Virtual Escape Games - "Return to Camp Nightmare"

Photo above is property of Virtual Escape Games

Company: Virtual Escape Games

Game: Return to Camp Nightmare

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English/ Greek

Type of Game: Live-Hosted Game 💻

Genre: Murder Mystery

Date Played: February 20, 2022

Difficulty (based on 6 players): 6/10

Size of Team: For teams 4-400+ players

Time: 60 Minutes

Price: $15.00-$25.00/ pp

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You know the story. A summer camp once filled with happy children and teenage counselors has been shut down for years because of that one terrible event that no one no longer speaks about. Rings a bell? Just keep it shut, nothing good can come from this, right? Well... Camp Red Herring was reopened and (surprise, surprise) someone was picking the new counselors off!! One... by... one.

It’s now years later and rumors are starting to spread about another killer, a copycat! You and your team are the true crime podcast “Only Murders On The Campsite” and you are determined to uncover this mystery. Can you do it before “The Bag Man” gets you all?

Photo above is property of Virtual Escape Games

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You play together with your team through Telescape and communicate over Zoom. You find a notebook inside Telescape that instructs you on where to start working. The game is divided up into small digestible chapters. Each chapter requires you and your team to solve one puzzle or task to progress to the next one. There’s no hint penalty, but you really want to solve this as quickly as possible. There’s not only penalties but lives at stake here people! After each finished puzzle, you get to listen in on a recording by the podcast crew. This continues the story forward and creates context for the next chapter.

Photo above is property of Virtual Escape Games

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As mentioned, each chapter contains its own set of challenges. Therefore, it’s always clear as to what you’re supposed to work on and what material you need. There is a good mixture of logic, deduction and interactivity in the puzzles. And when I say one puzzle per chapter, it’s not necessarily only one thing to do. Many of the puzzles required multi-steps involving different mechanics such as dragging-and-dropping elements on the screen to solve anagrams. You’re also combining objects to then be able to use them in other ways, researching information around the camp to be able to deduce who slept in which bunk beds and deciphering wooden planks (don’t worry, it’ll all make sense in due time). And, there’s a bit of phonetic play with words that even I, as a non native English speaker, understood and enjoyed. Which, to be honest, usually isn’t the case. lol

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"Return to Camp Nightmare" is a parody of campy horror films and tv shows and it does it really well. The podcasters are of all typical stereotypes, sorry I meant characters, that you have seen oh so many times in movies and tv shows through the years.

I highly enjoyed this game! I like a linear setup, puzzles to be easier rather than difficult, and a silly storyline. With that being said, unfortunately my team and I only got away with 2 (out of 4) survivors, so obviously the puzzles aren’t THAT easy. Hopefully you and your team can do better than we did!

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Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game:

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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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 Virtual Escape Games for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

#HannaNyberg #AtHomeGames #DigitalGames #PointNClick #VirtualEscapeGames #MurderMystery #Horror #Parody #USA