Room Escape Artist

At the time of this review (April 12, 2020), this game was still in testing and development. The content has since expanded and play time has substantially increased.

Palace of Destiny is a free digital game created by Palace Games.

Style of Play: Light Puzzle Hunt

Required Equipment: Computer with internet connection, pen and paper

Recommended Team Size: 1-4

Play Time: about 60 minutes

Price: Free

Booking: Click to play at any time

Yesterday we introduced the Hivemind Review format. This is the very first Hivemind Review.

Hivemind Review Scale

Read more about our Hivemind Review format.

Theresa W’s Reaction

Palace of Destiny was a solid at-home game littered with pop culture references. Google-fu comes in handy, as most of the game requires outside knowledge. The puzzles were clever and unique, yet relied a bit on pop culture that would be hard to solve without prior knowledge. Once you knew where to start, the puzzles were fun and engaging. The end of the game wasn’t clear (they will be adding more puzzles), which was confusing. I would recommend this as a fun game to fill the time for both solo puzzlers and small groups.

Diana Kobrynowicz’s Reaction

I loved the idea of the Palace of Destiny — who doesn’t want to explore a Palace for adventure and mystery? Here, you enter a room, explore, solve, and move on to the next room. The hint system is thematically consistent and works well.

This adventure is very puzzle-centric. Most puzzles need significant outside knowledge to solve. Some of that was tediously obscure, but nothing that some Google sleuthing wouldn’t overcome. This experience lacked a cohesive story, so enthusiasts who love puzzle-focused challenges will like this far more than those who prefer on-theme puzzles interwoven with a compelling narrative.

The Lone Puzzler’s Reaction

Series of linear puzzles that were pretty fun to play but that relied a bit too much on outside resources (Google) – expected more of a self-contained escape room-like feel to the game. Game play was good – puzzles were moderate difficulty – probably better for casual players than enthusiasts.

Peih Gee Law’s Reaction

This was a fun little puzzle hunt. It took a while to get used to the rhythm of puzzles and having to Google many things. The format was a little unwieldy at times; a few really required either pop culture knowledge or a ton of googling. Some puzzles were a bit tedious, requiring you to refer back and forth. Overall, though, the puzzles were very satisfying, especially if you have a lot of time on your hands like we all do currently in quarantine.

Theresa Piazza’s Reaction

If online point-and-click escape room games and Puzzled Pint had a baby, it might be this game. The free beta of Palace of Destiny has about an hour’s worth of puzzling to offer either a team or lone puzzler. Each room and puzzle offered a distinct challenge, which we enjoyed solving with the help of a collaborative Google doc full of screenshots. One puzzle required outside knowledge that we didn’t immediately recognize, causing our team to stall for quite a while as we threw all ideas out there, just to see what would stick. Palace Games has teased that Palace of Destiny will be expanded, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they add next!

Format Description

You navigate to a URL, and after signing up for an account, you are met with a series of rooms inside a browser window, each gated by a puzzle to solve before you can progress to the next room. The door is barred by a passcode that is revealed after solving the puzzle. 9 rooms later, you reach the (temporary) end of the series!

This is a classic-style point-and-click overhead two-dimensional game. If you’re playing with friends in other locations, you can either screen share your experience, or each create your own login and play along. Each login is completely siloed and not connected to a team.