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Escape New Haven – Escape.Anywhere: Before Moonrise [Hivemind Review]

29 June 202029 June 2020 by Lisa Spira, posted in Hivemind

Escape.Anywhere: Before Moonrise is a real-life escape room livestreamed through an avatar, created by Escape New Haven in New Haven, CT.

A pair of hands in black latex gloves manipulating an old rotary phone.

Format

Style of Play: real-life escape room livestreamed through an avatar

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-5

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: $89 for the entire group (online playthrough)

Booking: Book online for a specific time slot. Note, Escape New Haven is now offering both in-person and online playthroughs of this game.

This escape room has the option for a “regular” mode or a “hard” mode, which adds a couple of additional puzzles.

Description

This is played over Zoom. The gamemaster shows you around the room via a camera. Photos of things you notice in the room appear in your web inventory for reference.

A black gloved hand pointing at a door inside of a cabin.

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Join Our June Livestream This Tuesday

28 June 202030 June 2020 by David Spira, posted in Events, Livestreams

It’s that time again. We’ll be livestreaming this Tuesday evening, talking escape rooms, and answering your questions.

This month’s main topics are:

The Reopening of Escape Rooms
Lessons From the Hivemind Reviews
An Update on RECON

Stylized image of an old steel microphone.

Details

Tuesday, June 30 (It may be the last day of June, but it still counts.)
9pm Eastern
Livestream Link is available here, as well as on Facebook & Twitter

Conversation Topics

How reopening is progressing
Player safety suggestions
What we have learned from bringing 16 additional writers onto the REA team
What has been entertaining us during our 114 day (and counting) quarantine
An introduction to the announced RECON speakers
Story time with REA
And more… as we’ll also answer viewer questions live

You’ll be able to type your questions (and comments) in the chat to participate in the Q&A part of the livestream.

We hope you’ll join us!

Next Level Escape – Temporal Tangle Online [Hivemind Review]

27 June 202030 June 2020 by Lisa Spira, posted in Hivemind

Temporal Tangle Online is a recreation of a real-life escape room as a digital point-and-click adventure game created by Next Level Escape in Sydney, Australia.

A large hallway with tall ceilings and lage pillars. Across the way is a screen that reads "Mission Briefing" beside a big, glowing, blue portal.

Format

Style of Play: real-life escape room converted to digital play as a point-and-click adventure game

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

The game can be computer-intensive, so I recommend running their free demo before purchasing the game.

Recommended Team Size: 1-3

Play Time: 1-2 hours, depending how leisurely you choose to play

Price: $35 AUD (about $24 USD)

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

It looks like you’re in a real escape room, but interaction is browser-based point-and-click, and works like any other computer-based escape rooms that you might have played before. The interactions are streamlined and don’t require fiddly positioning.

It is a single-player game, but lends itself to co-playing. Several friends could each play on their own systems at the same time and share information or discuss the game via whatever voice or video chat they prefer.

A small fox puzzzle and a robot toy. Text reads, "Can I pull apart this puzzle? Nope, it's glued together, What kind of monster destroys a puzzle by gluing it in place?"

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Bluefish Games – The Curious Elevator of Mr. Hincks [Review]

26 June 202030 June 2020 by David Spira, posted in Bluefish Games, Products, Reviews, Tabletop Escape Game

Going up!

Location: at home

Date Played: May 31, 2020

Team size: 1-4; we recommend 2

Duration: 3-5 hours (we took considerably less time)

Price: $35

REA Reaction

The Curious Elevator of Mr. Hincks was structurally innovative and filled with strong, crafty puzzles with a robust hint system.

Bluefish Games had been working for years to develop a product that they were happy with… and I know for a fact that they threw away at least one idea that they had gone deep into development on.

Initial opening of the box shows a wide variety of paper components.

Were there a few areas that could have been improved? Sure. The totally fine, but not-on-the-level-of-the-rest-of-the-game final puzzle comes to mind.

Overall, years of quietly testing ideas and honing their product seems to have paid off for Bluefish Games.

If you’re new to tabletop puzzling, this is a great place to start.

If you love tabletop puzzling and you’ve been around the block a few times, I’m betting that The Curious Elevator of Mr. Hincks will still find a few ways to surprise and delight you.

Recommending this game is an easy decision.

Who is this for?

Puzzle lovers
Any experience level

Why play?

Some innovative puzzle design
Smooth gameplay
A strong self-service hint system

Story

Eccentric inventor Mr. Stephen P. Hincks had spent years developing his bepuzzled elevator. He was finally ready to show it to us.

Each floor that we visited had a “gift” in the form of a puzzle for us to untangle.

Curious Elevator of Mr Hincks box art, on a card board box.

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Logic Locks – The Secrets of Eliza’s Heart [Hivemind Review]

25 June 202028 June 2020 by Lisa Spira, posted in Hivemind, Logic Locks

The Secrets of Eliza’s Heart is a digital, livestreamed adaptation of an escape game created by Logic Locks in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Room Escape Artist has a review of The Secrets of Eliza’s Heart in its original format from June 2017. This is a review of the digital adaptation of the same game.

Some kind of shrine with various skulls and candles.

Format

Style of Play: real-life escape room livestreamed through an avatar

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, pen and paper could also be helpful

There was no inventory system other than taking notes by hand yourself, and this actually worked just fine.

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: The game itself lasts up to 80 minutes, but they recommend you reserve up to 120 minutes for the entire experience.

Price: between €18,75 – €37,50 per person ($21 – $42)

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

One reviewer notes: Our game was generously provided at 3:00 AM Amsterdam time and our host remained and chatted with us long after the game was over. Excellent customer service.

Description

This game consists entirely of the livestream of an in-character avatar exploring a real room on your behalf. You tell the avatar what to do, but unlike some avatar games, they have a mind of their own, so you might have to negotiate with them to accomplish what you want.

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