PALACESPHERE (By Palace Games) - "The Sapphire Palace"

Cici Cao

Jan 13, 20213 min read

Updated: Apr 28, 2024

Photo is property of PALACESPHERE (By Palace Games)

Company: PALACESPHERE (by Palace Games)

Game: The Sapphire Palace

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Online Puzzle Game 💻

Genre: Steampunk

Date Played: 1/9/2021

Difficulty (based on 6 players): 7.5/10

Size of Team: Unlimited Group size - (Min of 2 players required, 4 Players Recommended)

Time: 1-2 Hours (Approximately)

Price: $20.00/ pp (Unlimited Group size)

*Please note that the below review was based on setting up our play as individual teams due to a misunderstanding at the beginning of our game play. If you set up your teammates correctly under one team, you'll have a different experience than ours where all the teammates can work together and the game play will be synced.*

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You're locked in a cell in the Sapphire Palace but there are some promised treasures if you're able to escape. Are you up for the challenge?

Video is property of PALACESPHERE (By Palace Games)

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With your game voucher and log in, the team leader is able invite team members to the game by sending them an email. Once the entire team is assembled, everyone will start the game at the same time. The game is not synced so each team will need to complete their individual puzzles in order to move forward. It felt very competitive to us since everyone was solving puzzles at different speeds. There is a midpoint to regroup should the team members decide to wait for each other. You can play the game with two people as a minimum required team size but certain puzzles would be easier to solve if you had more teammates. The ideal team size is 4. There's a build-in hint system should you need it. Your score will be ranked at the end according to your own group's time and hints used.

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This game's puzzle design is very different than their previous game "The Ruby Palace". In "The Ruby Palace", there were more logic/trivia type of puzzles where we felt like the team is able to work together more versus in this game, it's more independent. There were a few areas where we were able to help each other with verbal cluing but most of the time you'll need to solve these on your own by using "point-n-click". The game had a lot of "machinery vibe" ( love the graphics!) where the players have to control gears, pipes, switches, paths, etc...We did use share screen a few times on our Zoom to inquire assistance from our teammates versus the hint system. Although I'm curious how the hints would be written for some puzzles as it's not something that you would be able to instruct verbally. There was one puzzle in there that you'll either hate it or love it. It felt like we're playing an arcade game. Some of our teammates found it quite soothing to be able to do something totally out of the puzzle world but some felt it was way too long and got a bit frustrated. The ending puzzles felt more playful rather than intense like the ones in the beginning. Although the few puzzles at the end didn't really connect in terms of the relevance to the storyline, we enjoyed having that little break with easier puzzles and finally seeing that finish line.

🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

There were some really cool game designs we haven't seen before utilized in the puzzles. It almost felt like physical puzzles in an escape room. If you are looking for more of a competitive game with your team, I'll go with "The Sapphire Palace". If you are looking for more of a cooperative game, I'll go with "The Ruby Palace". In terms of difficulty level, "The Sapphire Palace" does feel more challenging mainly because it's much harder to bypass (it's not just entering a password to move on, you'll have to solve the puzzles). I can't wait to visit another palace!

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, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank PALACESPHERE (by Palace Games) 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.