The Tale of Ord is included in our recommendation guide for Tabletop Escape Games – Advanced Challenge & Commitment. For more of the best games of this style, check out the recommendation guide.
Update 9/21/21: If you enjoy The Tale of Ord, we hope you’ll check out our interview with creator Rita Orlov on The Reality Escape Pod.
By Odin’s Beard!
Location: at home
Date Played: June 2018
Team size: 1-4; we recommend 1-4
Duration: 3-4 hours per package; we recommend splitting each package into multiple sessions
Price: $165 for a total of 4 monthly packages
REA Reaction
PostCurious’ The Tale of Ord wove an epic tale through interconnected narrative and puzzle components, delivered in a series of four parcels. As The Tale of Ord progressed, the density and challenge grew dramatically. We loved the grand vision in this smart, innovative, and tightly-written saga.
While the depth was impressive, PostCurious occasionally struggled to narrow the focus for puzzle play.
We highly recommend The Tale of Ord to puzzlers who welcome a substantial mystery. It’s a worthy commitment. Don’t try to play this one casually or Loki will have a good laugh at your expense.
Who is this for?
- Story seekers
- Puzzle lovers
- Players with at least some puzzling experience
Why play?
- Brilliant, challenging puzzles
- A well-designed hint and answer verification system
- Efficient narrative storytelling woven into the components
- A ton of content
Story
Two professors from the Emerens Institute had gone missing. We’d been hired as private investigators to track them down through their research, writing, and study of Norse mythology. Along the way, we found a deeper, supernatural mystery.
Setup
We had received four monthly packages, filled with letters, documents, and mysterious items.
The vast majority of the components were paper-based and carefully designed. The packages also included a variety of unusual components, which culminated in a remarkably clever puzzle box.
Gameplay
PostCurious’ The Tale of Ord was a puzzle-focused, narrative-driven at-home puzzle game with a higher level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around making connections and puzzling. Completing The Tale of Ord was an accomplishment.
Analysis
+ #$%^ Tale of Ord was tightly written. Seriously. When we reread everything after finishing the game, all was revealed. The level of clarity that we had in our second reading was nuts.
+ PostCurious created a broad array of puzzles with shocking precision. There were more than a few instances where we paused to reflect on how well a puzzle design came together.
+ The clue and game instructions were naturally embedded throughout the various letters and readings provided by PostCurious. This technique inspired our approach to the puzzle that we hid in the Escape, Immerse, Explore: New Orleans Tour.
+Tale of Ord balanced puzzles and story. Pure lore flowed seamlessly into puzzles.
+ The props, whether they were made of paper or something more elaborate, were thoughtfully designed. They felt like they belonged.
? We knew we’d need a computer with an internet connection to play. We hadn’t realized the extent to which a computer would be necessary.
– Tale of Ord was framed up as 4 chapters, but it felt more like 8. It would have benefitted from additional natural break points. After we found ourselves burning out from solving each chapter in one sitting, we started creating our own breakpoints. The content was great, but the chunks were too big.
+ The hint system was structured and easy to use. The hints asked us questions before bluntly delivering answers, which we appreciated. This allowed us to earn most of a solve, even when we needed a nudge.
+ PostCurious included an answer verification tool with the hint system. This let us know when we were close or had a correct answer. This was a massive improvement over most of the other mail-delivered games that we’ve played, where we’ve frequently found ourselves unsure of our solutions with no easy method of finding clarity. This was so well done; it should be an industry standard.
– We occasionally struggled with expectations. Initially it seemed like each box was self-contained… until it wasn’t. PostCurious generally did a good job of making it clear when we needed to reference back to past materials, but some of them had us tied up in knots.
– Most chapters had a spot or two where the clue structure felt tenuous and weak. Sometimes the puzzles were especially tough to start; others felt like a stretch to extract a solution. These became particularly frustrating, especially when we were at the tail end of a long session and trying to close out a chapter.
+ Box two cautioned us to “solve it during the daytime.” That instruction was worth heeding. The hint system had a bypass for those who cannot play during the day, but you should know that if you bypass that puzzle, you’re doing Tale of Ord wrong.
+ The list of characters was pretty short. After having played other games that were constantly introducing new characters, this narrative simplicity was a gift from the gods.
+ At its best (which was often), Tale of Ord had beautifully layered puzzles providing elaborate challenges that exceeded what we have come to expect from both escape rooms and subscription puzzle games. Solving these puzzles felt so good.
+ The final puzzle and its components were beautiful. What a way to close the loop on an epic tale.
Tips for Playing
- Chapter 2 must be played during the daytime. Curious, right?
- Keep track of all your work and solutions. You will need to visit some of them again.
- You’ll need a computer; a smart phone just doesn’t cut it.
- The Tale of Ord was a serious commitment. Don’t approach it haphazardly.
Order your copy of PostCurious’ The Tale of Ord, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: PostCurious sent us a complimentary reviewer’s copy of this game.
This sounds so cool! Is it replayable by another group, or do things get destroyed?
Great question, and one that I should have addressed in the review.
I suppose if you were extra careful, you could probably repackage it. The repackaging would be easy… The hard part would be getting through some of these puzzle without writing on them.
There were a few folding puzzles that would end up with obvious, spoilery creases.
One sticking point that comes to mind is that the puzzle box might not be in the exact same shape if one were to “reset it.” I think it could be done, but that final puzzle wouldn’t be quite perfect.
Good to know, thanks! Sounds like it might be worth hanging onto anyway, for nostalgia’s sake.
I think so. There are some beautiful objects in there… But beyond that, I personally enjoy straight solving puzzles and not having to focus my attention on preservation methods. That beings said, I know some people who seem to enjoy the puzzle of solving puzzles without damaging anything.