Photo above is property of Got a Quest
Company: Got a Quest
Game: Magus School of Magic
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Language: English
Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬
Genre: Magic, Fantasy, Kids
Date Played: June 16, 2021
Difficulty (based on 2 adult players): 2/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 2-8pp. Can be played as a solo game. Ages 8+)
Time: Unlimited (Suggested 1-2hrs)
Price: $115 ($96 for KickStarter backers)
Disclaimer: This review was based on the prototype that we've received from the creator and not the actual game.
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Zephyr, the ghost of Magus School has been left behind after the school moved away thousands of years ago. He's finally waited until YOU showed up to save him. Will you be able to help him reunite with the Magus School of Magic?
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"Magus School of Magic" game (prototype) came in a mysterious magical looking purple box. Inside you'll find many sealed colorful envelopes, 2 string ropes, an eye mask, instruction booklet with clues and solutions, postcards, wizard cards, cool props and many other secrets waiting for you to unveil...
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
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The first step is to make sure your phone or tabletop can install Apps from the Apple store or Google Play. Once you've downloaded "Magus AR" App, you can start playing the game. We found that if you're using your phone, it's best to turn the orientation to horizontal as some puzzles needed a wider scan. Although you can use your AR scanner on any of the game pieces, only certain ones will react to the app. The AR scanner will act as the narrator, clue giver and answer checker. The game play should lead you to when you'll actually need to use the App.
Besides the usage of the App, there's a good amount of the game that's solely tabletop based. You'll need to decode and solve puzzles to get the right solution in order to know what to do next. There was one added fun element where it actually will make the players do something physical which is a great idea for kids that likes to be active.
We played this game solely as a tabletop experience for review purposes but the intended way to play this game is as a DIY escape room. A game master (parent) will be setting up the game by hiding items around the house for kids to find. They'll then piece together the clues to solve the puzzles in a more interactive way. This is a great activity for parties and family nights.
Photos above are property of Got a Quest
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Since we've playing many tabletop games by now, there were a lot of familiar puzzles we've seen used in other games but there were still a few that managed to surprise us. From simple puzzles like "search and spot" to multi-step decoding, this was definitely a game you could enjoy even as adults.
Other than the normal answer reveals done by solving puzzles, this game provided many alternative ways to unveil solutions. We really enjoyed those enchanting moments where we continuously made sounds of "Woooo"s and "Ahhhhh"s.
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The 3D props, artwork and AR really helped to bring this "Magus School of Magic" to live. We were drawn by the cute little ghost Zephyr right from the start. If it was up to me, I would have wanted him to accompany me on the entire journey but that will probably feel more like a digital game rather than still keeping some game components more tactile and tabletop based. The creator actually would prefer to call this as a team game versus tabletop. This is because you'll actually need to step away from your table for one part of the game and it'll actually be more fun if you played this part as a team. It's rare to see a game that incorporate so many different elements together to make the game actually feel like you're on a journey. If I was a kid, I would be very excited to receive this game as a gift. Especially if they enjoy fantasy, magic and adventure!
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:
Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors.
Disclosure: We thank Got a Quest for providing us with a prototype of their game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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