Thames & Kosmos - "Exit The Game: The Catacombs of Horror"

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Company: Thames & Kosmos

Game: The Catacombs of Horror

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬

Genre: Occult

Date Played: September 20, 2021

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 1-4 Players)

Time: Unlimited (Suggested 2-4 hours)

Price: $24.95

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈

Your dear friend and renowned archaeologist Ben has gone missing. A few days prior he had sent you a letter expressing his fears that he was getting into something a bit too deep. He was going into the Catacombs of Paris to investigate...but hasn’t been heard from since. Now it’s up to you to discover what is going on and try to find your friend!

🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞

If you have played Exit games before, this one has a somewhat similar look. It features high quality paper materials as well as some very cool tangible items, like a candle and the three skulls shown below. Having such a large market relative to many creators in the puzzle industry, Exit games can really get more and higher quality items in the box than you might expect for the price point. In addition to the instruction booklet, there is a cipher wheel (as part of the answer-checking system), 3 types of cards (riddle, answer, and hint/solution), a sealed box, and various other pieces. Everything is of a good quality, with various artwork revealed along the way. There was one thing that you have to kind of “assemble” that was a bit fiddly. Except for what is in the sealed box, you do see everything openly as soon as you open the main box, even though you will only “find” and gain access to most of the items along the way as you play. We just left them in the box and pretended we didn’t see them until we explicitly “found” them!

Photos above are property of Thames & Kosmos

🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

The Catacombs of Horror is unique in the Exit series in that it is a longer, 2-part game. Naturally, you start by reading the instructions. There is an optional Kosmos Helper app you can use for a game tutorial, music, and timer if you like. (We did not play with the app, as it was not compatible with our tablet, so we can’t comment on that.) They give a very nice overview of how to play, including an introduction to the Exit solution system using their cipher wheel. The way this works is that each puzzle you solve will have an associated symbol and a solution in the form of a 3-digit code. You dial in the code under the correct symbol on the cipher wheel, then you pick up the Answer card with the number that is revealed in the cipher wheel window. In the example below, if you solved 802 as the solution for the square puzzle, then you would take Answer Card 28. To help make sure you got the card the right way, Card 28 will then verify which puzzle you solved to get to this card, and send you to a different answer card. (Since, for instance, you could also get Card 28 by having solved the moon puzzle with 680, the cross puzzle with 468, etc.) The second card will either tell you that you are wrong, or (if your code was correct) it will give you a short story blurb and tell you that you have found a specific Riddle card and potentially some other items. This is a cool system, though it is not perfect. Entering 602 for the square, for instance, also leads you to card 28. There was one instance where we got the right card with the wrong answer (which we only realized later). If at any point you get stuck, there are two hints and the solution available for each puzzle through the Help cards. In a nice touch, you only take a hint penalty for Help cards that actually help you. If you don’t gain any information from a hint card, you don’t have to count it! The penalty only impacts the number of stars you receive at the end of the game, which is a function of completion time and hints used.

You start the game with the cards, the wheel, and a few other select items. You need to figure out which puzzles you currently have all the information to solve, use the wheel to find the right Answer card, figure out which new cards/items you have acquired, and repeat! At one point, one of the cards will let you know that it is a good time to rest, ending the first section. You can then decide if you want to pause and do the second section another time or simply carry on. The game play in the second section follows a similar mechanic as the first.

As with all Exit games, this game has components that are meant to be permanently altered during gameplay. This is often a subject of heated debate among puzzlers! We tend to be the type who prefer games that are replay-able, and this Exit had some aspects that made it harder to do that than some others in the series. (There was also one card that confused us in that we thought it was meant to be altered but the writing was actually just guidance for a different card.)

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🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

Exit rates this game as a 4.5/5 on the Novice to Expert scale, and it was certainly one of the more challenging ones that we have played in this series! There are only 14 puzzles in a 2-4 hour game; it took us 2:35 to play it (and we took two hints). So, you can imagine that some of the puzzles can take you a while! I think the puzzle flow may actually be quite linear, though it does not always feel that way. You often have access to at least some parts of multiple puzzles and need to figure out which one you actually have sufficient information to solve. We enjoyed the fact that there are some things you might find early on that don’t actually become relevant until much later, and the way you need to combine multiple pieces. Keep your eyes open and try to remember everything you see! You also may need to use items more than once. There is a lot of satisfying physical manipulation of objects and observation necessary, in addition to some more traditional puzzling.

🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

We were surprised by how immersive this Exit game was! There was a full story that emerges through the game, with pieces and puzzles that all fit well. The ending is particularly memorable! It reminded us a bit of another, higher-end, more artisan puzzle game that we will never forget. While it did not reach quite the same level, we loved the idea of giving such an immersive experience to the mass market audience that Exit reaches and at such an affordable price point. If you prefer to avoid occult themes, then this game is not for you. Kosmos advises that this game be played by those 16+. This may be merited simply by the difficulty level; however, in terms of the theme and story, we would feel comfortable playing with kids about 12-13+. (In fact, we think our kids, who are particularly big fans of Halloween, would have really enjoyed this one.) Aside from those restrictions, we can definitely highly recommend this game. It really packs in a lot of experience for a great price!

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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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Disclosure: We thank Thames & Kosmos 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.

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