Key Enigma - "Hack Forward"

Photo above is property of Key Enigma

Company: Key Enigma

Game: Hack Forward

Country: Spain 🇪🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬

Genre: Suspense, Mystery

Date Played: 6/22/2021

Difficulty (based on 2 adult players): 6.5/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (ages 14+)

Time: Unlimited (Suggested time 8 hrs)

Price: €55.90

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There has been a recent hacker attack that caused a lot of damage to many large businesses and individuals. Key enigma has resorted to you to crack this case. You've received a box of clues and evidences that they've been collecting since the incident. Hopefully you'll be able to solve this mystery and find the people behind this evil doing.

Video above is property of Key Enigma

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"Hack Forward" came in a chic designed cardboard box. The black and white colors really bought out the mysterious vibe. Inside you'll find various instructions and letters indicated by numbers. There are 8 chapters to this game and you're only suppose to open the specific numbered envelope when you are told to do so. Other than the physical props, you'll also need to interact with websites, videos, phone calls, chats and more!

Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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The game was packaged in the order of game play. We made a mistake of shuffling around the material as we had to take photos for the review and that did mess up our progression as we missed the instructions to one of the chapters. I would advise organizing the envelopes in order before game play as there were a lot of materials in this game.

The instructions for each chapter was very clear. We had an easy start to begin chapter 1. Since there's a lot of game play that would involve private chat and web search, it's best to play this game on a laptop. Once you register an account, your game will be automatically saved so if you do return in a future date (and you will, as it's simply impossible to binge this game and it wouldn't be as fun by the end), you can start from where you left off.

Nudging hints and solutions are build into the game so there's no need to check back on any of the paper materials. There's a leaderboard for each chapter so time, hint and solution usage will all be factored in for your final ranking. One thing we found that was semi unfair was the fact that we have to start from hint 1 in order to proceed to hint 2 etc...Usually we have to get to hint 3/4 in order to actually get something useful as most of time we have a general idea on what we have to do but there's no way to bypass those.

Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Key Enigma really tried to incorporate every type of puzzle and prop you've ever seen into this one game. The amazing thing is that throughout the entire game, there's no repetition. I loved the fact that every time when we opened an envelope or a new chapter, we're surprised by something different. Some puzzles were simple riddles where as others really had us pondering for a long time. If you are a beginner, you'll learn a lot by playing this game. If you're a more advanced puzzler, you'll be super satisfied with the puzzle quantity and quality. My favorite part of this game was the moment when personalization was incorporated. I literally felt a chill down my spine. You'll know exactly what I'm talking about when you get to that point. It'll make you want to check if your door is locked or not.

Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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"Hack Forward" was the first game that we decided not to binge through. We really wanted to savor each chapter and mostly because we didn't want it to end. There were so many twist and turns that by the time we got to Chapter 6, we forgot how we got there. The creators were really clever at designing the last chapter which forced us to string the story together ourselves. This game was really immersive and made me feel like I was a real hacker by the end. Although it wasn't through writing codes or understanding complicated operating systems, decoding encrypted messages and getting into hidden portals on the web was sufficient to make this experience feel extremely realistic. Key Enigma used every inch of this box to give us a full 8+ hours of game play. It really exceeded our expectations and it's truly worth the value. You can even repackage this game and it's entirely replay-able. We highly recommend giving this game a try. You won't be disappointed!

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

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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(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 Key Enigma for providing us with a sample of their game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

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