Room Escape Artist

“He who controls the spice controls the universe.” – Vladimir Harkonnen

Location:  at home

Date Played: April 21, 2024

Team size: 1-4; we recommend 2-3

Duration: 120 minutes per chapter

Price: about $27

REA Reaction

Dune: House Secrets was an enjoyable romp around Dune. I had played other games that Dune: House Secrets had based its rules on, and found a similar play experience with a radically different theme. My experience leaned heavily toward a choose your-own-adventure story rather than the classic police procedural deduction experience offered by the original, Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game series.

After playing, I understood how many people were disappointed when this game was originally released. There is less deduction and more exploration, but the mismatched expectations brought unfair criticism to a fun experience.

There were two ways to play Dune: House Secrets, either a Story Mode or a Victory Point Variant. I chose to play with the Victory Points and enjoyed working out the important paths to focus on and resisted getting distracted by investigation threads that weren’t vital to the goals in each chapter. Dune: House Secrets was supposed to be the first of a series of three games that have an over-arching meta story, but no other installments have been published as of this review.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Story seekers
• Dune fans
• Deduction fans
• Any experience level

Why play?

• You enjoyed Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game
• You are interested in dipping your toe into the Dune universe
• Choose Your Own Adventure experiences are your jam.

Story

You are on Arrakis, the planet better known as Dune, and have been “rescued” by the Fremen. These are the indigenous people of the planet and you now owe them a water debt for your rescue from the Harkonnen prison. Do not fear, fear is the mind killer. That first sentence was a lore dump in and of itself, but luckily this game provided all of the background needed to enjoy the sandy world of Dune.

Setup

Dune: House Secrets was a story-driven game that utilized resource tokens and cards, along with a dedicated website that provided choices and answers to the stories within. Once I opened the box, I read the instructions provided and it walked me through setting up the game board, choosing characters, and placing the correct decks of cards that would be needed to play the prologue chapter.

Gameplay

Portal’s Dune: House Secrets was a play-at-home choose your own adventure game with a variable level of difficulty.

Dune: House Secrets focused on decision making and had an element of resource management that allowed players to unlock otherwise inaccessible story information by spending the appropriate tokens. At the end of each chapter I leveled up my characters to give them the ability to provide necessary resources or advantages as the story progressed.

Story beats and essential lore were provided through a website that I was directed to when necessary. This was the same website that provided the wrap up for the chapter or the final questions that awarded victory points.

Analysis

➕ Each chapter was a digestible length and provided a clear point to take a break.

➕ The added puzzle of choosing how to level up your companions and characters gave a new dimension that made strategy between chapters important.

➕ When cards drawn directed me to the filmbook or history on the website, it provided excellent context to the characters I had interacted with and the general lore of Arrakis.

➖ In Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game decisions made on one day would cause cards to be pulled forward to later chapters which made choices feel impactful. Dune: House Secrets was a more siloed story where all of the pieces were buttoned up at the end each chapter and there was no need to remember what you had done or learned previously.

➖ A map of Arrakis was provided as part of the play area setup, but was never used in any of the chapters. This was a missed opportunity to incorporate all components to discover more information.

❓ The new story mode allowed players to explore the space of each chapter without a fear of failure by answering questions wrong after playing for two to three hours.

Tips For Players

• Space Requirements: A coffee table will suffice.
• Required Gear: Internet connected device (laptop or tablet preferred), writing utensil, and paper.

Buy your copy of Portal’s Dune: House Secrets, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

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