Escape your favourite board games!


Table of Contents

Location: Home

Date Played: May 2024

Team size: 1; recommended 1 - 6 players

Duration: 1 hour / game; total 3 hours

Price: ~S$53 on Amazon

Premise

Unlock! Game Adventures includes three separate scenarios for you to explore, each set in a different well-known board games universe:

  • Mysterium: Enter the manor and experience a dark and surreal investigation in which you must resolve the murder with the Ghost's vision cards in a dreamlike and esoteric journey filled with mysteries...
  • Ticket to Ride: Take a train trip across the U.S. in which you must thwart the scheme planned by the Rail Barons.
  • Pandemic: An epidemic threatens humankind! Everyone's future depends on you and your team of medical experts (virologist, medic, dispatcher...) as you face a global health crisis.

Components

Similar to other games in the series, it consists of:

  1. 3 decks of cards
  2. Tutorial cards
  3. Rulebook
  4. Solutions

On top of that, there's an additional document solely for the pandemic game. The components are perfect for what it sets out to achieve, an enjoyable, light escape room game.

Gameplay

The game starts with a single card. Throughout the game, you will need to solve puzzles to unlock new cards and subsequently, new puzzles.

Unlock! throws a variety of puzzles at you. Some will have you combining cards to make a new number (2+4=6, reveal card number 6), while others will have you inputting codes into the app, which will tell you if you are correct (new cards) or wrong (time penalty). To further draw from the physical escape room experience, card numbers will also be hidden on some cards in a “where’s waldo” type of mechanic. If you find one of these, you can reveal the same numbered card from the deck.

Should you get stuck, the app offered hints, in addition to being the game’s timer. Usually, you will need to input a final code into the app to “escape the room”. Doing so, will give you your final score based on time and hints used.

Puzzles/Thoughts

➕ Fantastic puzzles. The puzzles in this adventure feel fair and varied. Some of the puzzles were very unique and not seen in other escape room games.

➕ Great theme & story. In each case you'll be playing a story that is set in the world of the board game that it's inspired by. The stories are sensible and engaging as you progress through the game.

➖ Some puzzles require good eyesight. There are a few puzzles that require you to look for REALLY small numbers. I would recommend a magnifiying glass if you might have issues with it.

Verdict

Unlock!: Game Adventures is a really, REALLY good addition to the Unlock series. All 3 games are really fun to play with very few frustrating puzzles (if any!). It's an easy recommendation to anyone who enjoys escape room games.

Rating: 5/5

★★★★★

You can buy their game here