Escape Room The Game: 2 Players – Board Game Review
Follow Genre: Escape Room
Players: 2
Age: 16+
Duration: +- 60 minutes per scenario
Distributor: Identity Games

Escape Room The Game: 2 Players – Board Game Review

Site Score
3.0
Good: Theme
Bad: Price, Poorly constructed scenarios and clues, Materials used
User Score
3.2
(5 votes)
Click to vote
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Rating: 3.2/10 (5 votes cast)

Escape Rooms have gained a lot of popularity over the last few years, as they allow people to become ‘investigators’ in a bunch of different scenarios. Now you often find several establishments in bigger cities that have Escape Room in many different themes and that also vary a lot when it comes to the party size that is allowed to escape. Identity Games has jumped on the bandwagon by creating a type of Escape Room you can play at home. Over the last few years a lot of different editions have been released which you can play from the comfort of your own home, and this brings us to the 2 players edition.

Contents

  • Hint Decoder
  • Hint booklet for each adventure
  • Introduction game: Kidnapped
  • Adventure 1: Mad House
  • Adventure 2: Prison Island
  • Rules

We had a few mixed emotions when it came to the contents of the box. While the scenario booklets have been neatly folded and made so that you can see interesting artwork, all the additional items you need for the puzzles feel cheap as they are all made out of flimsy paper. This means that your content can easily get damaged. We get that these games are somewhat of one-trick ponies, we reckon people would still love to invest a bit more when the materials included are also nice. Each scenario is actually a big folded piece of paper, that you’ll have to open once for the first part of the adventure, open further for part two, and completely open for the third and last part of said adventure. The concept is nice, the execution is found lacking.

Mechanics

Just like is the case with a real Escape Room, in Escape Room The Game: 2 Players you’ll have to ‘escape’ from the situation that is presented to you. In this box, you’ll find three different adventures, namely Kidnapped, Mad House and Prison Island. All of these have their own theme, and as this edition is rated for 16+, the themes are of a somewhat adult nature, as they include being kidnapped by a serial killer, you escaping from prison and having to rescue your friend from a lobotomy. Overall the themes have been well constructed and the scenarios’ descriptions are actually quite interesting. Sadly, when you start playing the game, things start going south.

As mentioned above, each adventure is a piece of folded paper, with several prints on it, which is inserted in an enclosed booklet that has scrambled hints on the inside. The folded piece of paper is folded in such a way making it so you have a small introduction on the exterior, you have to open a small portion for part one, open the next layer for part two, and you have to fully open it for the final part, part three. This is handled in an original fashion, and when opening the different layers, small materials will start popping up, which can be used to solve puzzles, much like in a real Escape Room. These materials can range from small ‘tools’ to files and extra data. Sadly, these scenarios proved to be very unclear and more than often had us grabbing the hint decoder to view the hints on the extra booklet. Sometimes the order didn’t make any sense, or the clue, or the extra information of what the game expected us to do. We feel like Identity Games missed the mark with this edition when it comes to the puzzles, clues and finishing touches.

Like all the games in the Escape Room The Game series, they can be played with the physical decoder, which is found in the big box editions, or you can also use the official app, which also has a timer and allows you to use the different keys too. The keys are no ordinary keys though, as they have different shapes, they also have different markings, numbers, and information on them as well. Sometimes the game will show you the shape of the hole of a key, while other times it will show you the direction that is shown on the key, or the number, etc. Once again, we find the idea of these games great, but this edition simply felt like a letdown.

Luck or Strategy?

There is actually no luck factor in these games. Sure, it can all depend on if someone spots a clue before the other player, but overall, luck should not be involved when playing this title. As mentioned before, the game does get somewhat frustrating, as the order of clearing some items is unclear, as well as the instructions on what to do. We realize that a normal Escape Room doesn’t come with an instruction booklet as well, but when playing the Jumanji edition, things were more structured and allowed for a better and more strategic approach.

Conclusion

Escape Room The Game: 2 Players feels like a missed opportunity. Not only were the directions extremely unclear, the materials felt cheap and sometimes a bit uninspired or lazy. Even puzzle enthusiasts will often check the hints for clues, as some of the connections you’re supposed to make are unclear, blurry or farfetched, making these scenarios a bit stupid if we have to be blatantly honest.

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Escape Room The Game: 2 Players - Board Game Review, 3.2 out of 10 based on 5 ratings
Ibuki


Aspiring ninja.

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