Room Escape Artist

Game restored

Location:  at home

Date Played: January 2024

Team size: 1 or more; we recommend 1-4

Duration: several hours

Price: about $30

REA Reaction

After a subpar detour with its second installment, the Cantaloop trilogy came to a satisfying end in Cantaloop Book 3: Against All Odds. While maintaining the humor, art, and point-and-clickiness of the original game, this third episode layered on several new mechanics that spiced things up in short bursts of novelty. Unlike the behemoth hacking experiment in Cantaloop Book 2, these detours never overstayed their welcome but rather refreshingly expanded the modes of thinking in the game. Players who loved the first game should find more of what they loved here…and more!

Most notable, perhaps, was the ability to play as multiple characters, forcing an interesting change of perspective at various parts of the game. The game handled these mechanics well, restricting both the inventory items and access to information that each character would realistically have. It was a blast trying to figure out how to get each character to know the things they needed to, requiring a meta-awareness that felt like a unique kind of puzzle to solve.

Other “mini-games” simulated a variety of tasks and scenarios, but it was often our job to decide when they could help us progress within the main form of gameplay. This interleaving could have had a stronger on-ramp to help players realize their options. However, after we caught on, we appreciated the added richness to the game.

Our main frustration was familiar from both point-and-click games and previous Cantaloop books: we sometimes knew what we wanted to accomplish, but we couldn’t force our idea through the mechanics available to us. This felt very similar to choosing the correct verb in a classic text adventure or from the LucasArts SCUMM game engine. If that nostalgia doesn’t mean anything to you, then this is just a tad frustrating in a couple of parts.

At any rate, I’m so glad that this trilogy ended on a high note. Whereas Cantaloop Book 1 stunned us by transforming point-and-click adventures into book form, this installment introduced a new layer of happiness, holding our attention in novel ways and giving a worthy sendoff to these characters. Although we never quite fell in love with any of them, we had a lot of fun together, and it was sad to say goodbye. We hope Lookout Games continues iterating on this art form; their experiments have paid off well.

Who is this for?

• Point-and-click adventurers
• Story seekers
• Any experience level
• Fans of the Cantaloop trilogy

Why play?

• To play a point-and-click adventure in book form
• To revisit the joy you felt playing the original Cantaloop and complete the saga of Oz “Hook” Carpenter, jailbird-hacker Fly, and former-jazz-singer-turned-reluctant-criminal Alice

Story

After assembling the requisite ingredients of a barely-viable spy crew, blueprints, and intel, we were finally ready to infiltrate Cantaloop Island in an attempt to sabotage our longterm nemesis. It was clear from the start, alas, that the island was heavily fortified, our plan was wildly convoluted, and we would have to split up to have a chance of success.

Setup

This game retained all of the core game mechanics from Cantaloop Book 1, which are thoroughly outlined in the Setup section of REA’s original review.

Like Cantaloop Book 2, this game added new mechanics, but none lasted long enough to adjust overall expectations for how to play the game. They generally involved reasoning about an illustrated situation, using some manipulatives to represent our solution, and then looking up the meaning of the result.

Gameplay

Lookout Games’s Cantaloop Book 3: Against All Odds was a play-at-home point-and-click adventure game with a moderate level of difficulty, similar to Cantaloop Book 1.

Core gameplay revolved around observing, experimenting, making connections, and puzzling, with several opportunities to think hard about our environment and perspective.

Analysis

➕➕➕ I’m going to cheat and say that this game stayed true to the long list of plusses in David’s review of the original Cantaloop. At this point in the trilogy, one has to assume that the audience is point-and-click fans. For us, it absolutely delivered.

➕ The ability to play different characters was well-executed and enriched the game. It helped us focus on each character’s role and goals, which tied the story to the puzzles closely.

➕/➖ The mini-games added variety to the pacing of the experience, offering fitting diversions amidst the more open-ended searching and object-combining. However, with such a variety of short-lived rules, these activities sometimes lost a bit of precision. We felt like the results didn’t always match our intentions, and one time the required interaction almost felt like cheating compared to expectations set by other parts of the game.

➖ There were minor opportunities to clue next steps better after players attempt a close-but-not-quite-right action. Multiple times we knew what we were trying to do; we just weren’t doing it precisely enough. Sometimes the result of such an interaction would nudge us in the right direction, so we would have liked to see this more frequently.

➕/➖ While the hint system as a whole was still remarkably organized and decidedly helpful, it was subdivided into many “quests.” This required us to understand which quest we were working on before diving into the hint list. Although this organization was meant to help us focus our search, the quests didn’t immediately match the set of things we thought we were trying to do. For a while, it felt like we lacked the necessary information to make this key first decision.

➕/➖ The storytelling in this book was more engaging than in the previous books. It was never clear what might happen next, so we enjoyed watching the story unfold. That said, “cut scenes” that revealed major plot points were sometimes jarring; the unlocked scenes didn’t directly correspond to the action we just took but rather to a culmination of actions that represented our overall progress in the game.

➖ A lot of Alice’s dialogue and interactions felt self-consciously cringy and stereotyped. I don’t know why she hung out with these guys.

➕ The endgame was well-executed and satisfying. The pacing and effort were just right, and the outcome felt appropriate to the trilogy.

Tips For Players

• After playing the entire trilogy, I’d recommend starting with Cantaloop Book 1: Breaking into Prison to learn the mechanics in a slightly simpler experience. If you like it, play this game for sure. If you’re also a completionist, you can include Cantaloop Book 2: Hack of a Plan as long as you have the appropriate expectations. Otherwise, you won’t be lost if you skip straight here.
• We suggest playing over multiple sessions. It’s a long game. However, be sure to jot down what you were trying to do when you stop; it can be hard to regain your bearings.
• Space Requirements: a small table

Buy your copy of Lookout Games’s Cantaloop Book 3: Against All Odds , and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: We received a complimentary game.