Photo above is property of clueQuest
Company: clueQuest
Game: Falling Star
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Language: English
Type of Game: Print-N-Cut 🖨️✂
Genre: Espionage
Date Played: February 19, 2022
Difficulty (based on 5 players): 6/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Age 8+)
Time: Unlimited (Suggested 90 Minutes)
Price: £15 | Print @ Home, £25 | Print & Post, £28
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It’s close to Christmas and the team realised that the S.T.A.R. is missing! According to Agent Comet, their nemesis is planning to use it to reveal the identities of all undercover clueQuest agents at the peak of the villain Christmas party. Help Mr. and Mrs. Q, Lord Hammerschmidt, and MM7 to find and retrieve the missing S.T.A.R. before it’s too late - lives and a Merry Christmas are at stake here!
Video above is property of clueQuest
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Players can choose a couple of options - a full-coloured Print-and-Post option where clueQuest sends you your Print-and-Play set, or a black-and-white Print-and-Play option where you can download, print, and cut out the play components as needed. In order to play the game, players would need to log into clueQuest’s site, where the game is hosted digitally, with the PDF acting as puzzle components needed to progress the story.
We played using the same group login on clueQuest’s hosting platform while communicating via Streamyard. Hint systems were also included as an option on this platform. However, do note that certain animation or video-heavy components had a risk of lag over the course of the game (this might also be affected by your internet speed).
Using a group login allowed us the option to either move along with the rest of the group as long as one member managed to solve the required puzzle (a message will automatically pop up alerting you other members are moving forward), or stay behind to attempt the puzzle on your own. I liked this flexibility, especially if there was a lag in the animation or if there was a puzzle I wanted to try on my own.
Photo above is property of clueQuest
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Taking full advantage of the game’s hybrid nature, there’s a great mix of different puzzles - logic, deduction, visual, spatial - that will serve as fun challenges as we get through the story. Playing as a group with different puzzle inclinations - some of us were more visual puzzle people, some could deduce observations quickly - it was great to have that variety to keep us on our toes.
Some of the coding to make the game feel 3D or how we can "interact" with the characters in the storyline is really different and fun. Every new game from ClueQuest is another step up from their previous.
However, do take note of possible lag on the digital platforms, especially as you try puzzles as a group. Heavy animation or video-heavy sections of the platform can cause lag in some devices. At the same time, there were one or two puzzles that we found ourselves brute forcing through due to a lack of or confusion on the visual references.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂
Take a dive into this if you’re into a variety of puzzles and want to bring your spy-detective skills to the table. Given the hybrid nature of this game (print and cut + digital components), we recommend that you have access to a digital meeting platform (Zoom, Skype etc…) if you are playing remotely. The visual and graphics are the best part about this game. If you've played other ClueQuest games, you'll know exactly what we're talking about (check on our website for the other game reviews). It’s a fun game with an exciting back story, and cute animals just make everything better!
P.S. Bonus points if you manage to spot familiar faces in the game materials!
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game:
Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(If you do decide to try this experience, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank clueQuest for providing us with a sample of the game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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