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Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwood

[Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwood]

Authors:
Jakub Caban, Bartosz Idzikowski

Publisher:
Board & Dice / Grimspire
2021

No. of Players:
1-4

EVALUATION

[Complexity]
[Design]
[Interaction]
[Strategy]
[Evaluation]


G@mebox author Ralf Togler writes about the game:

Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwoods is the second escape room game I played of the series of Escape Tales from Board & Dice. This time I played the German version, published by GRIMSPIRE. First thing I can tell you is that the German translation is very good and there’s no reason to go for the English one, if you are a native German. And this is quite important for this type of game, because the exciting story is text-heavy and a main part of the game experience.

As usual it’s hard for me to write about an escape room game without spoiling, so I will concentrate on a short introduction to the background story, and I will tell you something about the main game mechanics, or better about the differences to other titles of the series. For most of the mechanics we already know from other titles of this series, so I would like to refer for this to my review of Escape Tales - Low Memory.

In the new title, we are driven to a small village in a fantasy world surrounded by a gloomy forest. Our hero is driven to this forest where he encounters foreign people, apparitions and other strange creatures. He must not only fear for his life, he has to save much more. But psst! I better not tell you any more about the story, you better find out yourself!

[Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwood]

Click on image to enlarge!

Again the game is divided into three sections. Although it is possible to “save” the game progress at any time, I recommend to play one section in one session. Of course, you can also play the whole game in one session, but this will take you at least 9-10 hours. Basically, all Escape Tales games are solo games. But I made the experience that it is much more fun to solve the riddles and puzzles together in a team. The main reason for that are different skills or mental faculties of the players. The one finds the hint in an abstract picture, the other easily solves a mathematical challenge and still the other just remembers a clue from a part of the story read long ago. The last one is a new element in the Escape Tales world. Like no other game in the series so far, this part demands to combine hints, cards and various story details for solving the next puzzle.

[Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwood]

Click on image to enlarge!

Or better: one of the puzzles that lies before you. For typically, you have more than one puzzle in front of you at the same time. That’s good, because you always have another option, if you don’t find a solution to the one or other puzzle, and even better: you can follow different ways in the story.

Another difference to other titles of the series is that our hero, Gilbert, modifies his four character abilities during the game. Finding potions, solving puzzles and many other events result in a modification of his skills, expressed by a new item or a modification card that is put under Gilbert’s character card. Of course, these abilities have influence on the story and the outcome of events again.

[Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwood]

Click on image to enlarge!

We already know that the Escape Tales series uses an internet site to help the players (in form of hints), and that's this site is necessary to check the right answers of the puzzles. That works well, but I think that the hints are sometimes a little bit weaker in this version than in the other versions. The first hint is mostly an obvious one. But while the second and third hint had lead me closer to the solution in all other titles up to now, I was sometimes still lost after the third hint in Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwoods. Maybe that’s my fault (because I’m just to stupid to solve riddles), but still I hope that the publisher will improve the hints. Due to the internet that would be easily done. A little bit more difficult to solve are some mistakes in the story book. They don’t hinder you to go through the story and to solve the puzzles, but still they are a small nuisance for me.

In summary, I am nevertheless again very happy with the game. I love the story driven game flow, the diverse puzzles and the haptic perception of the game. Although nearly all you get are a lot lot cards, you feel and see the story unfold on your table. A mythical wood, strange towers with even stranger rooms and in the middle of all Gilbert, the hero, who can be asked too, if you don’t know where to go. That really makes a strange case for playing the game. At least, if you love escape tales....


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Copyright © 2021 Ralf Togler & Frank Schulte-Kulkmann, Essen, Germany