Escape Room: The Game - Expansion Pack
Age: 16+
Players 3-5
Playing Time: 60 min
Difficulty: 3.5/5
NOTE: This is an expansion pack. The Chrono Decoder and keys from the full version of the game are needed to play this.
We had a really good with time Escape Room: The Game a few years ago, playing around five or six games all up (including expansion packs). We found the Chrono Decoder quite a fun concept — it's a machine where you have to insert four different keys in different ways and sequences. Each game has three parts, and each part involves an extensive puzzle which you must solve in order to know which keys to put into the Chrono Decoder. To successfully escape the "room", all three parts have to be completed before the clock on the Chrono Decoder ticks down to zero.
And so it was with some excitement that we bought the Tomb Robbers expansion pack, which was was surprisingly cheap (AU$12 retail). The game looked interesting enough, and the boys and I are all fans of the "Egyptian curse" theme.
The game starts off well with a novel idea: players have to be split into two sides, one inside the chamber and one on the outside (you basically put a barrier between the players), and must use communication to solve a hieroglyphics-based puzzle.
Unfortunately, that's where the positives end for Tomb Robbers, which is hands down the worst game of Escape Room: The Game we've played thus far, and probably explains why it was so cheap.
The puzzles are extremely frustrating and finicky, especially because they are not well explained and frankly don't make a lot of sense. The game requires you to build cardboard sets and objects throughout the game, which can take up a lot of game time that isn't actually used to solve any puzzles. There's one nightmarish puzzle that involves folding thin strips of paper a certain way, and another annoying one that requires a very powerful torch (which, even when used, still doesn't make it easy to see). The result is a very tedious and not-very-fun experience where you feel like a lot of time is wasted doing things that have nothing to do with using your brain to solve puzzles.
RATING: 3/10
PROS and CONS of Escape Room: The Game
+The Chrono Decoder is a very fun and clever machine that can be used in a variety of ways and can be used on expansion packs
+The puzzles are varied and well-designed, often requiring multiple steps
+The clue system is straightforward and easy to implement
+Games can be replayed/lent to other people
-You must have a working Chrono Decoder and all the keys in order to play the game (there are reports of the machine being not very reliable, though we have not encountered this yet)
-There are really only three big puzzles per game
-Expansion pack quality is a bit hit and miss
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