Arcadium Adventures - "Chapter One: A Most Mysterious Convention"

Photo above is property of Arcadium Adventures

Company: Arcadium Adventures

Game: Chapter One: A Most Mysterious Convention

Country: Australia 🇦🇺

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬

Genre: Mystery, Detective

Date Played: February 16, 2022

Difficulty (based on 1 player): 6/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Ages 14+)

Time: Unlimited (Recommended 90-120 Mins.)

Price: $30.00 AUD (Puzzles by Post)/ $20.00 AUD (Instant Download)

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈

Sadly, this year you are unable to attend ArcanaCon, an annual mystery convention. Luckily though, someone has sent you a package full of convention material and swag which contains a secret message and other enigmatic notes. Can you discover all that this package has to offer?

Photos above are property of Arcadium Adventures

🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞

Going through the envelope, there were lots of seemingly random convention related items such as a ticket, flyer and schedule as well as business cards, postcards and other things that got us intrigued right away. There was also an envelope marked “Begin here” that helped guide us to the start and a website with lots of important information.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

From the start, Arcadium Adventures does a great job of laying out how to play the game which I found blended into the story. The website to ArcanaCon that was provided was full of great information. Make sure to read it all and use the resources available there as it will help you out a lot. I was impressed with all the great quality items and papers that were provided in the envelope which had a convention feel to it.

The hint system was a delight as it was set up as a chat. I found the chat to be very helpful and direct to use and the hint system was set up well which revealed the hints in a nice way without just giving you the answer. You did have the option at the end though to be given the answer. I am always a sucker for extra perks from games so you will also find a lovely playlist on the website to have on in the background when playing as well as some drink recipes to try out.

Photos above are property of Arcadium Adventures

🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

There was a good mix of different puzzles with plenty of aha moments to solve them. A tip would be to make sure to read everything as well as sifting through everything from the start. There were a few moments, I thought I had everything needed to solve the puzzle but as I moved forward to check out other items, I found what I needed to complete the puzzle.

Arcadium Adventures did a nice job of cluing you to what needs to be done if you are observant enough. Another great feature was that there was an answer checker on the website that you can use as you play along which was useful. Though the puzzles could be played non-linearly, the checker does require you to go through the puzzles in order.

🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

A Most Mysterious Convention was a solid puzzling game with a wide variety of puzzling elements. This game offers a great experience for beginners but veteran puzzle solvers might be able to utilize some of their puzzling techniques and could probably complete the game in less than the recommended time. The website did lead to some fun things which did make me question if this was based off a real convention or not. I did play this one solo but found you could play with up to 4 as the puzzles could be played non-linearly but anymore than that you might be fighting over some materials. Overall, Arcadium Adventures did a great job at building a world around ArcanaCon and the mystery within the "secret society" as a whole. It will keep you coming back for more. I certainly am ready for the next one!

---

Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

BUY NOW

(If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank Arcadium Adventures for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

#MatthewLui #AtHomeGames #Puzzlebymail #TabletopGames #OneOffs #Mystery #Detective #ArcadiumAdventures #Australia