Office is a point-and-click game created by Edaqa’s Room.
Format
Style of Play:
- Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
- Play on demand
- Web-based inventory system
- Point-and-click
Who is it For?
- Puzzle lovers
- Best for players with at least some experience
- Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, pen and paper
Recommended Team Size: 1-3
Play Time: 60-120 minutes, but you have 15 days to complete the game
Price: priced per player from $4.75 for a solo player to $13.00 for a group of 4+ players
Booking: purchase and play at your leisure
Description
Office is a point-and-click online game where you collect useful items to solve puzzles of varied complexity. Solving puzzles involved entering codes, manipulating objects into appropriate configurations, or using inventory items in the correct places. When a player solved a puzzle or discovered an inventory item, all players were notified of the discovery.
External voice chat is necessary. Edaqa’s Room offers an option, but players are free to use whatever chat platform they prefer.
Andrew Reynolds’ Reaction
The newest offering from Edaqa’s Room, Office, continues the classic point-and-click style that has been working for them. This game starts with a few seconds of narrative, just enough to elicit an intense dislike of a character – enough to fuel your puzzle-solving for the next hour or two. There was plenty to solve given that there were main objectives and secondary objectives. Multiplayer is both encouraged and simple; teammates access the same instance of the game but control their own movement and cursor. Whenever any player solves a puzzle or collects an item a message is displayed to all players. One puzzle hung us up for a while, but the (highly appreciated) progressive hint system walked us through step by step until we got back on track. All the other puzzles worked well and were fun to solve. The art style and relaxing muzak in the background made for an overall enjoyable puzzling experience.
Sarah Mendez’s Reaction
This game offered exactly what you would expect from an office-themed puzzle activity: lots of interactions with office supplies and a bit o’ Office Space-type humor. Beyond that, it created a playful atmosphere with cute artwork and commentary. Nothing blew us away, but nothing exasperated us.
The puzzles in this game were more challenging than in its predecessor, Carnival, which came with both positives and negatives. There seemed like more to do, the patterns were more satisfying to parse, and one mechanic in particular was clever and fun to manipulate. On the other hand, the hint system lacked granularity to support some of these more difficult moments, too often explaining obvious connections without offering the less-obvious next steps. One puzzle included a questionable logic rule, while another was solvable without all of its clues. Also, some of the puzzles overused the cross-player notification system because they involved a series of quick clicks/ discoveries. This triggered not one but multiple out-of-context interruptions on other players’ screens even if they were working elsewhere in the room.
In combination, these points yielded a tricky though uneven puzzling experience against the backdrop of a charming yet mundane theme. It would be a fine game to keep in your back pocket for when you need a way to casually puzzle with remote friends.
Cindi S’ Reaction
Office by Edaqa’s Room is a cute, cartoon-style point-and-click game that has you solving a mystery and finishing up a bit of paperwork before leaving work for the day. The story was thin, but the game made up for that with searching and puzzling. Some puzzles were very simple, while others really tested your logic skills. There were also a few hidden achievements to find. The game is best with 1 or 2 people, but gameplay is mostly independent. In fact, unless you purposely solve a puzzle together, the other person won’t get to experience the solution and may even try to solve it again unnecessarily; therefore, keeping everyone in sync is important. After solving most of the puzzles, the ending was rather underwhelming and we weren’t actually sure the game was over since we had one puzzle left to solve. Overall, Office is a good choice for point-and-click fans who are looking for a pleasant game to puzzle through.
Disclosure: Edaqa’s Room provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.