Room Escape Artist

Exit: The Game –The Catacombs of Horror is included in our recommendation guides for Remote Horror Games and Tabletop Escape Games . For more of the best remote escape games in these styles, check out the recommendation guides.

Break from tradition

Location:  at home

Date Played: July 9, 2019

Team size: 2-4; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 2-4 hours

Price: $24.95

Publisher: Thames & Kosmos

REA Reaction

Lisa and I are fans of Exit: The Game – fans who have really wanted them to break from their patterns and put a new twist or two on their games. We’re also fans who have wanted them to release fewer games of higher quality… and we got our wish.

The Catacombs of Horror was an oversized 2-part game with one long narrative. Within it, Exit: The Game embedded many strong story-driving puzzles and a phenomenal final puzzle sequence. Best of all, they broke away from many of their most notorious clichés without breaking from their tried and true game system.

Of note, they dramatically reduced the focus of an in-game journal, making it far easier for a group of 4 people to comfortably enjoy collaboratively puzzling.

There was still room for improvement, particularly when it came to a few puzzles that yanked us out of the game world.

Overall, The Catacombs of Horror represented a massive quality jump for the series.

If you’re brand new to the series, I still recommend The Sunken Treasure as a strong on-boarding game. If you’re comfortable with Exit: The Game’s system, then The Catacombs of Horror is a must-play.

Who is this for?

• Story seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Occultists
• Best for players with at least some experience playing the Exit: The Game series

Why play?

• This was a noticeably stronger product than previous Exit: The Game installments
• Many of the puzzles integrated well into the narrative
• The Catacombs of Horror was a 2-part experience and crammed a ton of value into both halves
• The final puzzle was 🔥

Story

After a friend had disappeared in the catacombs beneath Paris, we’d ventured into the grim maze to try to find him.

Setup

The Catacombs of Horror was structurally identical to other Exit: The Game products that we’ve reviewed with one significant exception: scale.

This particular edition was a beefy double-sized game with one cohesive story. There was a midpoint that allowed us to stop. It even justified the break in the narrative.

I did a more through breakdown of how the Exit: The Game system works in my first review from oh so long ago:

Exit: The Game – The Abandoned Cabin, The Secret Lab, & The Pharaoh’s Tomb [Review]

Gameplay

Exit: The Game’s The Catacombs of Horror was a play-at-home escape game with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, and puzzling.

Analysis

➕ With The Catacombs of Horror, Exit: The Game broke their patterns in many ways. The most obvious one was the length of the game. The amount of content felt right for a casual evening puzzle game with friends. It even included a narrative-justified break point. The content also matched the price point.

➕ The journal – a mainstay from Exit: The Game – showed up much later. The result was that the journal was less restrictive. The game felt a lot more accessible.

➕ Exit: The Game introduced many novel puzzle concepts. These were unexpected and enjoyable.

➖ A few of the puzzles removed us from the world of the game. Although we enjoyed these puzzles, we didn’t think they made sense in The Catacombs of Horror, because the game went so far out of its way to keep us in the game world.

➖ One puzzle had this weird preschool aesthetic that didn’t match the rest of the game… it was jarringly different.

➕ The Catacombs of Horror was packed with “aha” moments.

➕ With a longer game, there was time to follow the breadcrumbs as we played and piece things together later. These were satisfying solves.

➕ The final puzzle was climactic and about as immersive as we’ve seen from a play-at-home escape room. It was worth chewing on and we felt we earned our win.

➖ Exit: The Game (and really all of the tabletop escape game market) made a big deal out of the game timer. I think that this time system does the game a disservice. We went way over… mostly because we were enjoying the company of our friends as we played. It just didn’t matter. These games can only be played once. Savor the experience over whatever time you and your group want.

➕ There was an interesting non-time-related lose condition in The Catacombs of Horror. This was way more interesting than watching a clock.

Tips For Playing

• Space Requirements: a small table
• Required Gear: pencil, paper, scissors, matches
• This shouldn’t be your first game from Exit: The Game. Please play one of their shorter episodes first.

Buy your copy of Exit: The Game’s The Catacombs of Horror, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Thames & Kosmos provided a sample for review. 

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