Tag: Joel Smileypeacefun

Project Avatar (Hypno Dive) – Mystery Hotel [Hivemind Review]

by Lisa Spira, posted in Hivemind, Project Avatar

Mystery Hotel is an avatar-led online escape game created by Project Avatar of Hypno Dive based in Ukraine.

Card reads, "This escape room created in Ukraine."

Format

Style of Play:

  • Adaptation of an in-person game
  • Avatar controlled by the players
  • Includes video segments

Who is it For?

  • Adventure seekers
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-8

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: $100 for a team of 4 players plus $25 for each additional player

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

Mystery Hotel is a first-person avatar-led escape game with graphic overlays and cut scenes that give it a videogame style.

First person view, with a HUD. Hands reaching out to open an ornate book.
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HomeScapeHome – Blast From the Past [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

Blast From the Past is a print-and-play or tabletop escape game created by HomeScapeHome.

Blast From The Past paper puzzles. Cover looks reminiscent of Stranger Things, interior pages have a wide assortment of puzzles, one has pictures of a Rubick's Cube, another has a map.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Play on demand
  • Print-and-play or tabletop escape game

Who is it For?

  • Story seekers
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, printer, pen and paper, scissors

Recommended Team Size: 1-3

Play Time: There is no timer. Expect 60-120 minutes depending on team size.

Price: $14.90 for a digital copy, $24.90 for a mailed paper copy

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

Read through a set of documents that set the scene, then sort out which apply to each puzzle, and solve to determine a set of 10 locations on the map. Enter those location names into a Google Form to validate, and then solve a meta-puzzle based on the response.

There are two versions: a digital download and a mail-order paper kit. If you buy the digital download, you will need to print out the game. You will need to print in color.

An intricate map puzzle laying on top of a stack of pages.
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Gather x Raid the Room – Escape the Island [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

Escape the Island is an online escape game created in a collaboration between Gather and Raid the Room.

A beautiful 16 bit island environment rendered in Gather. The Hivemind team is on the island and can see on another in video chat.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
  • Point-and-click
  • Interactive NPCs

Who is it For?

  • Puzzle lovers
  • Could be a good choice for a mixed group of novice and experienced players

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: exactly 2 or exactly 4 players

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: free

Booking: play at your leisure

Description

Each player is a character in a video game and controls their own on-screen character to solve a series of puzzles and escape being stranded on an island after a shipwreck.

Using Gather in an unusual non-proximity chat mode, players explore a pixel-art world and interact with puzzles by picking up and dropping items in specific locations.

The game has a 2-person and 4-person mode, effectively adjusting certain puzzles to require two or four collaborators to complete a puzzle.

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The Cari Mysteries – Grandfather’s Fortune [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

Grandfather’s Fortune is a point-and-click game created by The Cari Mysteries in The Netherlands.

An old black and white photo album with the game's title overlayed, "Grandfather's Fortune: An unforgettable journey." In one of the photos is our teammate Joel.

Format

Style of Play:

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

Who is it For?

  • Story seekers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-3

Play Time: about 90 minutes (no timer)

Price: €39.95 per team

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

We were on a quest to interpret our grandmother’s diary as a treasure map to our grandfather’s secret fortune. To do this, we pointed-and-clicked our way through several locations near their house. As we entered codes to solve puzzles, we received additional pages of the diary, revealing more about our grandparents’ lives and other areas to investigate.

The game included a shared inventory among all players as well as an embedded video chat. Players could explore the spaces freely apart from their teammates, but when someone entered a code or made certain discoveries, everyone’s focus was redirected to the relevant part of the environment.

A digital interface with an inventory at the bottom of the screen. In the main view is the front of an old brick home, number 73."
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Emergency Exit – Virtual Dr. Becker [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Emergency Exit, Hivemind

Virtual Dr. Becker is real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar, created by Emergency Exit in Greater Manchester, England.

The game host looking into the camera intensely. He's wearing a headset with a microphone.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Adaptation of an in-person game (can be played IRL)
  • Avatar controlled by the players
  • Includes video segments
  • Interactive NPC(s) (other than a player-controlled avatar)

Who is it For?

  • Adventure seekers
  • Story seekers
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, pen and paper

It also helped to have a note taking device handy.

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: £80 per team

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

You are invited to spend an hour with the famous Dr. Becker at Boleskine Lodge Practice… but do not dig too deep. Dr. Becker has a past which is questionable at best and not everyone agrees with his methods.

The game was livestreamed through Zoom. Emergency Exit added some amazing video sequences to transition between scenes. There were also two people running the game: our gamemaster and an additional cameraman. There was no inventory website.

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