Puzzling Pursuits - "Reager's Return"

Photo above is property of Puzzling Pursuits

Company: Puzzling Pursuits

Game: Reager's Return

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬

Genre: Detective

Date Played: November 6, 2021

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7.5/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Ages 13+)

Time: Unlimited (Approx 2-4 hrs)

Price: $34.95 (FREE Standard Shipping in the US)

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The trail of chasing the infamous criminal Reager Skinner has gone cold since your last encounter with her last year. Just when you started to give up hope, the London Police has informed you that she's planning something evil again in the capital. You quickly boarded the next train from Blackbrim...Let the chase begin...

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Puzzling Pursuits has upgraded their packaging since the last game once again! I just love the elegance look of the box and the color scheme. The dark gray color really brings the mysteriousness out of the city of Blackbrim and the "evilness" of the villain. In this box, you'll receive a welcome booklet, Part I envelope and Part II envelope.

Inside the Part I envelope, you'll discover 5 envelopes: a small envelope addressed to the detective (you), a coach carriage envelope, a luggage carriage envelope, a first class envelope and a steam engine envelope.

Inside the Part II envelope, you'll discover various sheets of information ranging from train schedules to show times to Morse Code decoder and more...

As you play through the game, you'll notice envelopes labeled "Open When Instructed". You'll know when these need to be opened. If you open them too early, you'll spoil the game. Please also check the contents with the inventory link that Puzzling Pursuit provided in their welcome booklet as if something is missing, the game could be played out of context.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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The welcome booklet is a good place to start. It'll give you the backstory, hint page, solution check page and tips.

Start with Part I first and everything that doesn't have the label "Open When Instructed" can be opened right away. Do not move on to Part II until you have actually completed part I or else the materials will get mixed up and you'll be very confused.

The website provides a great source of nudging hints if you get stuck. If none of the hints work, a solution is provided so you can move on with the game.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Part I's puzzles were non-linear. Essentially you have a puzzle in each carriage of the train and they can be solved in any order. Once you've gathered the information you've obtained from each of the carriages, you'll be able to solve the meta puzzle. This will grant you access to Part II. We felt that part I's puzzles were like warmups. There were some word play, crossword, and decryptions. The meta puzzle took some time since there were multiple steps to get to the solution. We really enjoyed this part of the game. One particular thing we really liked is that Puzzling Pursuit always puts their own twist on to the puzzle design. For instance, a crossword puzzle is not just a simple crossword. There could be indexing that's mixed within.

Part II is a whole other world in terms of difficulty level. It'll take you double the time you've spend on Part I. There's a lot more multi-step puzzles in there. It's also non-linear but you'll need to figure out what material goes with what puzzle so that's an added changed where as Part I already organized it for you. Another thing to point out with this part is that you might need to use items from the previous game. So if you do decide to take a break between part I and II (which we recommend), do remember functionalities of certain items. In this game, the goal is to capture Reager, so you'll be following the clues she's left you and hopefully you'll identify the right path in order to catch up to her location.

Photos above are property of Puzzling Pursuits

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This game is a sequel to "BlackBrim:1876" . Although you can play this game without having to play BlackBrim: 1876 first, we strongly suggest playing them in order so you can understand the connection between the storylines. I love some of the added "gadgets" that we haven't seen Puzzling Pursuit use in their previous games before. It was definitely an added value to make the game feel more interactive especially when this game is about chasing a criminal and we're constantly on the "move". Keeping the storyline tied in with the puzzles was done really well here. The price point for this two part game was really reasonable given the numerous types of puzzles and play time. Puzzling Pursuit is constantly stepping up their game and we can't wait to see what they come up with for their next puzzle adventure!

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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 Puzzling Pursuits 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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