Periodically on this blog we highlight a handful of tabletop and digital games to spread the word about interesting experiences and support other creators. Here's our October edition, which also happens to be full of silly creatures!
We had the opportunity to play a prototype copy of Squirrels Gone Wild, and can confirm that the product delivers the sort of pun-laden nuttiness that the title implies. We found most of the puzzles to be relatively straightforward but still satisfying solves, and blew through about 3/4 of the game in one sweep before eventually stalling a bit on the not-quite-final puzzle. It delivered a meatier challenge involving some logic puzzling and deduction. In true overthinking fashion, we got a bit ahead of ourselves and tried to make connections we weren't quite ready for, but luckily the hints were readily available to help us past our mental block in this fully analog experience. We loved the way the meta and bonus puzzles called back to previous challenges we solved, and especially enjoyed the humor throughout the whole experience. If you want a lighthearted, beginner and family-friendly puzzle game, Squirrels Gone Wild is a great choice.
Time: ~3 hours
Difficulty: 2/5
There are three episodes of Frog Detective currently available (The Haunted Island, The Case of the Invisible Wizard, and Corruption at Cowboy County) which can be purchased all together as a Steam bundle, though there is also a free demo available. This series feels like it might be designed for a younger audience, and would make a great introduction to point-and-click adventures for kids. There isn't much of a challenge to the games, but I still found them to be a very amusing and a nice break from more serious gaming. The graphics are simple but charming, and the entire series is incredibly wholesome and doesn't take itself too seriously. The humor was enjoyable throughout, and Episode 3 also took an unexpected turn near the end, which added a fun story twist. Overall, it's a fine activity when you need to take a break or want to procrastinate, but it would also be an excellent way to introduce young sleuths to puzzle adventure games.
Time: ~1 hour per chapter
Difficulty: 1/5
This game was like Frog Detective and Curse of the Golden Idol had a child and then sprinkled it with a little Disco Elysium (which is honestly kind of an amazing sentence, and I am extremely here for it). Overall, Duck Detective was much more deduction-heavy than Frog Detective, and leaned into the mad-lib-like "fill in the blanks" mechanic found in games like Curse of the Golden Idol and Return of the Obra Dinn. Unfortunately, there were times when filling these in felt like guesswork, because I didn't quite make the leap to the particular deduction it wanted me to, or I somehow failed to find the right evidence. At times, I also felt like I had deduced something important, but it wasn’t acknowledged when questioning the characters or inputting solutions... Nevertheless, the humor in this game hit spot on for me, and I would absolutely love to play more episodes. It also had a nice built-in hint system you could access if you got stuck, and each load screen would provide a silly duck "fact," for some extra giggles between scenes.
Time: ~2.5 hours
Difficulty: 2.5/5
My only previous experience of Escape the Room: The Game was their very first boxed set, which I had some mixed feelings about. I didn't know what to expect from Fall of the Dawnstar, but I was pleasantly surprised with the overall experience. It played similarly to a legacy game or an advent calendar, allowing us to unlock one section of the game at a time. Each section contained a small jigsaw puzzle, which became part of the overall spaceship, as well as some extra materials to help with solving the section.
The opening puzzle and closing puzzles were the highlights of the game. The rest of the puzzles were of mixed quality, with some solving cleanly and others being a little ambiguous, though we did manage to solve most of it without resorting to hints. As a jigsaw puzzle enthusiast, I was a bit disappointed by the quality of the pieces, which all fit one another for the majority of the game. Rather than adding an extra challenge or being utilized within the puzzles, this was just a bit irritating, though one late-game puzzle did introduce a more interesting twist on the jigsaw. This series has a unique analog answer check mechanic, which was mostly functional, but unnecessarily confusing, as two pairs out of the given shapes looked almost identical to one another—why not just choose more unique shapes? Despite these flaws, we had a lot of fun playing through this game, and are now curious to try others in this series.
Time: ~2-3 hours
Difficulty: 2.5/5
The Red Strings Club is a narrative-driven game with dialogue options sandwiched between tasks (such as mixing drinks for bar customers or “carving” modules on a turning wheel). Because this is intended as a PC game, trying to play it with anything other than a mouse will have a bit of a learning curve. Once I got the hang of the task sections using the controller, I got drawn into the story world. The game is a funky mix of pixel art with film noir vibes and a sci-fi storyline about a corporation on a power trip. There was clearly a lot of thought put into the world-building, and the themes ask some interesting philosophical questions about humanity, self-determination, the value of emotion, and whether or not the "good of society" can trump the will and rights of the self. All that made for an intriguing play session for someone who revels in these topics. Unfortunately, the last section of the game, while clever, required of a lot of trial and error, so I ended up resorting to a walkthrough rather than stumbling through it blindly. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but the gameplay mechanics could definitely have been pushed further to better reflect the themes that the game philosophizes about.
Time: ~4 hours
Difficulty: 1/5
What have you been playing lately?
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