Secrets of Velendar Castle - Escape Room

[h2]Infuriating progression with many obtuse puzzles and a weak story[/h2] After Blackrock Manor, I expected something better but this was MUCH more annoying than fun. Let me explain why. The game works like this: You enter a chamber, which contains like 5 disconnected puzzles, all of which you can fiddle with. But you can solve only one or two of them right out of the gate, but you don't know which one, so you are just screwing around all of them trying to figure out which one you are supposed to solve next, often times wasting time on puzzles you literally can't solve yet, doubting yourself in the process. You can't mentally commit to the task when you have that tingling in the back of your head that you might waste your time, even if you are trying the puzzle you CAN and should solve. And when you solve a puzzle you unlock compartments or hints for the next puzzle in the room, often not following any logical or intuitive sequence. Stuff just kinda happens one after an other in a completely arbitrary and random order. There is a story here, but it is very barebones, even more so than in Blackrock and is far less interesting/mysterious. There are some genuinely good puzzles he…

I have played plenty of puzzle and escape games; not sure why but something about this game is very unintuitive. Even reading the guide \ walkthrough I am confused and worst the in game hints are BAD.. Additionally it seems some puzzles tell you if your doing something wrong but others don't? IDK but couldnt play past like the 4th or 5th puzzle.

About what you expect, nothing really stood out in the design or intent of this. But for the cost its a good puzzle game.

Played the first game these guys made with my gf and we loved it! We are always looking for a good escape room / mystery game to play at nights and on the weekends. This has been on my wishlist for a while and I got it the second it came out! Really really fun and the puzzles are very engaging and well thought-out without being too hard (but tricky at times!!). 10/10 hope this developer makes more like this.

Review information ▣ Play Time 5h ▣ Recommendation ★★★★☆ ▣ Gameplay/Story As a huge fan of escape rooms, I absolutely loved playing Secrets of Velendar Castle. The game instantly draws you into its mysterious medieval atmosphere, making you feel like a real adventurer uncovering secrets hidden deep within the castle walls. It features a great variety of highly creative puzzles that keep the experience genuinely engaging and fun throughout the journey. It was especially fascinating to track down the Dark Lord and have the freedom to choose your own ending, which added an exciting layer to the narrative. ▣ Design The aesthetic of the castle is beautifully crafted, but it is not just there for show. To succeed, you really need to keep your eyes peeled. I highly recommend examining your surroundings very closely as you progress, since the environment itself often holds the key to moving forward. The visual cues are clever, and the overall design does a fantastic job of immersing you in the mystery. **The graphics are immersive enough to pull you deep into the story, and the lighting and visual effects are quite well-done. Everything blends perfectly with the game’s historical setti…

Entertaining escape room game. Gameplay is linear, solve the puzzles, a door opens and you move on to the next room/area. There is no photograph mechanism and some puzzles require trotting backwards and forwards between clue and puzzle, which can be wearing (as can trying to draw the clue if you are a useless artist like me). Puzzle solving is also linear in that an initial puzzle needs solving to gain access to the clues for the next puzzle and so on. The hint system is pretty useless, it will show fragments of clues gleaned from other puzzles, but without knowing in which order to solve them (and in some cases where they are) it doesn't help much. It is worth the price and if you want a medium to hard puzzle game that doesn't totally melt your mind this one is it.