Tag: Cara Mandel

CodeCandyBlue – Cadets Training Day [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

Cadets Training Day is a free point-and-click game created by CodeCandyBlue.

Cadets Training Day, Home Office Communicator video.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
  • Play on-demand
  • Includes video segments
  • Point-and-click

Who is it For?

  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: about 60 minutes

Price: free

Booking: play at your leisure

Description

After starting your adventure, a short video segment plays and you’re presented with information to help you start solving your mission. While the game is self-contained in one web browser, you can use the video conferencing platform of your choice to connect with your teammates and solve puzzle after puzzle. Each player solves independently (you’re not logged into the same “team”, so it can be solved with just one person presenting their screen). Once you solve the puzzle, you enter the answer, and you’re passed to the next puzzle.

An image of a desk witha. safe on it and assorted papers and books.
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Wolf Escape Games – Hallows Hill: The Virtual Escape Room Experience [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

Hallows Hill: The Virtual Escape Room Experience is a point-and-click game created by Wolf Escape Games.

Hallows Hill title card, looks like its for a horror movie; a van drives into the darkness and fog towards an ominous building.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
  • Play on-demand
  • Web-based inventory system
  • Includes video segments
  • Point-and-click

Who is it For?

  • Story seekers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection and a mobile device for remote players who are not in front of the main screen

Recommended Team Size: 1-4

Play Time: 60 to 90 minutes

Price: £20.00 per team

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

Hallows Hill is a well-executed narrative-driven point-and-click adventure, with unusually cinematic presentation and support for remote players to view items on their devices.

A journal with writing and drawings. Text above it reads, "Her journal is full of stuff about the house."
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Exit19.pl – Necromancer [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

Necromancer is an avatar-led online adaptation of a real-life escape game, created by Exit19.pl in Wroclaw, Poland.

A strange still life with a face that has eyes of different colors.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Adaptation of an in-person game (can be played IRL)
  • Avatar controlled by the players
  • Web-based inventory system
  • Includes video segments

Who is it For?

  • Adventure seekers
  • Story seekers
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-5

Play Time: 70 minutes

Price: 405 PLN (or about $100) per team for the English version

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

Necromancer is an escape room in real-life that we played through Zoom. There is a Telescape inventory system plus 360°-view pictures of the spaces. There are 2 people operating the game: our gamemaster in front of the camera and the cameraman.

Avatar approaching a wall of skulls.
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Ghost Ship Murder Mysteries – Superheroes [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Ghost Ship Murder Mysteries, Hivemind

Superheroes is an online murder mystery game created by Ghost Ship Murder Mysteries.

We’ve reviewed their in-person mysteries Murder in the West Wing, Space Smugglers, and Western. This was their first mystery in an online format.

Cara, Peih-Gee, and David in costume on video chat in Gather.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
  • Interactive NPC(s)
  • Murdery mystery

Who is it For?

  • Story seekers
  • People who want to role-play and interact with each other in-character
  • Players who don’t need to be a part of everything going on
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, with a webcam and microphone

Recommended Team Size: exactly 12 players

Play Time: 2 hours

Price: $30 per person

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

You will be assigned a role, complete with backstory and goals. By interacting with other players in-character, you can try to achieve your goals and advance the story. There are 4 “rounds” to the game, and in each round every player will get additional information and goals.

The superhero HQ in Gather.
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Afternoon Apps Inc. – ARia’s Legacy [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

ARia’s Legacy is an augmented reality app game created by Afternoon Apps Inc.

A stone slap rendered in augmented reality. In real life, a very cute dog peers from beyond it.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
  • Play on demand
  • Augmented reality experience

Required Equipment: mobile device

Your preference for phone versus tablet probably depends on the size of your phone, and your tolerance for holding a tablet in the air.

Recommended Team Size: 1, or maybe 2

Play Time: 20 minutes

Price: free for the Prologue (3 episodes), $3.99 for Chapter 1 (also 3 episodes)

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

In this game you explore rooms in a mansion through the magic of augmented reality (AR). At the beginning of each room, or “episode,” you calibrate the game’s world within your own space by aligning a rough sketch of the room with what the tablet detects of your space from its camera. The game uses this information to display its objects and set pieces within your space. To have the images in the game rendered correctly, you need a flat open area that is well-lit.

You navigate this world by physically moving around your own room, pointing the tablet towards the parts you want to explore, and tapping on objects to interact with them. Gameplay involves searching, collecting objects, finding clues, and solving puzzles.

You play this on a single device, so the number of players is limited by how many people care to use the same device at one time. With a tablet, you might be able to play as a duo.

An assortment of digging tools rendered in augmented reality.
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