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.