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Photo above is property of Arcadium Adventures Company: Arcadium Adventures Game: Case #LT-40480 - The Lost Map to Pandora’s Box Country: Australia 🇦🇺 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Mystery, Detective Date Played: March 15, 2022 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7/10 Size of Team: Unlimited (Ages 14+) Time: Unlimited (Approx. 2-3 Hrs.) Price: $48.00 AUD 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Laelynn Delos, one of the analysts from the Order of Arcadium, has been searching for the fabled lost map to Pandora’s Box. For years, this map has been thought lost, until Laelynn received a note regarding the possible location of this map. Trawl through the materials available in the Arcadium Archives Online, and find the Pandora’s Box before it lands in the wrong hands! 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Arcadium Adventures’ experience works twofold - within the game and outside of the game. The external aspects of the game include a fully immersive blog by the Order of Arcadium, run by the order itself and the Loremaster. Here, players can immerse themselves into the history and the houses of the order, enriching their gameplay experience. With the access to the games, players firstly get access to the game’s materials and clues. Secondly, players play the game through a chat bot, progressing the story with needed questions, providing hints as needed. Gameplay itself happens over at least two tabs - one to refer to images and materials pertaining to the case, and the other to refer to the progress of the story. Take note though - do not worry about making appointments or placing orders Laelynn tells you to; everything the Order tells you is self-contained. Photos above are property of Aradium Adventures 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 A good bit of pattern recognition is needed here, such as matching two separate pieces of material together to get passwords, or reading messages encoded in another language. Regardless, having some level of background knowledge can help players. Either way, Laelynn has the hints and the materials needed for you to attempt each puzzle to progress the story. However, there were a few puzzles that needed a substantial amount of hints for us as we played, with us later realising that one or two puzzles required a bit of a logic leap to solve and progress with the story. Photo above is property of Aradium Adventures 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 While we had fun with the story and the search, it was the tiny details that tripped us up a little while we were going through with the game. Some questions were asking for answers that could only be answered after the next step of the conversation had gone through, or accepted any answer that was keyed into the chatbot. If you’re in the game for the story and materials, however, do give this game a try - there’s material post-credits! Bonus points for great hints and providing the needed tools for each step of the story, though! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game: Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers (If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!) Disclosure: We thank Arcadium Adventures 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. #JoelynAlexandra #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #Mystery #Detective #ArcadiumAdventures #Australia

Photo above is property of The Stembridge Society Company: The Stembridge Society Game: Mission 1 & Mission 2 Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Investigative, Geography Date Played: May 3, 2022 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 8/10 Size of Team: 1 Player Time: 45 mins - 2 hrs. Price: Free (Bonus chapters available with Patreon) 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You receive a single photograph and video with a single mission - to identify this landmark and head to what seems to be the Headquarters of the The Stembridge Society. Once there, you are granted eligibility for membership if you manage to enter the Headquarters. You know little about this society, except that they are a group that are in the business of… problem solving. Will you be able to join? Or will this be a permanent mystery to you? Photo above is property of The Stembridge Society 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 The Stembridge Society releases free-to-play missions early every month, with players able to access bonus chapters and material with a Patreon subscription or donation to PayPal. While each case has its own story and context, the mechanics have remained similar across the missions. The main missions are playable online via the main website, with players needing to sign in with their email and generate a mission code which they can use to challenge other players or save information. Within the game itself, the story moves after each presented puzzle or question has its correct answer. The activities players have to go through to get through their mission mostly involve using Google Maps and Street View - an aspect of this gameplay that has been made clear from the beginning. Therefore, it’ll be handy to keep a Google search tab open for more convenient gameplay. At the same time, it’s quite easy to enjoy the aesthetics of this setting, with its tube-television presentation, complete with static and colour tones that would not look out of place in a 90's spy movie. Certain videos are also colour corrected to obscure certain spoilers, so do take note of that as well. Hints are also available on the upper left corner after a few minutes of being stuck on a single puzzle, though they add five (5) minutes to your time. Puzzles also come in various forms - text instructions are often accompanied by different leads - photos, videos, or just a clue to where to search. At the end of it, playing the missions set by The Stembridge Society does give you that sense of interactivity. While this gave me a great level of immersion and satisfaction when I got to my destination, the different levels of access each player may get from using Google Street View or 360 views can differ for everyone. I had to request a few hints because I was at a Street View angle that made it incredibly difficult, tedious, or inaccessible for me to reach a specific person, car, building, or location in general on Street View. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 In both missions (free-to-play) until now, all puzzles require a working knowledge of Google Maps and 360 views, together with a Google search engine close by. After getting to Street and 360 Views on Google Maps, it’s a matter of keeping your eyes peeled for what the game or puzzle asked for. The need for Google Maps and Street View aside, most of the puzzles are highly straightforward, relying on your skills of observation and sense of direction to progress with the story. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Get your Google Maps ready and your 360 views on hand - joining The Stembridge Society means having your eyes everywhere. Travel and see the world in another perspective, and make sure you’re a distance away when the final strike comes at the end of each mission. If you’re looking for that feeling of being at the scene for each step of the way, try your luck with The Stembridge Society. They might just have the job 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"!) #JoelynAlexandra #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #Investigative #Geography #TheStembridgeSociety #UK

Photo above is property of Breakout Philippines Company: Breakout Philippines Game: Breakout On Demand - Aparador (Living Legends Edition) Country: Philippines 🇵🇭 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Supernatural Date Played: March 12, 2022 Difficulty (based on 5 players): 2/10 Size of Team: 2-6 Players Time: 60 Minutes Price: P300/ pp (Min of 2 ppl), P250/ pp (3-6 ppl) 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Looking for furniture to spruce up the house, you come across an "Aparador" (coat closet) for a steal of a price. Little did you know, the price was not going to be worth the cost. Your seven year old son starts to discuss with his new “friend”. The friend is trapped inside the Aparador and is begging for release. Soon he starts to wake you up every morning at 3AM and complain the screams are too loud, “my friend is trapped, he’s screaming, he’s burning”. What is the history of this piece of furniture? Why is your son acting up like this? Do you dare open the Aparador? Photos above are property of Breakout Philippines 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This game is played entirely inside a web based browser and is a choose your own adventure style game focusing on the story of this aparador. During the game you can expect to read a large amount of text that will describe what is happening in the storyline and throughout these reading sessions, there are choices and activities placed within. If you are given a choice, there will be clickable buttons in the UI, other times when the puzzles are revealed the story asks a question and you type the answer into the proper text box. There is a hint system in this game; 30-second penalty for each hint and using a total of three per puzzle will give you the solution, there is also a cooldown period between using these hints. When playing the game each group should A) set up a video call using their preferred platform B) make sure one person has a facebook and C) confirm that one person has a functioning email address. These are all steps that will ensure each group will have a smooth playing experience. Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles in this game were lacking. With our group of five puzzle enthusiasts, most all of them took minutes to solve. When a puzzle did show up, the answer was either already given or guided the players on how to come to the solution. The first puzzle is the most difficult to solve but if you pay attention to your surroundings during the game, the answer stares you in the face. The “choose your own” style of gameplay was unique but even then, it still had a specific answer to progress the story. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 "The Aparador" has a wonderfully written story and if you are looking for a solid ghost tale, learn about the secrets of this unassuming piece of furniture. It has a well thought out narrative and all throughout, the authors placed beautiful illustrations describing the scene. The interface was well done and easy to read; the next step in the game was always clearly well marked. Unfortunately, the story can’t make up for the fact that the puzzles border on tasks more than brain teasers. If this is a player's first online escape game they might find some interest in this horrific tale. (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 Breakout Philippines for providing us with access to the game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #MikeSchnurr #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #Supernatural #Mystery #BreakoutOnDemand #BreakoutPhilippines #Philippines

Photo above is property of Escape Quest.at Company: Escape Quest.at Game: Avengers Country: Austria 🇦🇹 Language: English, German Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Superhero Date Played: January 14, 2022 Difficulty (based on 3 players): 4/10 Size of Team: 1-6 Players (Recommended Ages 12+) Time: Unlimited (Approx. 120 Mins.) Price: €25 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 The mad titan, Thanos, plans on destroying half the universe’s population by collecting six magical stones that will give him unlimited power to do so. Standing side by side with the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, you are a part of the team that must stop Thanos from collecting these stones. The fate of the universe lies with you. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Signing into the game, you will have to progress through 10 websites, each with its own puzzle. This is not a point-n-click type of game. Each webpage will have the same set up. The top will have the story and then as you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will get the puzzle and what you need to solve it. The bottom will have an answer box for you to input the answer. The game also included some familiar background music that you could have on during the game. It was nice that you could adjust the volume of the music, rather than just on and off. The hint system works with a timer. Hints will unlock after you have been on the puzzle for 5 minutes and then you can use it without a penalty. If you decide to take the hint before then, you will get a 5 min penalty at the end. At the bottom of the website, you can also find a nice tracker that will tell you how long it took you to complete each puzzle. If you are playing as a team, the game will be synced. Only one player need to enter the answer and it'll progress for everyone. Make sure to inform all your teammates about these rules as if one player takes a hint, it'll reveal in the final score for everyone. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 This game played more like a puzzle-hunt/ARG than an escape room. Most of the puzzles required outside knowledge and for you to visit other websites. Some were linked for you and some you needed to ponder and figure out what you needed through the cryptic Messages. The ramping of the puzzles seemed a little off as the first puzzle was the one that took us the most time to complete and we were able to. It would have been nice for the game to inform us that outside knowledge is required in the intro as we were stumped on the first puzzle for awhile and then finally decided to Google. One thing we did appreciate was that the answer will tell you the input and format, whether it was 4 numbers or a 2 English words. This took out the guess work on the format as well as guided us to what we thought it should be. Make sure the language setting is correctly set on the upper righthand corner as if it's not on English, the input hints won't reveal. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 We definitely learned a lot of new trivia night information and interesting new websites from this game that we will be using again in the future. You may need to know a little bit of tech trivia and some of today’s more popular apps to help you through the game. We played with 3 people but feel 4 to 5 people would be good as well. For any puzzle enthusiasts, you would be able to complete this in under an hour. For any Avengers fans, this would be a fun game to assemble a team for and take down Thanos, once and for all. *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available for booking but check out their in-person escape rooms*** Disclosure: We thank Escape Quest.at for providing us with a sample of their game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #MatthewLui #AtHomeGames #DigitalGame #Adventure #SciFi #Superhero #Marvel #Avengers #EscapeQuestat #Europe #Austria

Photo above is property of Escape Quest.at Company: Escape Quest.at Game: Around the world in 80 days Country: Austria 🇦🇹 Language: English, German Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Adventure, Travel Date Played: February 11, 2022 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 8/10 Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 2-6 Players) Time: Unlimited (Approx. 120 Mins.) Price: €25/ team 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Phileas Fogg was a member of the Reform Club and he was always interested and knew about all the remote places around the world. He hired a new valet, Passepartout, who always dreamed of living a quiet life, which was why he chose to work with Fogg. One night, while discussing a recent robbery case at the club, Fogg claimed that the police could not catch the suspect as the suspect had already fled to the corners of the world. He casually remarked that it was possible to travel around the world in 80 days as the world had become so small. The club members brushed him off and said it was impossible due to unforeseen difficulties. Hence, challenge accepted. With half of his fortune on the line, Fogg wagered that he would be back in this very room at the Reform Club in exactly 80 days. He brought his valet with him and off they went on an adventure.... 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 "Around the world in 80 days" is played on a browser and it consists of a series of webpages (12 levels in total). Each level will contain a short extract of the story and a puzzle, where you have to key in to proceed to the next level. Each puzzle has a set time limit. If you are stuck and you need a hint, you can use the Hint button immediately for a 5 minute deduction or after a while, the hint button will be made available to you at no time penalty. Each puzzle has a different number of hints, ranging from 3 to 8, depending on how complex the puzzle is. When the time is up, the solution will be made available to you so that you can move on to the next level. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles are all codes and ciphers. Every level you will learn of a new cipher, and once you decode it, it will be a clue to a location which you will then need to use Google Street view to find the answer you need. This will repeat for all 12 levels. Some basic knowledge of ciphers will be helpful as the game does not tell you what cipher it is, but rather, hopes/assumes that you will google how it looks and reveal for yourself what kind of cipher it is. For me, I had issues with identifying 1 cipher and had to use a hint because no matter how I google how the cipher looks, it doesn't appear. Hence, for beginners to ciphers or puzzles, you might need to spend a lot of time reading reference websites to find out all the various ciphers there are. This is also the hardest game they have currently. You actually need to read the story text carefully as it is carefully phrased within on what you need to look for. If not, you will be googling a lot of random stuff and falling into various rabbit holes. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 There are some issues that I feel might need polishing or updating as Google Street view constantly updates and some information might not be there indefinitely. These issues have been brought up to the company, so hopefully, other players won't encounter the same problem. Just a heads up, if you feel you are in the right place, just check the hints to confirm. I am not a fan of Google Street view and hunting for stuff virtually but it doesn't mean others won't. If you are interested in ciphers, geocaching related hunts and love exploring different areas of the world, you might enjoy this game. I got to "traveled" to Japan, Mexico, France and Germany, to name a few which was pretty cool considering the lockdown situation in the world right now. *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available for booking but check out their in-person escape rooms*** Disclosure: We thank Escape Quest.at 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. #MelvinLim #AtHomeGames #DigitalGame #Adventure #Travel #AroundTheWorldIn80Days #EscapeQuestat #Europe #Austria

Photo above is property of Society of Curiosities Company: Society of Curiosities Game: Winchester Mystery House: The Glasshouse Ghost Country: Canada 🇨🇦 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Paranormal, Mystery Date Played: January 11, 2022 Difficulty (based on 5 players): 4/10 Size of Team: 1-4 Players (Recommended Ages 10+) Time: Unlimited (Suggested 45-90 Mins) Price: $15.00 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 The Winchester Mystery House is the famous architectural wonder, once owned by Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Winchester and heiress to a portion of the Winchester Repeating Arms Fortune. After her husband’s death, Sarah continued a long running renovation of her home where she built a massive mansion with rather unique traits such as doors with no exit, stairs to nowhere, and more. This continued until her death in 1922. It is said Sarah participated in seances and was told to continue building her house at the suggestion of a medium…Are there ghosts that walk these halls? What do they want? You have been recruited to help unravel some of these paranormal mysteries and your first stop… "The Glasshouse Ghost". Note: This game is a mixture of history and fiction. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 "The Glasshouse Ghost" is an online digital game where you will be directed by a character through a chatbox feature to examine clues and submit your answers. The historian of the house, Taylor, is your ground support as he will explore the house for you at your direction. Taylor has provided you with a radio that he believes the spirit is using to attempt communication and you must unravel the clues left by the ghost to find the three digit radio frequencies in addition to finding secret objects left in the house. Taylor will send you images of the things he finds from maps, letters, music sheets, newspapers, etc, and they will be stored in your inventory at the bottom of the screen. You can maximize the size of the image through opening them in separate links. Taylor will guide your investigation in a linear fashion as you search through clues and solve puzzles to answer his questions. Once you have the answer or the number you will text him back and he will dial the radio station or check out what you recommended. At the time we played some of the responses needed more precise answers but since the chatbot is AI based it will learn and eventually not need super specific phrasing to get a response. If you get stuck, there's a detailed step by step hint system at the top right of the screen right beside the chatbox. Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 I loved the mixture of history, mystery, and story that these puzzles had. Each item provided not just an important clue for a current or upcoming puzzle, but they also provided meaning to the story. The overarching goal of this is to identify the ghost, figure out what they want, and help them achieve that; each puzzle fit well into this theme from letters from the spirit, relevant music that spirt would know, and the development of sentimentality behind certain pieces. The items were also subtle enough that each time I was faced with a question from Taylor I got a giddy “Ohhh!” when I recognized which item I needed to solve the puzzle. You knew the item had a puzzle but only when you were on the right step did you know what was needed. Once an item was no longer relevant it would be taken away from the inventory. The puzzles themselves were tailored for newer players; though, experienced players would have a lot of fun with how well these are designed. I got a few moments where I was extremely excited and proud to find figured out the solution. I think this just indicate how well-made Society of Curiosities games are that no matter your player experience, you will find enjoyment in these puzzles. They provide a good variety from riddles, logic puzzles, pattern identification, and more. I think what I liked the most was the use of music as a clue with the radio. It was both in theme as there is the belief ghosts will use radios to communicate and engaging as the moment you start hearing music you are excited to know you solved the puzzle. Note: If you need to re-listen to the radio because you missed the hint, simply type “replay” after it. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 "The Glasshouse Ghost" is a wonderfully themed experience with a poignant story, fun paranormal trappings, and a series of puzzles that were well made and satisfying. I loved how at the end there was this little debrief to review what elements of this game are inspired by the real house and to know they plan on exploring more rooms (on the Winchester Mystery House website they mention 160 rooms!) I am excited to play and learn more about this house. It has such a fascinating history and I think paranormal enthusiast, puzzlers, history lovers, and more would definitely enjoy this experience. The estimated run time for this game is accurate as we took around 60 minutes to complete the game. I highly recommend trying this out and if you love Society of Curiosities you can also check out our review of their Bewitched Circus if you’re looking for more digital games! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game: Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers (If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!) Disclosure: We thank Society of Curiosities for providing us with a sample of this game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #Paranormal #Mystery #Ghosts #SocietyofCuriosities #USA #WinchesterMysteryHouse

Photo above is property of Star-Crossed Puzzles Company: Star-Crossed Puzzles Games: Romeo & Juliet Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Mystery, Shakespeare Date Played: December 5, 2021 Difficulty (based on 3 players): 5/10 Size of Team: 1-6 Players Time: Unlimited Price: £9.99 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Romeo Montague has been banished to Mantua after killing his beloved Juliet’s kin, Tybalt Capulet. While in exile he received a strange communication warning him that his enemies, the Capulets are searching for him. Concerned for his bride, Juliet Capulet, Romeo begins the journey back to Verona to find his wife…will he find her and stop this tragedy? Photos above are property of Star-Crossed Puzzles 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Romeo and Juliet is a web-based puzzle game that follows along the infamous love story of Romeo and Juliet. When you purchase the game, you’ll receive an email with an activation code you need access the website to begin the game. The game is divided into chapter-based websites that provide a light narrative and puzzles you will need to solve to move forward. No outside research is required for the puzzles. Once you have solved them, click the green square button at the bottom of the page that says “SOLVE” and input your answer into the new password protected site. All passwords are capitalized and spaces matter. One thing to take note is that it might be easier to open new tabs when you want to try for answers as if you answer too many incorrect tries, you'll have to press the "back button" multiple times. This game can be played in groups. If you are playing online together, one member can easily screen-share the experience. There is a hint system which provides three clues and a solution’s guide for when you become stuck. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles for this game were a mix of observation, pattern identification, and logic puzzles. Puzzles within their web pages built off each other and there was one time where a puzzle clue from the previous page became relevant in the next one. I found for the most part the puzzling is quite light and would definitely work for the 13-16 age market this game is targeting towards. There was one puzzle were felt was a little overwhelming with colours and designs, but we used the hints to help ourselves and it made sense with a little more sign posting. Some of the puzzles also might be more engaging if the developer was able to make it interactive rather than still photos. I enjoyed the puzzles that were multi-layered in this experience as each solve revealed another clue that when put together revealed an answer. I also found this game enabled collaborative puzzling quite easily and it was fun to work with friends through the puzzles. I recommend taking the time to read the story as you progress to truly get the experience. At the core of this game is being able to experience the climax of the play, Romeo and Juliet. There is a twist offered in this game that was neat and as an English teacher I have some great ideas on how to use this in my teachings of Shakespeare. Essentially, the puzzles are more directed for younger players but players who enjoy story would also benefit. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 "Romeo and Juliet" is an interactive puzzle experience that places players in the heart of one of the world’s greatest (and most tragic) love stories. The puzzling is quite light but focus on building tension towards the story’s climax was well done. I wish the hint system had a bit more cluing to it but for more experienced players this is not and issues. I would say this game is perfect players who enjoy Shakespeare, storytelling, and are looking to engage more with the play. I think this is also an excellent game to use in the education system for classes teaching Romeo and Juliet. Star-Crossed Puzzles appears to be planning to expand more with other plays and I would be definitely interested in seeing what more they will do. *** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors *** Disclosure: We thank Star-Crossed Puzzles for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #DigitalGame #StarCrossePuzzles #Mystery #Shakespeare #RomeoandJuliet #UK

Photo above is property of Sinapsis Salas De Escape Company: Sinapsis Salas De Escape Game: Smile Country: Argentina 🇦🇷 Language: English, Spanish Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Thriller Date Played: July 27, 2020 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5.5/10 Size of Team: 2 Players Time: 90 Minutes Price: € 4.00 "Smile" is a 2-player PC escape video game. Instead of point-n-click, you'll be using keys on the keyboard to move and interact with objects. It took little bit for me to get the hang of it, since I don't normally play video games. But after a few minutes, I was moving like a stealth sniper in Counter Strike. Make sure to read the directions carefully if you are not a video player as you don't want to waste time during the game since the timer does start right away. Brandon and I were both detectives searching for the psychopath killer, Smile. He's signature was the emoji drawings that he would leave behind on the victims. It seemed like he just committed two new crimes in town. We decided to split up and explore the two crime scenes separately. If you want a scarier start and a larger area to explore, chose player 2. If you want a creepier atmosphere and a even creepier ending, chose player 1. Either way you're not going to avoid a bit of a scream if you are a scaredy-cat like me. The game involves collaboration with each other in order to solve the puzzles. We played over PubHub and enjoyed describing the scenes and objects to each other. If one player progresses too quickly, they'll essentially have to wait for the other player. There were also times in the game where you did not need the other player. Make sure to help each other as much as possible as that'll be your key to escape this game. We really enjoyed the graphics and the sound effects (at one point I had to take off my headphones since it was getting a little to real for me). Over all, we definitely preferred this game over their other game "Diabolic Escape". But if you didn't get enough of the horror sensation from this game, definitely continue on your journey to the dungeon... Photos above are property of Sinapsis Salas De Escape (If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!) Disclosure: We thank Sinapsis Salas De Escape 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. #CiciCao #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #SinapsisSalasDeEscape #SMILE #DigitalEscapeGame #Thriller #SerialKiller #Mystery #csi #crime investigation

Company: Bagels & Locks Studios Country: Israel 🇮🇱 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Adventure, History Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited Price: $36.00 (Up to 4 Connections) Photo above is property of Bagels & Locks Studios Games: IsraelQuest: Challenge One Date Played: September 16, 2021 Difficulty (based on 3 players): 4/10 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Your team of puzzlers is off to explore the country of Israel. Going on a tour of some of the most popular locations. Solve puzzles and learn about Israel’s rich history. Photo above is property of Bagels & Locks Studios Games: IsraelQuest: The Jerusalem Secret (Pro) Date Played: September 20, 2021 Difficulty (based on 3 players): 4.5/10 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 In this chapter of IsraelQuest it is time for your team to visit Jerusalem! Explore the city, solve puzzles, and uncover the hidden secret. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 The game is played by logging into the website and each player is given a code to sync each instance of the game. We were running it over three computers and it worked well most of the time. It is a house built UI and there was an occasional issue during Jerusalem where we would submit the correct answer but the game would not continue. This was solved by refreshing the page (you won’t lose your progress). In order to play this game, the team will read a textbox and at the end will be a puzzle of some sort that you will then have to solve. Once you believe you have the correct answer there is an input box at the bottom of the screen. Each puzzle will tell you what input is needed to solve each puzzle. It seems like every team member needed to press continue in order to progress on with the game which we thought was nice as some teammates might need a little longer to review over the puzzles. But at times this option did not function the same way as other times. The simplistic interface of these games makes the presentation stand out. In them, all of the information and history is provided via a text box followed by the puzzle for that particular location. It is recommended that you read the text box to enjoy the knowledge that is provided during the game. At all locations there is also a hand drawn picture depicting a specific feature at each location. Some of the pictures left much to be desired and had us wondering what exactly we were looking at until the information described the scene to us. Photo above is property of Bagels & Locks Studios 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 All of the information in the game is accessible and all of the resources are handed to you at the start of the game (in an inventory bag). There shouldn’t be any outside knowledge needed to complete the missions (that isn’t already provided). The puzzles try to relate to the missions but most of them felt like they were just a time filler/obstacle. Some of them were decent but most were solved quickly. Playing a standard and pro version of the games, our team was having a hard time trying to figure out what the difference in the challenge level was. Both seemed to have the same type of puzzle/information given. Given that there is a different difficulty level, our suggestion would probably be less cluing for the more difficult level games where players need to search for certain things themselves versus everything given to them. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 In both games it was wonderful to learn all about a country/city in another region of the world unlike our own. Learning the cultural differences and the similarities, makes the puzzlers ponder their own experiences. While some of the puzzles were fun, while playing both of these games, they felt scattered and similar to tasks simply needed to complete the game. The interface was simple to use but occasionally malfunctioned during our play experience. We learned about all of the major places to visit via text box and it made it feel as if we were completing history homework instead of an exciting quest. These games are great for puzzling beginners and if you and your friends are looking for a game to learn about the history and culture of Israel and/or Jerusalem, along with solving puzzles to make it more interactive, this would be the game series 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 Bagels & Locks Studios 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. #MikeSchnurr #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #PointNClick #BagelsandLocksStudios #Adventure #Israel

Photos above are property of Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations Company: Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations Games: Cold Case #2: Family Ties Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Mystery Game 💻 Genre: Detective, Murder Mystery Date Played: September 28, 2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 6/10 Size of Team: Minimum 1 Player (Ages 16+) Time: 10-20 Hours Price: £9.99 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 After the success of your last cold case, Superintendent Marcus Beard has brought together DCI Trish Roberts and ex-DI Ian Rutherford to undertake the task of continuing to investigate the backlog of cold cases in the UK. The case you have been handed today involves the Thornton Family where, over a period of six years, a large number of family members died from apparent accidents, suicides, and unsolved murders. It is up to you and the Cold Case Squad to uncover what is happening behind the doors of this esteemed manor house. Trigger Warning: This game contains references to self-harm and suicide, including photos and incident reports describing these events. Video above is property of Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 If you have played the previous Cold Case, which I highly recommend before undertaking this one, you know this game starts with watching an introduction video and reading an incident report regarding the first victim who caught the eye of the investigative team. After this you will have access to over 160+ pieces of evidence ranging from music, suspect reports, pictures, threatening letters, phone calls, videos of key moments in the investigation, and more that are divided into 12 chapters. Each chapter also contains a victim report and/or a suspect report. The chapter division makes exploration much easier as you can easily pace yourself to see how much you want to do. If you’re like me, you may want to binge the whole mystery in a day or you might want to break it up over 12 days with a nice cup of coffee or tea in the evening. There is the same investigation board and notebook that can be utilized on the website if you prefer but I found I much rather enjoyed pen and paper for note taking. I recommend labelling your evidence in your notes and note down beside it anything noteworthy or any questions you have about it. You will then have an easier time referring back to the evidence if you suddenly found the answer to that question two chapters later. There is one change with this Cold Case that caught me off guard for the first bit. As there was before, there is a Chapter Summary section where you can turn to for hints, help, and debriefs if you ever get stuck or confused. Under the “A Little Bit of Help” for each chapter there will be translations and help with codes and puzzles while “A Lot More Help” will go through key pieces of information evidence-by-evidence. Previously the language translations and full translations of codes were placed with the conclusion with only clues in the Chapter Summary but now you will find full translations in the Chapter Summary if you require it. This does help people a great deal who want to double check their work before submitting their conclusion report. The conclusion report asks you to identify the killer(s), the motive, and other related aspects to the case in multiple choice fashion. I divided my notes by chapter before taking time to build a chronology with all the key dates. Once I had this organized, I felt better prepared to complete my report and submit my answers. One thing to note is that the amount of information you receive can be overwhelming so take your time. If you need help organizing, the chapter summaries are an excellent resource. Reviewing the conclusion questions can also give your more guidance but they also may provide some spoilers. Once I felt like I had the main points of a chapter, I moved onto the next – if I missed something there was usually a reference in later chapters that would direct me to look back, which I appreciated. So don’t worry if not everything makes sense first run, you will likely come back to it later once the lightbulb goes off. This game took me a little less time to beat than the first game – around 7 hours – but by no means was it easier. The suggested game time is around 10-20 hours. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 If you enjoy the thrill of investigating a string of murders, then you are quite familiar with the deduction side of puzzling. The main “puzzle” revolves around you unpacking the narrative and examining how the victims and suspects connect. This particular experience has multiple narratives entwined that you must tease apart to identify motive and suspect. Another component to this deduction is to cross reference. If you see a date or a name, double check if you have seen it before. If you see a photo of someone, can you find that person elsewhere or do you know who it is? This form of puzzling is more labor intensive, and I recommend split screen if you can, but it’s equally rewarding. You truly get to feel the thrill as the thread of inquiry you’ve been tugging at finally leads you towards the correct suspect and I loved that feeling. There are two codes you are encouraged to decipher. I will note that not solving them will not terribly impede your investigation as later chapters will provide information but, if you enjoy that head scratching puzzling, they are present and rewarding to the narrative. The one cipher I think could have used a bit more sign posting before giving you the cipher key in the chapter summary. I will admit it was a very interesting and fascinating puzzle, but I needed a nudge to figure it out. It used a medium I had never seen before in decoding, and I loved that. The other puzzle was very light and is a traditional logic puzzle. Photos above are property of Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Cold Case #2: Family Ties was a riveting and dark mystery that thoroughly drew me into the investigation. The storytelling shared so much without exposition and the puzzling revealed little nuances to the experience that flavoured your view on characters that encouraged you to examine them from another angle. The amount of content is enormous but none of it felt out of place, and I left feeling satisfied that I have had made it through all the information with an excellent comprehension of the experience. The illustrated certificate was lovely, and the final conclusion has made me excited for the next cold case! This is definitely a game for people that love Hunt a Killer or Murder Mystery in A Box but with a much better price tag and a lot more content to work through. I look forward to seeing what Joy Swift’s Murder Mystery Investigation has coming next as the last two experiences have been wonderful! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game: Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers (If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!) Disclosure: We thank Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #JoySwiftsMurderMysteryInvestigations #Detective #Mystery #UnitedKingdom #MurderMystery

Photos above are property of Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations Company: Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations Games: Cold Case Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Mystery Game 💻 Genre: Detective, Murder Mystery Date Played: September 10, 2021 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 5/10 Size of Team: Minimum 1 Player (Ages 16+) Time: 10-20 Hours Price: £9.99 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Charlie Walmsley was found brutally murdered in his home in Cambridge. A senior Detective noticed the strange markings on Charlie bared a striking resemblance to wounds found on a series of victims in an unsolved investigation spanning ten years ago. Alongside, Detective Constable Investigator Trish Roberts, you seek to unearth the mysterious tie between the recent death of this Reader at Kings College and a string of international murders from years ago. With COVID lockdown, it won’t be easy, but DCI Roberts and you are up for the task! Video above is property of Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Much like a true to life investigation, the game begins with an extensive pile of evidence (over 100 pieces!) to work through and piece together. After reading the incident report, you have access to interviews, recorded phone calls, videos of suspects, letters, newspapers, reports, and more that are divided into chapters to ease players into digging through the evidence section by section. Ultimately, the goal is to figure out how all the evidence reveals what happened, both past and present. There is an investigation board and notebook on the website that can be utilized to note down details digitally but a good old-fashioned pen and paper can work just as well. With all this evidence to go through, I recommend the “divide and conquer” method if you are playing with friends so you take turns debriefing what was learned. Each chapter contains an incident report to review that I recommend viewing before reading through the evidence. Keep a timeline together to track the murders and ongoing events to help “sus” out suspects. When I felt like I’ve gone through everything in the chapter (and I have the pages of notes to support this), I simply moved onto the next chapter. At the end up the twelfth chapter, I filled out a conclusion report that contained questions not only about the murders but about motive, codebreaking, symbolism behind the wounds, and more. This report is multiple choice, so I recommend checking it out if you are not sure what you’re looking for but, be advised, it contains minor spoilers because of the multiple choice. There is also a section called chapter summary that provides general summaries of the chapters, help with puzzles and translations, and a lot of help in unpacking the importance of clues. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 This is not an escape room style experience but more of a murder mystery detective thriller. There is some puzzling with code breaking and translations, but deduction is the key to solving this game. I found building a timeline and noting crossovers of characters helped the most as I was able to identify if the suspects were close to the scene of the crime and if they had motive. I recommend using multiple screens as well as having pen a paper to make notes for each chapter. I also recommend noting down any dates you come across with evidence as it makes it easier to cross-examine when flipping between chapter notes. The difficulty I found in this game was knowing if I found everything in the chapter that needed to be found. There is a summary you can watch but I would have liked a chapter conclusion report to refer to see if I was able to answer the main questions of the chapter before moving on. That said, I usually felt confident moving on once I finished reading and watching everything. If I didn’t understand something it was usually referred to again in more detail in subsequent chapters. This is a long game and, keeping in mind I am usually a fast player, took me around ten hours to complete. Some players have said they took well beyond twenty hours of gameplay. Photos above are property of Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 As someone who loves strong storytelling and deduction, I thoroughly enjoyed my time diving into Cold Case #1: Lockdown. The ciphers here and there added to mystery while the evidence and videos prompted me to dig deeper behind the motivations of each character and really ask myself who they are. There was dimension to each character’s motivations and the twists in the story were unique and refreshing. This game provides an extremely satisfactory end to the adventure (complete with a beautifully illustrated certificate) and I felt invested in this adventure to the very end. I recommend this game for those who love murder mysteries and strong narratives with a dash of code breaking. After the thrill of case one, I cannot wait to see what is in store when I play Cold Case #2: Family Ties. Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game: Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers (If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!) Disclosure: We thank Joy Swift's Murder Mystery Investigations for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #JoySwiftsMurderMysteryInvestigations #Detective #Mystery #UnitedKingdom #MurderMystery

Above photos have been provided by Crimibox Company: Crimibox Games: Missing In Jericho Country: Belgium 🇧🇪 Language: English, Dutch Type of Game: Digital Mystery Game 💻 Genre: Detective, Murder Mystery Date Played: September 8, 2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 7.5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited (Suggested 1-4 people) Time: 10 Hours (Approximately) Price: $25.00/Game 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Alice Wild is a blogger who recently arrived in Jericho, a small town in Oregon. What could possibly be of interest here? And now she's gone missing. It's up to you to dig up the secrets hidden behind this picturesque cover of Jericho and give us some answers to the whereabouts of Alice... 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Once you purchase the code, you'll need to register your email and provide your phone number. The game will use this information to communicate with you and save your game progress. The code should not be shared among players if you intend to play with a group as it'll mess up the chatbot's progression. You can however play over Zoom but it's quite difficult to share screen on the audio, text and photo components as it's contained within the platform. One thing that we had a lot of issues with is reading the text or checking out the details on a certain image as they can not be enlarged. When you first login to the game, you'll be taken to a beautifully hand crafted map of the town of Jericho. This is the first time you'll be introduced to the different characters in the game. Make sure you take good notes as there's a ton of characters! It's important to remember who they are and if there's any involvements between them. There's also a lot of places to visit like the character's homes, church, mine, etc...All the instructions will be given through the game's chatbot. You can select functions that's already preprogramed or click "investigate" to input your own commands. The trigger words are very specific though so that did cause some delay during our game play to get exactly what the chatbot wanted. The game also included other websites, audio files, phone calls, social media platforms to make the game feel more immersive. At times we had to reconfirm to make sure if this is an real website or social media account and if its part of the game or not. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Most of the mystery type of games we've played concentrated on the storyline and not the puzzles. Missing In Jericho actually provided a good variation of puzzles to satisfy the puzzler community as well. We've encountered secret messages we had to decipher, hidden websites and objects, logic, deduction and more! It was definitely an exciting adventure especially when we're able to solve it on our own without using the hint system. The hint system is build-in with the chatbot. If you are lost, click the hint button and it'll nudge you on the next step (in small increments). If you still can't solve it after the nudges, the chatbot (inspector Mia who's helping you on the case) will give you the solution. The only thing we wish the chatbot could allow us to do is to go directly from that certain nudge as if "walk away" to try the game ourselves but wanted another nudge, we would have to talk to Mia all over again in order to get there. Sometimes that conversation can be very long and tedious. Some of the puzzles were really clever as it combined information or items we've seen during the investigation. The only thing complain we have is the size of the provided image or text for the puzzle. Because we can't enlarge it, it makes it very difficult to read them and at times we had to burn a hint because we couldn't see the clues clearly. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 There's a total of 4 chapters in Missing In Jericho. It's very addicting once you dive into the storyline. We took a few hours each day and completed it in 3 days. You'll know in the game when you're at the end of a chapter. It was really difficult to hit that "pause" button each time as we really wanted to find out what happened next. With an improved chatbot system and clues, we would have definitely enjoyed the game a lot more. The struggle was mainly due to not being able to figure out the exact trigger words and having to go through the system in a very rigid way where we can't just hop to where we want to continue. Crimibox did a great job at leaving cliffhangers, even till the end! The twist and turns in the storyline was excellent. It was like watching episodes of a reality TV show. I can't wait to find out if there'll be a sequel! Check out our interview with the creator to understand more on the development side of the game: *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available for booking but check out other games on their website*** (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 Crimibox for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #CiciCao #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #Crimibox #Detective #Mystery #Netherlands #MurderMystery

Photo above is property of Sherlocked Mystery Experiences x Mibo Company: Sherlocked Mystery Experiences x Mibo Game: Escape from Mibo Island Country: Netherlands 🇳🇱 Language: English, Dutch Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Adventure, Pirate Date Played: September 1, 2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 3/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: 60 minutes Price: €25.00/ Team 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You've entered into a virtual world where everything seems like a getaway vacation. Everything looks and feels like a simple hiatus for you and your friends. But little do you know, the powerful AI of Mibo Island - Marvin has other plans for you! He's bored and lonely and doesn't want you to leave, so he's prepared a bunch of obstacles to prevent you from doing so! Can you defeat Marvin and "Escape from Mibo Island"? Video above is property of Sherlocked Mystery Experiences x Mibo 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This game was truly a unique experience! I love experiences that take me to another place where I can explore and interact with people without losing the immersion of it. The set design was vibrant and massive! There was so much territory to explore as we unlocked doors and gates throughout our journey. The controls were fairly easy to get used to as long as you have a mouse and keyboard. This felt very much like a first-person video game where I was able to see other players roam around and pick up objects. The only difference is, we were able to take photos of ourselves physically in the game and share it directly on our social media. Mibo offers other upgraded services that allows projector presentations so that you can play uploaded videos within the virtual world. They also have options to include music, microphones, games, etc. The first thing that I noticed was the distance-based sound. If I was in a room with my team-mates and I stepped outside, the volume would slowly decreased as I distanced myself further. It really made us feel like we were in the same space together... virtually of course! 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 A large part of "Escape from Mibo Island" was a scavenger hunt. There was a lot of searching and exploring involved which made sense since we were on a tropical island. What this game really did well, was force players to communicate with each other and cooperatively work together. In addition to searching and finding objects, there was a good mixture of other puzzles as well. Once we got used to the controls and maneuvering around, we started to pick up the pace and progress quickly. It was then we realized, that there weren't that many puzzles in the game itself. This definitely left us wanting more and if the plan was to tease us... well then, job well done! 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Overall, this game definitely provided a unique experience and a completely different way of delivering a virtual game to players. What separates this platform from other popular ones such as Zoom, Telescape, and Unity is that you can actually see the players in the game and not just their avatars. Mibo currently offers 6 other worlds including "Tropical Island", "Winter Island", "Mellow Woods", "The Studio", "Town Hall", and "Disco Hall". These virtual worlds that they've created is perfect for team building and social gatherings. However, thanks to Sherlocked Mystery Experiences, we got to see how this world can be explored with an escape room feel to it. I would love to see more collaborations with creators and developers from the escape room industry using Mibo's platform! (If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!) Disclosure: We thank Sherlocked Mystery Experiences for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #BrandonChow #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #CooperativeGames #SherlockedMysteryExperiences #Mibo #Adventure

The above photo is property of Escape Obligado Company: Escape Obligado Game: AL.EN.BA Country: Argentina 🇦🇷 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻 Genre: Sci-Fi Date Played: August 21, 2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 7/10 Size of Team: Up to 5 Players (Ages 10+) Time: 60 Mins Price: $15/ Team 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 At 1300 hours, the scientific investigation ship, Alpha Engineering Base, has stopped responding to all communications. You and the research team are being sent to the ship to investigate. Once on board, you realize that the on-board computer believes you are intruders. To prevent the research from falling into the wrong hands, the self-destruct system has been activated and you have 60 mins to figure out how to turn it off. The above video is property of Escape Obligado 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 You will all need to use the same code to begin the game together. Once in the game, you will be placed in an intro room together to learn the controls of the game. If you are familiar with first person video games, you are three quarters of the way there. If you not, you will need to get use to the controls, either in the intro room or at the start of the game. Make sure to read all the instructions on how the controls work and make the proper adjustments to maximize your game play. At some point during the game, you might notice that there's actually an upstairs and you can actually float ("jump")! In the game, you will see all the other players as characters with their names labelled above them. Make sure to set up a separate video chat like Zoom or Google Chat to communicate with one another. Once the game begins, there will be a countdown timer in the main hallway you will need to keep an eye. The graphics of the game reminded me of some video games I played in my teenage years (around the turn of the century to put some perspectives on it). There were lots to check out on this spaceship as well as figuring out what you can interact with and what you cannot. It was nice though that all the items you can interact with would turn green when you approached it. The above photos are properties of Escape Obligado 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles promoted teamwork and cooperation through them as we all had a chance to do something on each of them. Most of the puzzles required observation of your surroundings and we relied on each other to communicate things like “I’m over here. This might mean something!” Make sure to have a pen and paper ready as taking notes would make your gameplay much easier. The puzzles had a specific flavour to them that once you are able to make it through a couple of them, you will know what to look for to at least get the right pieces together. That being said, that made the first few puzzles a little rough to get through as some of the cluing and objectives was a little abstract. If you do get stuck on any puzzles, there is a QR code that you can scan to get hints. Personally, it would have been nice to have the hints built into the game, so you did not need to have your phone at hand. We did use a few hints though and they were enough to get us on our way. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Overall, I enjoyed this game for group play. I personally enjoy puzzles where we need to work together to solve, which this game had plenty. If you have played enough first person video games and are looking for an escape game in that style, you will feel right at home here. I would not play this with less than 3 people or you will be doing a lot of running around to see everything. There could have been more story added to the game but hopefully there will be a sequel in the future to expand on the background of the ship and the people on board. (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 Obligado for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #MatthewLui #AtHomeGames #DigitalGame #PointnClick #Unity #Argentina #SciFi #Space

The above photo is property of Paradox Games Company: Paradox Games Game: Cyber Crime Unit Country: Canada 🇨🇦 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Game 💻 Genre: Detective, Murder Mystery Date Played: August 20, 2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 4/10 Size of Team: 2+ Players Time: 60-90 Mins. (Approximately) Price: $19.99 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 There has been a murder at Sallinger & Jewel Law Firm! The Cyber Crime Unit has decided to sent you and your team to find the killer. Which of the 9 employees is the real murderer? 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Only one player needs to purchase the game. That player will receive a link that he/she can share with the rest of the team. That player will also be automatically assigned the role of "The Detective". The rest of the players will all become "Forensic Agents". Although there's no limit as to how many "Forensic Agents" can join in on the game, we think 2-3 would be ideal. Once the game starts, the detective will be seeing a completely different set of information from the agents. Most of the time the detective will be acting as the narrator, He/she will be reading out the development of the story and other useful information such as evidence collected or suspect's statements. He/she will also be presenting questions to the agents so they will know what to look for. The agents will then need to use the information that they have on hand in order to help the detective answer his/her questions. It was quite easy to navigate as everything was on one platform. The correct input of an answer will reveal more information on the webpage. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Most of the puzzles in this game was through verbalization and examination. This went well with the theme of the game but did seem a bit repetitive in terms of the puzzle variation. The detective had a quite important role as they needed to be quite clear as to the information that he/she has received. Be sure to assign a teammate that has a strong communication skill to that role. This is definitely a teamwork type of game. The puzzles were not difficult but definitely gave us the feeling of being in a detective game. We had to go through fingerprint identification, various employee's alibis, recreating the crime scene, and at times even had to use real life resources like email and phone calls (US number needed!) The above photos are properties of Paradox Games 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This is a really different approach to a detective type of game that we haven't seen before. The storyline was very interesting as you are presented with 9 suspects and each had a story to tell. You were only able to eliminate them as you solved puzzles and revealed new evidence. The communication between the detective and the agents felt like how it would be in real life. I was playing the role of the detective in this game. I really did enjoyed having the power of inputting all the answers but I also felt a bit left out when my teammates were solving puzzles. Just be ready to choose the role you think you'll be best suited for this game. Regardless, if you are a big fan of murder mystery or CSI/Criminal Minds type of show, the Cyber Crime Unit will keep you entertained! *** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors *** Disclosure: We thank Paradox Games for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #Cici #AtHomeGames #DigitalGame #ParadoxGames #MurderMystery #Detective #Canada #ParadoxGames