Photo above is property of Thames & Kosmos
Company: Thames & Kosmos
Game: The Gate Between Worlds
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Language: English
Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬
Genre: Sci-Fi
Date Played: November 4, 2021
Difficulty (based on 1 players): 6/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 1-6 Players) (Ages 12+)
Time: Finished in 2 Hrs. & 20 Mins.
Price: $14.95
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After your last adventure you found an ancient map that leads you to a hidden portal. Once you arrive in the cave where the portal is found, you have two main goals: Figuring out how to activate the portal and learning where it will take you…
Video above is property of Thames & Kosmos
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The box is compact, clean, and has nicely done components. The game comes with cards, mini-posters, a cipher wheel (the gate), and several other items used to solve puzzles. I like how they are packed and even have warnings on the top and bottom cards in the deck so you don’t accidentally spoil a part of the game. The cards have a nice feel to them, the mini-posters are well done, and the extra components worked nicely. The one complaint is the dark colors on dark printing, which make certain color-based puzzles a challenge, and would be impossible if you are color-blind.
Photos above are property of Thames & Kosmos
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This game is a sequel to EXIT: The Cemetery, but luckily you don’t need to have played it to play this game. I like having a through-line between some of the games, it adds a bit more immersion to a game, especially a game that feels very much like a game versus an immersive experience.
The game materials are nicely done and contain cards, mini posters, strange items (cardboard cutouts) and a decoder disk. This game definitely falls more in the category of “game” with some narrative on top, versus an immersive game with realistic props. To play, you are also required to have pens, scissors, paper, and a stopwatch (or game app).
To start the game you can download the free helper app from Kosmos (I used the QR code provided and it was quick and easy to download and set up). The next step is to fully read the instructions and the setup guide inside.
The basic mechanic took me a few moments to grasp, but is logical enough and I was able to catch on fairly quickly. Basically, for each of the symbols on the wheel, you can enter a three digit code by turning the wheels, and an answer # is provided that will correspond with an answer card. That card will let you know if you are correct, or wrong. There are also hint cards that can be used. This mechanism feels like a nice game-mechanic that avoids the player from having to enter answers into websites or apps and allows you to play offline.
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I found the puzzles quite enjoyable for the most part. This is a puzzle game, where each part of the game is just solving puzzles. Each world has one or more puzzles to solve, and I really enjoyed the variety of puzzle types, especially in such a small box. These puzzles are not just logic puzzles or deduction puzzles, some of them require manipulating the items, cutting out others, and other methods of physically using the game to solve the puzzles. While the usage/destruction of several items keeps you from replaying or lending this game out, it was generally fun solving puzzles through manipulation. There were only a few logic leaps I had a little trouble with, but the super helpful hint system (a series of progressive cards for each world) was able to nudge me in the right direction without spoiling the puzzles. The major complaint I have is that I struggle at times with the colors and thus the color puzzles and I am not color blind. It would be nice to see sharper color delineation or other designs in the future to accommodate this issue.
Photo above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
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This was my first experience with an Exit game, and based on this experience, it will not be my last! The game was fun, with a variety of puzzles and a great hint system to push me along if needed. It was refreshing playing a game not connected to the internet (except for the music/timer app), and manipulating pieces to solve puzzles was fun (even if occasionally frustrating).
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:
Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(If you do decide to try this experience, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
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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