Slice of Time
Location: Available at some escape room and VR venues. We played at trap’t in Stamford, CT.
Date Played: June 9, 2023
Team size: 2-4; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $42 per person
REA Reaction
It has been 4 years since we played a Ubisoft VR escape game… which is hard to believe.
Back when the original 2 Assassins Creed VR escape games launched in 2018 and 2019, they were a shock. A AAA video game studio set up shop in our medium and truly approached it with respect.
Which brings us to Prince of Persia: The Dagger Of Time, originally released August 10, 2020, but we just got around to playing it now.
In many ways Prince of Persia: The Dagger Of Time is a continuation of Ubisoft’s work in escape games. Overall, Ubisoft brought a more complex vision to life in The Dagger Of Time. The addition of unique items, each with a special power over the environment built on the previous games and opened up new opportunities for challenge design.
And all of this was done in a way that (mostly) maintained the accessibility of the Ubisoft Escape Games.
However, this strength was also the weakness of The Dagger Of Time because it felt like this new direction wasn’t pushed far enough. This was abundantly clear when the special items became essentially irrelevant in the endgame.
My second note was that it felt like this game needed a stability patch as we encountered a number of issues where the game would break, but continue running. The hardware was fine, but the software was busted. Fortunately the ability to reload us to specific points in the game kept this from becoming a nightmare… but it has left me wondering how alive this line of business is for Ubisoft.
I hope that the Ubisoft Escape Games line continues both with new games and ongoing support for the existing ones. These games are fantastic and there is so much more opportunity within them.
If you’re into VR, this game can be played at roughly 700 locations worldwide. I recommend checking out all of their titles.
Who is this for?
- Adventure seekers
- Puzzle lovers
- Scenery snobs
- VR fans
- Prince of Persia fans
- Any experience level with escape rooms or VR, but we recommend you play Escape the Lost Pyramid and Beyond Medusa’s Gate first, to familiarize yourself with the mechanics.
Why play?
- The massive, beautiful, and detailed world
- The magical weapons
- Puzzles that aren’t possible in a real-life escape room
Story
We had been summoned to the Fortress of Time by Kaileena to stop an evil Magi. She then gave us the Dagger of Time, which would be essential for completing our mission.
Setup
We each stood in our own play area of approximately 10 square feet. We each wore a VR headset, placing the battery pack in a pocket. We also wore headphones with microphones so that we could hear the game world and our teammates; the game transformed our voices. We held simple controllers, one in each hand, that could grab and release items and teleport.
Once we were set up in the gear, we entered the game world where we tested out the controllers and created our characters. Then we arrived at the Fortress of Time.
Gameplay
Ubisoft Escape Games’ Prince of Persia: The Dagger Of Time was a VR escape game with a high level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around observing, interacting with objects, climbing, and use certain weapons and powers. Most of the puzzles were spatial or environmental in nature. Gameplay relied on communication and teamwork.
Analysis
➕ The world was absolutely beautiful. It was enormous. Every direction we looked was detailed, ornate, and captivating.
➕ The basic gameplay was pretty simple, even for VR novices. The controllers were easy to use. We had no trouble teleporting, picking up objects, or climbing.
➕ We loved climbing through this game world. It was truly bizarre to climb in VR, with our feet on the ground, but our character way up in the air scaling walls. It was pretty magical.
➕ A filter of some sort was applied to our voices when we spoke. This was initially a bit confusing, but once we got used to it, it was cool. But on a personal note, it is strange when your wife doesn’t sound like your wife and your father doesn’t sound like your father.
➕/➖ The weapons added depth and challenge through their unique magical powers. That said, the weapons weren’t balanced in challenge or appeal. We couldn’t trade weapons, which forced collaboration (and participation!) from all the players, but also made the individual player’s experiences unbalanced.
- The Dagger of Time was the most complex weapon. It wasn’t intuitive to use, but once we’d figured it out, it was very powerful, which was exciting.
- The Sand Sword was the most fun weapon to use, but was a bit finicky to aim.
- Then there was a weapon for bashing, which was enjoyable, but not as important… and clearly not memorable because I cannot recall its name.
We received The Dagger of Time early in the experience. It would be possible for a less-skilled player to be forced into this weapon with hardly any onboarding, creating a frustrating experience for the whole team.
➕ The environmental puzzles and their ahas were immensely satisfying. It was incredible when we figured out how one weapon impacted the world, and subsequently how this created a stepping stone to the next aha.
➖ The gameplay was repetitive. The Dagger Of Time overused some of the less exciting interactions. In one instance, we had to iterate on the same action 4 times. Cutting some of the repetition to shorten the game would have been a good call.
➖ The automated hints only reminded us to “work together” or to use one of our weapons. This was more annoying than helpful.
➖ We wanted to use the weapons and their powers even more. That’s what made this game special. There were missed opportunities to lean into that type of collaborative environmental solving. Disappointingly, the boss battle didn’t use our weapons at all.
➖ The ending of the story didn’t make a ton of sense. Somehow we saved the world ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
➕/➖ The software was glitchy, which was quite frustrating. We had to reset a number of times during the playthrough. On the plus side, our status saved, so we didn’t need to replay too much after each reset.
➕ The headsets were pretty comfortable. It was not a problem to wear them for 90 minutes. (We were in the VR headsets extra long because of all the resetting.)
Tips For Players
- Wear pants with pockets for the battery pack.
- Don’t wear a pony tail or eventually your VR headset will hurt your head.
- You can’t choose your weapon, but if you have to (or choose to) reset the game, the players might end up switching weapons. We had to reset enough times that I got to handle each one.
Play Ubisoft Escape Games‘ Prince of Persia: The Dagger Of Time, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Connect with Ubisoft Blue Byte to license the Prince of Persia: The Dagger Of Time, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: trap’t comped our tickets for this game.
