Enigmaticon - "Phone Escape: Hopeless"

Photo above is property of Enigmaticon

Company: Enigmaticon

Game: Phone Escape: Hopeless

Country: Greece 🇬🇷

Language: English/ Greek

Type of Game: Video Escape Game (App) 📱

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Date Played: May 7, 2024

Difficulty (based on 1 player): 6/10

Time: Unlimited (Recommended 3 Hrs)

Price: $1.99 USD (Available for download - App Store & Google Play)

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈

Waking up into the darkness of the room, you find that your only source of light and communication is the mobile phone in your hand. Sending you messages through the phone is your captor. Navigating the apps on the phone and the room using only your phone, you must follow the captor’s demands, solve their riddles, discover why you are here and what truths lie in your past.

Videos above are property of Enigmaticon

🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

Starting up the game, there is a message that says the game is best experienced with headphones in a dimly lit room. Taking this recommendation, I gave it a try and now I don’t believe there is any other way to experience this game. Not only did this immerse me more in the story but the music assisted the ambiance.

The premise of the game is that I am kidnapped in an unknown location and must navigate the area using only the phone and the flashlight on it. The kidnapper also uses the phone to communicate with me using apps like messages and media functions. Enigmaticon used this setup to direct me through the game and used the setup perfectly to tell the narrative. It was smooth, felt natural and believable. The game was a mix between point and click and a first-person view in the 3D environment.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

There were a variety of puzzles ranging from difficulty and style. Things like making connections, logic puzzles and more. Some of the things that this game nailed was signposting the puzzles, so I knew what needed to be looked at when it was time as well as ramping the puzzles up in difficulty through the game. I did have some trouble with a few puzzles where I knew the answer but had issues with how it was to be input. I had to use the hints for those ones. One tip would be to have some pen and paper ready along with knowing that you may need some outside knowledge to solve some trivia type puzzles.

The hint system was interesting to check out as it was an “app” on the phone. Clicking into it, you would get a tiered hint system going through the puzzle.

Photos above are property of Enigmaticon

🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

Phone Escape: Hopeless used the layout of your typical smartphone to tell a suspenseful story and did an amazing job with it. The game had it all, amazing puzzles, gripping story, and suspenseful music. The puzzles ramped up beautifully and gave me so many eureka moments. The story had me on the edge of my seat. The original music theme was perfectly composed to accompany the feel of the game. Anyone looking for a thrilling escape room mobile game would love this. Enigmaticon says there is more in the works after this game, and I can’t wait to see what more they have in store.

---

BUY NOW

(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

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

#MatthewLui #AtHomeGames #VideoGames #AppGames #Enigmaticon #Thriller #Suspsense #Greece