Wacky Wheels - "The First Trial", "Cottage In The Woods", "The Fugitive's Trail"

Updated: Apr 28

Photos provided by Wacky Wheels

Company: Wacky Wheels

Language: English

Country: Netherlands 🇳🇱

Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻

Date Played: 6/26/2020

Once you purchase the game, you'll receive a code which then will allow you to download the game onto your computer. You can chose either the printable version or the printer friendly version. We played all the game in the printer friendly version. You'll also be given a separate link that will bring you to a website where you'll be able to enter all the answers. Each puzzle comes with one hint which also can be found on the website. If you take a hint, your score for that puzzle will be reduced by half. If you are still unable to get the right answer and enter the wrong answer, a solution will be revealed to you but you'll get zero points for that puzzle. Although you have unlimited time to finish the game, a timer will start once you log into the game. A final score along with a placement on the ranking table will be revealed to you by the end of the game.

Game: The First Trial

Genre: Mystery, Adventure

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7.5/10

Size of Team: Unlimited

Time: Unlimited

Price: Free

This is a great starting point for anyone who wants to get a taste of how Wacky Wheels digital games work. Although it's free, you'll still get a good half hour of puzzle time out of it. Normally we don't really enjoy games with too much reading but Wacky Wheel was able to make the stories intriguing enough for us to pay attention till the end. It also helps to designate a reader to read it in character. As we see a lot of digital games adapting an audio option to go along with their story line, it'll be interesting to see if Wacky Wheel could add that component in their future game developments. Even though we chose the printer friendly version, this game had one puzzle we felt that you may need to print and cut. After a nice warm up, we were ready to try out their other options...

Game: Cottage in the Woods

Genre: Thriller

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7.5/10

Size of Team: Unlimited

Time: Unlimited

Price: $7.00

We enjoyed "Cottage in the Woods" mainly for the story. Initially we thought this must be one of those creepy haunted house or serial killer type of story. Boy were we wrong! We can't give out any spoilers but definitely enjoyed reading for once. There were a few puzzles that we thought were not as clear in terms of the correlation. After reading the hint on one of them, we thought: "How were we suppose to know that?" We got the right answer for one of the questions but due to how the question was worded, we submitted the wrong answer. This game was definitely the hardest one out of the three. It was still worth playing through the game just to "see" the ending. With Brandon reading in character, we had a blast creating our own little cinematic movie.

Game: The Fugitive's Trail

Genre: Detective

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6.5/10

Size of Team: Unlimited

Time: Unlimited

Price: $7.00

"The Fugitive Trail" was our favorite game out of the three. The interface design of the answer sheet set a nice tone for the game's story line. It felt like we were real detectives working on the case of the missing people. The puzzles were also very entertaining throughout. Comparing to the other two games, this one had easier puzzles but was the most reasonable in terms of logic. The only issue we had with one of the questions was that the portal that took the answers was way too specific on how the answer should be written. Although we got the right answer it did not took the way we wrote it.

As we sifted through the puzzles and clues left behind by the "fugitive", we were able to see the breadcrumbs slowly coming together to form the final big reveal. The twist at the end was definitely a nice closure for us on the three Wacky Wheel games and we were glad to save the best for last! But I'm sure this won't be our last time seeing Wacky Wheel's games. We look forward to seeing their future developments!

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

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(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 Wacky Wheels for providing us with samples of their games. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

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