The Lone Puzzler Archives - Room Escape Artist

Gather x Raid the Room – Escape the Island [Hivemind Review]

1 June 202211 June 2022 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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Room Escape Digital – Impact [Hivemind Review]

21 March 202226 March 2022 by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

Impact is a browser-based digital game created by Room Escape Digital, the digital extension of Room Escape Ottawa and Room Escape Boston (reviewed here).

3D rendering of Nebula Station orbiting Jupiter.

Format

Style of Play:

Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
Play on demand
Includes video segments
Browser-based digital game

Who is it For?

Puzzle lovers
Best for players with at least some experience

Required Equipment: computer with an internet connection, mouse

The game highly recommended using a mouse as well as a large screen to play. Some puzzles required paying close attention to tiny details.

The game did not include a conferencing feature for multiple players.

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: about 90 minutes (but no timer)

Price: $34.99 CAD per team of 2-4 players

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

We were a ground crew frantically trying to remotely navigate an incapacitated space station out of the path of an asteroid. The game provided us with controls for managing the spacecraft as well as an ongoing text chat with the astronauts stranded aboard the station.

The astronauts guided us to each task necessary to fix the space station. We had to locate the relevant controls, solve the displayed puzzle, and perform necessary interactions, which ranged from entering codes to rapidly clicking different parts of the screen.

Each player had a unique instance of the game, so entering a solution on one computer did not advance the game for other computers. Instead, players who solved the puzzle received a code to share with other players who wanted to skip the puzzle.

You’ll need to have a separate video call running next to the website so you can communicate with your teammates.

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Crime Runners – Crime Stories Part 2: Beneath Vienna [Hivemind Review]

2 March 202219 March 2022 by REA Hivemind, posted in Crime Runners, Hivemind

Crime Stories Part 2: Beneath Vienna is a point-and-click game created by Crime Runners in Vienna, Austria.

A set of 4 ropes with different numbers of knots hanging in a point & click interface.

Format

Style of Play:

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

Who is it For?

Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, pen and paper

Recommended Team Size: 1-3

Play Time: about 90 minutes

Price: €19.90 per team

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

We, a gang of “common criminals,” were continuing our quest for Simon Dickson’s gold after navigating his mansion in the prequel to this game, Back to the Congressman. This time, our search led us into a tunnel system, presumably “beneath Vienna.”

This is a pretty classic point-and-click game. Click to pick up and interact with objects and use them to solve puzzles. Up to four players connect to a single game. Any player can click on objects to explore and arrows to navigate between spaces. However, when one player clicks on something, everyone’s screen shows the result.

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E-Scape Rooms – The Sword of Drakul [Hivemind Review]

8 January 202214 January 2022 by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

The Sword of Drakul is a point-and-click game created by E-Scape Rooms in the UK.

3D rendering of a pedestal in an ancient temple.

Format

Style of Play:

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

Who is it for?

Puzzle lovers
Story seekers
Good for newbies
Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-3

Play Time: You have an unlimited timer and the game link is valid for up to 4 days. It took our reviewers less than an hour to play.

Price: GBP 14.99

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

You are traveling through rooms in a castle virtually (point-and-click) and solving various puzzles to move from room to room. This is a standard Telescape game with 360-degree pictures. You look around for clickable items that help you to solve puzzles and enter codes.

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Exit19.pl – Necromancer [Hivemind Review]

5 January 20225 January 2022 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.