Puzzle Effect & Hourglass Escapes - "NOVA"

Updated: Apr 28

Photo above is property of Hourglass Escapes

Company: Puzzle Effect & Hourglass Escapes

Game: NOVA

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Digital Escape Game W/ GM 💻

Genre: Sci-Fi

Date Played: August 21, 2021

Difficulty (based on 7 players): 6.5/10

Size of Team: 1-6 Players (Ages 13+)

Time: 90 Minutes

Price: $25.00 USD

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Your ship has been damaged by the asteroid storm. We must repair the ship ASAP as you're our last hope to initiate the NOVA seed. Without the seed, our colonists will run out of oxygen and food in a matter of months...

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This game was designed to host large groups of players as teams will be broken into breakout rooms after their initial debriefing in the Zoom lobby. We had a team of 7 and after a quick intro video, our GM divided us into 2 breakout rooms with a team of 3 versus 4. The game is to be played in a digital platform called Telescape. The entire game is played as a point-n-click game. Players are able to see each other's cursors and work on various puzzles together or separately. The game is synced so if your teammate opens something, your game will also be updated. The GM will only interfere if you need tech or puzzle

assistance. The interface is really easy to use and we felt that 3 people per room is the magic number. There's puzzles where it's actually better with less hands on deck as the toggles are quite sensitive so if everyone presses them at the same time, it might actually change an input that was initially correct.

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We really enjoyed the variations of difficulty and types of puzzles this game bought to the table. There were some that were quite easy to spot and others that required multi-step process. If your group has a mixture of beginners and advanced players, there'll be a puzzle for everyone. The graphics went really well with the theme of the game and the puzzles themselves. It felt like we're reading encrypted messages and repairing ship parts in outer space.

The creator designed this game with team building in mind. The puzzles are not linear so a group of players can work on separate puzzles but there are plenty of puzzles that they can work on together as well. Commination is key in this game as you'll need to let you your teammates know what has been done and what else is left to do.

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Our team of three finished the game 10 minutes quicker than the team of four. As enthusiasts, it's like a shark feeding frenzy when we see puzzles. Everyone wants to be the one who opens the lock and solves the puzzle first. In this game, it's actually counterproductive. In situations where an answer need to be entered, I would advise choosing a dedicated leader to do the clicking. The rest of the team can just give advise or shoutout the answer. Whether you play this game in a leisure way or competitive way, it's all lead to the same result: FUN!

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** Live-Hosted game is no longer available. Only digital game is available for purchase.

(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 Hourglass Escapes & Puzzle Effect 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.