Game Reviews: Unlock Shorts

The Unlock! series usually has hour-long games but they have recently published several shorter games intended to play in less than an hour. For those who haven't played these games before, they are a variant on the "escape room in a box." Instead of a book and components, these games use a deck of custom cards and an app (available on Apple or Android devices) to make it through all the puzzles to the solution. Here are three that we tried...

Unlock! Short Adventures: The Flight of the Angel design by Cyril Demaegd, scenario by Fosco Garibaldi, and artwork by Cyrille Bertin

Players have a secret mission at Carnival in Venice. The first step is to find a mask to move about unobserved. Then, sneak into the Palace and steal the Doge's secret documents. Sneakiness and cleverness are required for success!

The game follows a nice, logical path. Some of the puzzles require a bit of dexterity (especially with the mask) that worked well. We managed to finish in time with only one hint, a satisfying run. Very fun!

 

Unlock! Short Adventures: The Awakening of the Mummy design by Cyril Demaegd, scenario by Matthieu Casnin, and artwork by Neriac

A lot of legends and folklore are told about a mummy that wanders the Red Pyramid. Interested in debunking the supernatural, the player joins famed Egyptologist Professor Sarah Jones to explore the tomb and prove there's no such thing as spooks. Sarah quickly gets separated into a different part of the pyramid, leaving the player to make their way through the creepy halls and menacing traps. Can you find the Professor and the way out in time?

This adventure has a lot of character. Clearly borrowing from classic Indiana Jones storytelling, the trip through the pyramid has some interesting puzzles and traps to avoid. The game has one jump scare which is hinted at the beginning. The art leans into the old black and white mummy movies from the 1930s and 1940s, giving it a very nice visual style. We enjoyed this two-lock difficulty adventure quite a lot (except for our ten-year old who was caught off guard by the jump scare).

Unlock! Short Adventures: Secret Recipe of Yore design by Cyril Demaegd, scenario by Matthieu Casnin, and artwork by Pandaluna

The player joins a cooking competition using a dead grandmother's French Toast recipe. All you have to do is make and plate granny's recipe and you are bound to win, right? The judge is a bit of a stickler, so you have to memorize the recipe off the first card and then put everything together in order, including cooking it just the right amount of time. 

A twist or two prolongs the effort in an enjoyable way. We had a lot of fun until the very last puzzle which was not clear as it could have been. After trying several different variations, we took hints to get things right. Even though this was only a one-lock difficulty, we got the lowest score of the three. We loved it up to the very end--it was whimsical and amusing with charming art. If only the ending had worked better...

These games are a lot of fun and are reasonably priced (around $10 each). I discovered on the website that walkthroughs are available if you get stuck, though that is not as much fun as figuring things out yourself.

Recommended--the mummy one was my favorite, but they are all a fun, quick set of puzzles to solve as a group or solo.

Game Review: Unlock! Timeless Adventures by Space Cowboy

Unlock! Timeless Adventures designed by Aristide Bruyant, Cyril Demaegd, Guillaume Montiage, and Yohan Servais and published by Space Cowboys

Another set of three Unlock! escape room-style games in one box. Each of the games is a deck of cards and one supporting item that is used in one or more of that game's puzzles. The box also comes with the standard tutorial deck.

The first adventure is "The Noside Show." Infamous Professor Noside has taken over a traveling circus. Players similar to those in previous Noside adventures. The game even comes with a circus program that is part of the puzzles. We found this quite delightful and imaginative though we did brute-force our way through one of the puzzles, thus the eight minutes of machine penalties below. Maybe that's why we got the thoroughly average three-star score? The experience was a lot of fun.

"Arsene Lupin and the Great White Diamond" is an adventure in Paris circa 1900. Arsene Lupin is a famous gentleman burglar who has set a challenge for the orphans of Paris. Lupin has stolen a 180 karat diamond from the world expo and hidden it somewhere in the city. The players are a group of orphans chasing around, solving puzzles and traps set by Lupin and by another roving gang of orphans. The theme is a lot of fun and very engaging. In addition to the deck of cards, there's a letter from Lupin with a map of Paris on the back showing various places to investigate. The puzzles are enjoyable and, I thought, easier than the Noside adventure. I only used one hint and sailed along quickly and happily through the adventure.

"Lost in the ChronoWarp" has the player investigating the disappearance of Alcibiades Tempus, a friend who lives nearby. In his living room are clues that lead to a time traveling adventure that goes far into the past and the future. The player puts together clues to get the professor back to his own time and to restore the temporal order. The deck of cards is enhanced by a fold-out picture of Tempus's living room which changes as the game progresses (the player lays cards over the picture to change the images). I was bummed when the television changed from a weather report to a nuclear armageddon report! I did say the player has to restore the temporal order. I enjoyed most of the puzzles. The very first puzzle was inexplicable to me. Even after using the in-app hints to get the solution, I am not really sure anyone would get the first puzzle without brute forcing or making a very lucky guess. After that, the rest was a lot easier. I was surprised to see a four-star rating at the end. I was sure I did too many wrong things to get a good rating. 

Overall, this is another fun set of Unlock! games. The extra component in each made for a more interesting challenge. My favorite was the Lupin adventure--it captured the race against time the best and brought back happy memories of visiting Paris. The time travel was a lot of fun too with the shifts in narrative as the player changes things in Tempus's past and nearly ruining his future.

Recommended.