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G@mebox author Ralf Togler writes about the game:
Escape room games, escape room books, exit games, exit books. There are a lot of different approaches to meet the boardgamers’ demands in the last years. More and more publishers jump on the bandwagon and create creative puzzles and riddles. We never had a larger choice than today. Tastes differ, and so there are escape themes set in the medieval, in the future, in the present, with historical persons, fantasy creatures and wild animals, and still others are held abstract with the puzzles as the only theme.
I personally prefer escape rooms that tell us a story. And so, the Escape Tales series from BOARD AND DICE is one of my favourite ones. In three chapters we dig deep into a story that unfolds during the game. With each new puzzle that we solve we understand more about what’s happening. If you don’t know the series yet, I strongly recommend reading my reviews of Low Memory and Children of Wyrmwood.
Click on image to enlarge!With The Book of Rituals BOARD AND DICE has now presented their first escape room book that is set in the universe of the Escape Tales universe. What does that mean? First of all, there is the same design team. And that means challenging tasks, a sophisticated hint and solving systems using a static website (without the need of installing an app) and a great layout. On the very first page of the book we are introduced into the secrets of alchemy. And we are asked to learn more about the elements and the ingredients before we finally can prove ourselves in the field of complex rites. Each double side of the small book covers an element, an ingredient or a rite, but all secrets are taught in form of a puzzle. Sometimes it is enough to stay on the same double page to solve the riddle, sometimes it is necessary to turn pages, to use an alchemical alphabet of a circle of light, and often you will also need the result(s) of other ingredients before you are able to solve the riddle of the page. Click on image to enlarge!Understandably, I will not go in any detail of the book, but let me assure you: the apprenticeship as an alchemist with this book is a great one. The small escape room book is a small treasure, a book that stands out from the mass. Over the last two weeks, I regularly sat on my couch in the evenings and tried to solve the one or other puzzle of the book. You are free to turn pages and look for an undiscovered riddle, you don’t need to solve the puzzles in a chronological order. I often turned pages and went back to riddles with a new idea. Sometimes I needed a hint or two, sometimes time to think about the puzzle was all I needed. To sum it up: for me The Book of Rituals is one of the best escape rooms books out there, and it truly deserves one of our G@mebox Stars! |
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