A shadow…
Location: at home
Date Played: June 18, 2019
Team size: 2-4; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 2-4 hours
Price: $55.70
REA Reaction
We backed Apocalypse: Sign of the Cross on Kickstarter after playing and reviewing the Prelude to Apocalypse a year ago. Our play through of Apocalypse: Sign of the Cross confirmed our growing suspicion not to promote a Kickstarter without playing the game itself. Although we liked Prelude, the full game fell flat.
Apocalypse: Sign of the Cross had solid creative direction, an interesting premise, and one or two fantastic puzzle concepts. It was burdened, however, with repetitious and tedious gameplay.
We can’t really recommend Apocalypse: Sign of the Cross at this point unless you’re super into puzzle/ crime thrillers and are willing to push through the gameplay. Finally, we apologize to those who backed it based on our enjoyment of the demo.
Who is this for?
- Puzzle lovers
- Armchair detectives
- Players with at least some experience
Why play?
- An intriguing aesthetic
- Some interesting puzzles
Story
A serial killer who goes by the name “Abaddon,” a reference to the Angel of Death from the Bible, had sent us a care package filled with encoded evidence of his crimes and a challenge: learn his secrets and stop him before he killed again.
Setup
We received a package with a bloodied lock box, Bible passages, and other documents. We had to puzzle through them in order to follow the narrative and crack the case.
Gameplay
Argyx Games’ Apocalypse: Sign of the Cross was a play-at-home detective game that blended escape room-style solves into a light puzzle hunt.
It had a high level of difficulty relative to most play-at-home escape rooms.
Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and puzzling.
Analysis
➕ We enjoyed the tangible puzzle components. The props – paper and otherwise – looked good.
➕ Argyx Games designed a mystery with an artsy, haunting vibe. The branding was on point.
➕ Argyx Games incorporated some classic escape room play into a boxed game. This led to a wonderful aha moment.
➕/ ➖ The web-based hint system worked pretty well. It was granular. It also showed the flow of the game so that we wouldn’t take hints we weren’t ready for. We would have liked it to include more description of how to derive a solution, once we’d walked through the hints to the end of a puzzle path.
➖ Apocalypse demanded an obnoxious level of precision. This was especially frustrating when we practically needed a magnifying glass to work with the props.
➖ Many of the puzzles felt similar in style. We spent a lot of time reading and searching.
➖ The final puzzle was a let-down. It was a fantastic concept, but it asked us to make a lot of leaps. David finally solved it, hacking away with a bit too much persistence. At that point the rest of the group had checked out.
➖ I clicked a link which called an international phone number. Then I received a text from Verizon telling me I’d been charged for that call. This was inexcusable. While Argyx Games did provide an alternative way to get the necessary information, we didn’t know that at the time I made the call. It wasn’t until we looked at the puzzle’s hints that we found out this charge could have been avoided.
Tips For Player
- Space Requirements: a small table
- Required Gear: paper and pencil, an internet-connected device (preferably a computer over a phone)
- For North Americans: when the game wants you to make an international phone call, don’t. Check the hints for that puzzle instead.
Buy your copy of Argyx Games’ Apocalypse: Sign of the Cross, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
