Photo above is property of The Missing Links
Company: The Missing Links
Game: The Missing Links
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Language: English
Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻
Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery
Date Played: June 12, 2022
Difficulty (based on 5 players): 7.5/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 3-6 ppl)
Time: Unlimited
Price: $10.00
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Before you attend the "International Discussion on the Internet of Things" called IDIoT, you decide to visit your collaborator, Dr. Deeplinker who specializes in AI and the Internet of Things. The genius lives in a mansion just outside of town. When you enter the hall, she is not there. Instead, you are locked inside the mansion! Her holographic AI servant greets you and tells you something is wrong with the internet connection at the place. If it is fixed, you may be able to open the door and also track down Dr. Deeplinker. Can you figure out what is happening with the internet connection and escape from her mansion?
🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈
The game uses Google Slides editing mode (tablets and smartphones are not supported) and a Google account is required to play this game. There is no host for this game. To play as a group, you need to use your own communication platform like Zoom. Once you enter the site, you can start reading how the game works and the instructions lead you to the starting point of the game. You can click or move certain parts of the slides which have a puzzle or a link to another slide that shows a different scene of the game. If you need a hint, there are hint slides at the beginning of the game. All hints are hidden. You can open the hint when you need a clue for specific puzzles.
I loved the idea of using Google Slides to create an escape room. It took some time for me to figure out how to play it at first, but it became easier once I got used to it. The instructions were very easy to follow. I liked how each puzzle had a specific symbol, which made it easy to refer to a puzzle with team members and to look up a hint. One of the things that I was concerned about was that I could easily skip slides and move around without following the link that I was supposed to go. It wasn't a big deal, since this game was organized well to understand each scene. Another thing was that you could potentially destroy the game since you have to enter editing mode from time to time (although this is avoidable by reading the instructions and following those carefully).
Photo above is property of The Missing Links
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First of all, I must say that I was very impressed on how “The Missing Links” was nicely built by putting the essence of the escape room and computer science-themed puzzles all together using Google Slides. The puzzles were all inspired by the phenomena in the field of computer science. Most of them required logical thinking, but some were word or intuitive puzzles. Some more complicated principles used in the field were introduced also as a form of puzzles, yet those were described well enough to understand even for a computer science beginner like myself. All of the puzzles were nicely incorporated into the story of the game.
Honestly, before I played this game, I thought that I wouldn't enjoy this game since I'm not a big fan of computer science, but I loved the story and the structure of the game. The atmosphere of a virtual escape room created by pictures and slides was very engaging. I really enjoyed learning some of the basic materials used in the area while playing this game. If team members have basic knowledge of computer science, that definitely helps to finish the game faster. But, even if players are not familiar with the field, I believe they can still enjoy it like I did because the hints were very organized and helpful. I also appreciated that the puzzle maker provided us the links to YouTube videos to explain some of the approaches in computer science that applied to the puzzles I just solved.
🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂
“The Missing Links” was a unique game using Google Slides to solve computer science-themed puzzles with the essence of an escape room. I loved learning some of the elements of computer science by solving the puzzles. I also felt that there were more possibilities for digital escape room games to give us different tricks and puzzles with Google Slides. I recommend this game to those who love anything about computer science, the internet, logical puzzles, or difficult challenges. This game can be a fun introductory educational tool for those who are interested in computer science. So, why don’t you visit the computer genius and see what you can do in her mansion?
(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 The Missing Links for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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