A/MAZE - "Ghost of Pointe-à-Callière"

Photo above is property of A/MAZE

Company: A/MAZE

Game: Ghost of Pointe-à-Callière

Country: Canada 🇨🇦

Language: English

Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻

Genre: Mystery, Paranormal

Date Played: July 25, 2021

Difficulty (based on 3 players): 5.5/10

Size of Team: 2-6 Players (Ages 16+)

Time: 90 Minutes

Price: $50/Team

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈

There's always been a mysterious ghost that resides inside the Pointe-à-Callière museum in Montreal, Canada. No one knows who or why the haunting persists. It's up to you and your team to dig out the truth.

🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

This is a point-n-click adventure build using Matterport 3D so you can explore the entire three floors of the museum at the comfort of your home. Within the game, you'll encounter build-in videos, hidden clues on museum displays and more! It was quite easy to navigate as the written instructions clearly tells us where to visit within the museum. We were able to use the floor plan as short cuts to travel to that particular destination with one click. Once you think you have found the right answer, type it on the online portal to proceed to the next question. If you get stuck, there are build-in hints available through the auto chat function.

Photos above are properties of A/MAZE

🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

This game was more of a puzzle hunt rather than an escape game. You'll find embedded information on various parts of the museum but most of the time the solution would be just names or titles that you would find on a plaque. It looks us 1 hr and 16 minutes to complete the game and we had to use 2 hints. We felt that we wasted a clue because some solution inputs sound like they are looking for an answer but in reality that was the answer. It would be great if clearer instructions could be given on what the game designer is looking for. Some clues were also quite difficult to see even with the zoom in function. We had to enlarge our screens a few times in order to fully visualize the puzzle.

Photos above are properties of A/MAZE

🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

What we liked about this game was the fact that we're able to visit such a cool museum virtually and learn about the history behind certain item or character. What we didn't like was the cluing that went along with the puzzles. Some puzzles were really fun for us to discover on our own but the clues were quite confusing and thrown us off the right path. Often times we just ended up giving them a try and was surprised that that was actually the answer. I can see the potential in this game since there's a ton of space and props that the game designer can utilize. I hope the navigation part and the game flow could be improved in their future designs.

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𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤

Melvin L.

Ghost of Pointe-a-Calliere- is a digital escape game which is linear as well. It uses a 360 view of the actual museum and web pages - with each web page containing a puzzle that requires you to use the 360 to search around the museum for the information needed to solve the puzzle. The story is basically about a ghost being in the museum, and it seemed to be giving us historical facts in every subsequent puzzle.

However, the entire gameplay was quite messy. It was a pity as the puzzles themselves were quite excellent. The puzzles were not that easy but they were creative and innovative that really requires you to think out of the box'. What fell flat was the phrasing and what was required for these puzzles. It wasn't clear what was needed to solve the puzzle. For example, the clue might talk about 4 objects, but the actual puzzle requires you to spot 4 humans so we were unsure what we're looking for. Secondly, after you solve the puzzle, you might get an instruction on what to do, like ' place the bottle on the shelf. However, we spent a lot of time following that instruction when the answer actually required us to key in 'Place the bottle on the shelf' to proceed. Most puzzles answers will either be a word or a series of numbers. It would be good if the designer would let players know what they are looking for. The answer will be a phrase or 5 English words as it is not intuitive if the entire instruction was meant to be the answer.

I am not sure why Telescape wasn't used for the 360. It seems that it can be translated into Telescape. The current 360 interface used was not as user friendly. Some clues were on the exhibitions, but it was so small to even see. The only way to see is that you have to go into Full Screen, and then click the exhibit to zoom it bigger. But doing so, you will not be able to see the puzzle's requirements. If you want to see the puzzle's instructions, you have to exit Full Screen, and the problem comes back again. For players who are not very well versed in computer skills, I believe they will have a hard time navigating around the 360 as you will tend to 'fly' across places very easily as the 'spots' to teleport around aren't very well placed.

The two things I liked about this game were 1) the puzzles and 2) the museum itself. I didn't know such a museum existed and its interior looks really cool. There is even a preserved underground sewer as well as a crypt. It is understandable that an escape game would be designed based on this museum as there are a lot of interesting things that can be used, but it is just not executed and polished in a proper way to be labelled as a game.

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*** We regret to inform this game is no longer available for booking but check out other in-person escape rooms on their website***

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Disclosure: We thank A/MAZE for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

#CiciCao #AtHomeGames #DigitalGame #Canada #Paranormal #Mystery #A/Maze