solved after that will not count towards the final score. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles were presented in imagery formats. Most of them felt like trivia and general knowledge type of questions. Our international players felt a bit of disadvantage as most of the questions referenced back to things or people in the United States. It's nothing Google can't solve (hope that's not consider cheating as we did have to ask big brother "G" for help a few times). There were only a few simple ciphers you'll have to solve so our advice to experienced puzzle players is to not over think the puzzles and just have fun with them. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 We played the game as a team and worked on the puzzles together. We flew through all the puzzles and had about 25 minutes left with two remaining questions. Ultimately we left one puzzle unsolved (definitely a "duh" moment after realizing what we had to do after the fact) and finished with 3800 points. The hint could have been a bit more helpful as it's not in a progressive format so if you couldn't get it from the preliminary hint then you're pretty much out of luck. It would've been great if the game could give a solution reveal after the game has ended. I guess they couldn't implement that separately and adding that option to the game would give some teams advantage if they decide to use hints to reveal the solution. Feel free to contact us if you had any questions after playing but their customer service was also very helpful at giving us what we needed after we inquired about the question we didn't complete. We had a lot fun working through these questions as a team. It wasn't really challenging since we've all done plenty of puzzles before but it was great to see everyone's contribution to different things that they are good at (whether it be trivia knowledge or deciphering). If you want to give this game a try, you'll have to do it before March 31st as it won't be available on ClueKeeper after that! Time to assemble your team! 𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 Jacqueline G. Pros: - Fun with friends - Mostly simple puzzles - Has a timer so it feels like a challenge Cons: - Hints were not plentiful enough or helpful enough if you got stuck - Did not reveal answers once the game was over This puzzle was fun with a bunch of people but I think it would be more challenging with 2-3 people. Most of the puzzles were simple enough to solve and still fun. I only wish there was a way to reveal answers or get better hints. I would recommend this puzzle to newer players. RJ G. Pros - Short and simple puzzles - Smartphone App is easy to use and intuitive. -Ability to divide and conquer makes everyone feel like they are doing their part Cons -Some of the puzzles are extremely easy -Many of the puzzles felt too similar -There weren't enough puzzles This is a short and simple collection of puzzles for a small group. I would suggest this game for newer or younger puzzlers. Jess A. & Matt L. We liked: - The coloured letter replacement puzzles - The call back to previous puzzles to give some sense of cohesion - The time went relatively quickly and we were always doing something We didn’t like: - There was not a clear theme, though you did need a lot of knowledge of the USA or be prepared to google - Wished there would have been the option for more than one hint - Although there was a clock there was no sense of urgency in completing anything - the amount of puzzles and time limit could have lent itself to a group splitting and working on multiple puzzles at once, but the amount of call backs made that difficult - Not an issue with the game, but we are not fans of the ClueKeeper interface. Found the design really hard to pay attention to (so much grey!) and it seemed to have a lot more buttons than it really needed *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available*** Disclosure: We thank Serial Events 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 #SerialEvents #SPG #SerialProvingGrounds #Cluekeeper #app #adventure #PuzzleHunts #teamwork

Videos/ Photos provided by Escape Hunt (Developed by Neon Play Ltd.) Company: Escape Hunt (Developed by Neon Play Ltd.) Game: The Lost Temples Language: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Type of Game: App Escape Game 📱 Genre: Adventure Date Played: 4/21/2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 4.5/10 Size of Team: 1 Player Time: Unlimited Price: Free trial chapter. Full version $3.99 (App Store)/ $3.99 (Google Play) 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 The year is 1890, you receive word that Professor Antoine LeBlanc has gone missing! As a renowned detective, you have been requested to find out what happened to the Professor as you're probably the only one that can find him! You discover that he was investigating the legendary city of Karnia in South Asia. You arrive at an abandoned temple (Temples of Khmer Kingdom) deep in the jungles of Cambodia. As you journey deep into the temple, your detective puzzle-solving skills are going to be put to the test! You must investigate and retrace Professor LeBlanc's footsteps and hopefully solve the mystery of his disappearance. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Right from the beginning, you will feel like you've been transported into the jungle of Cambodia! The graphics are incredibly rich, with a photorealistic 3D design. The level of detail in the images were amazing! For an app game, it was comparable to the quality you would experience on a game console! With a storyline involving temples and exploration, you can't go wrong! Especially, when it has a very "Tomb Raider", "Uncharted" vibe to it. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Since "The Lost Temples" was created by Escape Hunt and developed by Neon Play. Ltd., there was a strong escape room feel to the puzzles. It basically felt like they took puzzles that you would normally experience in an in-person temple-themed escape room and incorporated into a point-n-click app game. It was so much more than just find a lock and open it with a key or 5 digit/ letter code. There's logic involved that allows the player to literally put two and two together! Traveling through ancient temples, rooms, courtyards, cellars and more, you're faced with brain-teasing challenges that require logic, piecing together clues from items collected in your inventory, to pure deductive reasoning. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Escape Hunt is the worldwide leader in escape room experiences with game centers in 27 countries. We've played their digital game "An Enola Holmes Adventure" online and their in-person game "Escape from Akershus Fortress" while visiting their location in Bergen, Norway and they were both a lot of fun! I'm quite impressed with their ability to apply their same puzzle design creativity for in-person and digital games to an app game format as well! If you love playing Lara Croft or Nathan Drake, I highly recommend that you give this game a try for two reasons - (1) there's a free demo version that will get you hooked (as it did for me) and (2) what better way to bring an escape room experience than directly to your phone? Check out our interview with the general managers to learn more about Escape Hunt Bergen: (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"!) #ESCAPETHEROOmers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #EscapeHunt #NeonPlayLtd #TheLostTemples #EscapeVideoGame #TombRaider #LaraCroft #Uncharted #NathanDrake #IndianaJones #Mystery #Adventure #Archaeology #Action #RPG #Search #ClickAndPoint #PuzzleGames #Puzzles #AppStore #GooglePlay

Videos/ Photos provided by Haiku Games Game: Legend of the Sacred Stones Language: English Country: USA 🇺🇸 Type of Game: App Escape Game 📱 Genre: Adventure, Fantasy Date Played: 4/29/2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 6/10 Size of Team: 1 Player Time: Unlimited Price: Free download with in-APP purchases. Available in App store, Google Play & Amazon 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Something evil is lurking around Temple Island. For centuries, the island has been protected by 4 ancient temples with 4 scared stones. Recently, someone is trying to disturb this balance and Aila is only one that has the power to stop this! Will you help her on this epic adventure? 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Since I have an iPhone, I downloaded the game from the App store. The app is called "AE Mysteries" which stands for Adventure Mysteries and contains all of their current available app games in one app interface. This is much easier to keep track and use than when they had all the AE games separated into single apps. The app is FREE to download and you'll be awarded with 2 keys and some free stars to start you off. There's 8 chapters total for this game. Each chapter will need a key to unlock. If you don't want to pay for keys and continue to play the chapters for free then you'll need to wait for about 2 hours or so to gain a free key after you've used up the first 2 keys. Each chapter takes around 1 hr or so to complete (that is if you read through the dialogues and try to solve all the puzzles without skipping). If you get stuck, hints are available in the app in a nudging format. Normally the first hint is free and hints after that will cost you stars. You can also use stars to skip puzzles. Stars can be collected throughout the game when you solve puzzles or by purchasing them through the app. Other than the puzzles, Haiku Games puts a lot of emphasis on storytelling. As you go through the chapters, you'll encounter new characters and new locations. This is one of the big reasons why I'm a such big fan of Haiku Games. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There are various types of puzzles throughout the game. You can definitely feel the escape room influence with some of these puzzles. There's a good amount of search and find, logic, and tactile puzzles. But at the same time, there's also some components that felt similar to video games like beat the final boss to advance to the next level. Since there are essentially 4 guardians protecting the 4 temples, you'll need to repeat some of the puzzle actions 4 times. My favorite puzzles in the games are the ones where you've collected items that you'll need to think about where and how to use them. With Aila's pendant, you're able to control the 4 elements: fire, water, earth and wind. It was great to be able to see the creative ideas the game developers were able to come up with on how to utilize these elements to give us those "wow" moments of reveals throughout the game. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 I have been a fan of Haiku Games since day one. Their amazing graphics and sound effects are always paired with a beautiful narrative that gets me hooked into the games right away. This one was definitely one of my favorites as it felt like I was watching a drama series. I love anything mythical and ancient temples was right up my alley. As I went through the chapters, I felt my connection with Aila grew stronger as the story developed. I almost didn't want this to end. If you enjoy Haiku games, definitely watch our interview with the creator below as there's a big announcement that they haven't informed anyone yet. Something "special" is coming very soon and we can't wait to be part of it! Check out our interview with the creator to learn more about Haiku Games: (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 Haiku Games for providing us with complimentary stars and keys to use during the game. Although complimentary items were generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #ESCAPETHEROOmers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #HaikuGames #AdventureEscapeMysteries #LegendoftheSacredStones #AppGames #EscapeVideoGame #TombRaider #LaraCroft #Uncharted #NathanDrake #IndianaJones #Mystery #Adventure #Archaeology #Action #RPG #Search #ClickAndPoint #PuzzleGames #Puzzles #AppStore #GooglePlay #Amazon

Videos/ Photos provided by Novasoft Interactive Company: Novasoft Interactive Country: Canada 🇨🇦 Language: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish Type of Game: Video Escape Game 📱 Genre: Mystery Size of Team: Unlimited (Suggested 1-2 Players) Time: Unlimited (Approx. 8 Hours of Gameplay) Price: Meridian 157: Prologue - Free (App Store), Free (Google Play), Free (Steam), Free (Amazon) Meridian 157: Chapter 1 - $1.99 (App Store), $1.99 (Google Play), $2.99 (Steam), $2.20 (Amazon) Meridian 157: Chapter 2 - $1.99 (App Store), $1.99 (Google Play), $2.99 (Steam), $2.20 (Amazon) Game: Meridian 157: Prologue Date Played: 4/21/2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 4/10 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Meridian 157: Prologue is the first installment of the point-n-click series developed by NovaSoft Interactive. In this puzzle adventure game, you are playing the role of David Zander, a detective meteorologist investigating a strange weather anomaly on an island south of Alaska. Set sail towards the island and unravel the mystery behind the mysterious phenomenon! Game: Meridian 157: Chapter 1 Date Played: 4/21/2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 4.5/10 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Meridian 157: Chapter 1 is the next installment taking place right after the prologue. In this next adventure, you continue on David Zander's quest to discover the mystery of the uncharted island in the Northern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska. In this chapter, you now find yourself stranded putting your survival skills to the test! Game: Meridian 157: Chapter 2 Date Played: 4/21/2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 5.5/10 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 In Meridian 157: Chapter 2, detective David Zander's quest has led him deep underground trapped on a lost and forgotten island. In this next installment, David is now faced with the challenge of finding a way out. He must now decide whether to continue searching for the answers he seeks or try to escape before it's too late! 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 The Meridian 157 series is a point-n-click adventure series filled with interactive puzzles and a suspenseful storyline. The graphics provide high quality visuals with cinematic music to accompany your experience! Like most of the other point-n-click games, there's a good amount of searching and finding hidden objects to solve. What I enjoyed most was the how real the story felt. The suspense of knowing that there's a strange weather anomaly on a remote island off the coast of Alaska and as a meteorologist detective, I'm tasked with the mission to venture off into the unknown to inspect it is purely entertaining! The overall game play was quite smooth and the challenges faced were introduced organically. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles were a lot of fun and were well implemented based on the location and surroundings. With Meridian 157: Prologue, the difficulty level was more on the easier side and then progressed over the next 2 installments. There was a good mixture of different puzzles throughout and reminded me of an actual in-person escape room. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 All the games were incredibly enjoyable and like a good movie or book, it definitely left me in suspense! If you enjoy epic tales with a strong narrative and searching for objects while making the connections, you'll love the Meridian 157 series! Obviously, I would recommend starting from the beginning so you understand the backstory and the character development. (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"!) #ESCAPETHEROOmers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #NovasoftInteractive #Meridian157Prologue #Meridian157Chapter1 #MeridianChapter2 #EscapeVideoGame #Mystery #SciFi #AgentA #PuzzleGames #Puzzles #AppStore #GooglePlay #Steam #AmazonAppStore #Anomaly #Meteorologist #Detective

Photo above is property of Total Mayhem Games Company: Total Mayhem Games Game: We Were Here (Series) Country: Netherlands 🇳🇱 Language: Multiple Type of Game: Video Escape Game 📱 Genre: Adventure, Mystery Date Played: January 4, 2021 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7.5/10 Size of Team: 2 Players (This game is co-op only) Price: Free/ 9,99€/ 12,99€ (on Steam) 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 “You wake up in a room…” Probably the most common phrase any mystery game or dungeons and dragons game has ever started with. But this time, you wake up with a walkie talkie. There is someone on the other side, you have no idea who is on the other end, or how you got there. All you know is that they have information you need to get out of here and visa versa. Thou the first one centers around both of the players waking up in the castle, the other ones you begin at a base as you start to delve into the ruins of this well kept castle in search for what has happened to this forsaken place. But will you get out of there to tell the tale? Welcome to “We Were Here…” Videos above are property of Total Mayhem Games 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a game for two players and can be played online on a desktop. You can decide to play with a stranger or with someone you know. In the current available trilogy, (“We Were Here Forever” is in development as of January 17, 2022) a mysterious castle is the center hub for all. You and your partner will have to communicate through a walkie talkie to give each other feedback on how a room looks, what clues you see, what items are available, etc. Do note that if both of you speak at the same time, the other one will not hear you. So communicate but more importantly, listen. I would rather not mention the cheating method but if you do decide to take the easier route, create a room on discord with your partner and just talk over there. But that would defeat the purpose of the game so try to play it the way the creators intended for you to play it in, would ya? Each puzzle has it own designated room so no worries about backtracking or not knowing which items to use with which puzzle. Moreover, in the beginning, you can have a choice as to which side of the castle you want to see. So it's essentially replayable of you ever want to see the other path. And in one of the games, there is even an alternate ending! Photos above are property of Total Mayhem Games 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Each room will have a completely new set of elements that you can interact with and puzzle types to be solved. It's a really refreshing feeling. Sometimes you have physical puzzles, other times you just have to relay information or spot some differences. These games have something for everyone to enjoy. But be careful, not ever room will be easy. There are timed puzzles as well that you need to solve. If you run out of time, a mysterious figure will catch up on you or you might be frozen to death, etc. So don’t enjoy the views for long. The puzzles themselves are not the most difficult part. Some of them require just more communication then others. If both of the players aren’t communicating well, then it can get difficult to solve the puzzles. The bulk of the puzzles are finding items and trying to determine how to use them, but the creators did a nice job mixing in some different variety of other puzzles from logic to recognition puzzles. The puzzles also have a good mixture of difficulty levels as some I was able to complete right away but I had to try out different combinations of things to understand what needed to be done for some others. Total Mayhem Games is very creative in implementing puzzles that match the story and theme. If you have trouble solving the puzzles, there's plenty of places to look online for some helpful hints. Photos above are property of Total Mayhem Games 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This game series is one of those that if a new one comes out, I'll be nagging my partner to play with me right away. It’s such a fun game that we ended up playing it twice! Since you have to decide fairly at the beginning which side you take, you only see one half of the whole game. So playing it twice allowed us to see it from each other's perspective. That was a lot of fun as we laughed at how obvious some things actually were but because of the miscommunication we missed it the first time. It's certainly can be used as food for inspiration for any escape room builder for future projects. Now, all I can do is eagerly wait for their next 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"!) #JoeriJacobs #AtHomeGames #VideoGames #TotalMayhemGames #Netherlands #Mystery #Adventure #Medieval