- “Exit – The Game: Shadows over Middle-earth”: Escape game review
- This is how Exit plays in the Lord of the Rings universe
- Information, evaluation and conclusion
It is no exaggeration to say that “Exit – the game”* with his Released in 2016 triggered a small revolution in the parlor games sector. Since then, it seems every publisher has published such Escape Room Games*, in which a group has to escape from a hopeless situation together by solving puzzles. Despite this Story game tide the Kosmos publishing house, which publishes games of the exit brand, seems to be able to assert itself on the market. Otherwise it wouldn’t already over 30 versions of “Exit – The Game”* give. But in order to satisfy the hunger of the Escape disciples, new ideas must of course be found again and again. With “Exit – The Game: Shadows over Middle-earth” the successful authors Inka and Markus Brand ship their idea to the Auenland to also Lord of the Rings fans to get enthusiastic about the principle.
How does Exit: Shadows over Middle-earth play?
From the start, the latter succeeds excellently. The game creates middle-earth atmosphere and as a fan you feel picked up immediately. Important to know: Lord of the Ringsprevious knowledge are not necessary, all puzzles are designed in such a way that they can be solved without knowledge of characters and locations.
Kosmos does not use the official license of Peter Jackson’s two film trilogies (“The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”). Nonetheless, characters such as Aragorn, Gandalf and Gollum that appear in the game are nicely illustrated and recognizable as such. Because the players slip into the role of hobbitsthe cooperative orders for Gandalf fulfill. These in turn support Ring-bearer Frodo in his goal of destroying the “one ring” in Mount Doom.
And so Lord of the Rings fans encounter many well-known places in the course of the game and discover points of contact with the legendary storyline. The exit principle comes into play here, in that tasks have to be solved and three-digit codes have to be found. These are checked using a decoding disc. If the players are correct, cards may be uncovered that are helpful for further puzzles.
Puzzling mysteries in the Shire
Which brings us to the core of the game – the Tasks. I would like to say in advance that the composition of our test rounds was almost perfect for this game: a colorful mix of Lord of the Rings enthusiasts and people who only know the stories from hearsay, as well as exit frequent players and newcomers. And enthusiastic about the Lord of the Rings exit was – nobody!
And that was almost exclusively due to the integrated puzzles, which cannot be discussed in detail here without spoilers. One or the other task was found to be appropriate, but significantly more than half rated our test rounds as illogical and the solutions as incomprehensible.
Participants who have already mastered a number of exit games assured that the categorization “for beginners‘ is definitely inappropriate here and hardly any other game in the series requires so many help cards.
Slowed down the beautiful Hobbit atmosphere
There was also a lack of excitement for those of us who were not previously familiar with the principle. They complained that a lot had to be read to follow the story. And they too felt slowed down by the enigmatic puzzles – and discussions about their usefulness at the gaming table.
What amazes them, but is normal for connoisseurs of such games: after more than two hours of playing time (definitely faster if you don’t debate the nature of the puzzles so much), “Shadows over Middle-earth” is over – and it’s over there is no possibility of “revenge”. Almost all escape games are for the single use thought as all solutions are revealed. In the end, there is nothing left but to give away the game – or to keep it in the basement cupboard until you forget the process.
Significantly, in our rounds, the experience was always immediately followed by a big one Pros and Cons Escape Games Debate. Newcomers repeatedly made unfriendly remarks such as “I don’t understand what everyone thinks about these games” or “I don’t need them again”. The fans admitted that they didn’t see “Exit – The Game: Shadows over Middle-earth” as the best entry into the world of escape games, but listed a number of successful exit games, so that the negative attitude was at least somewhat muted in the end . exit games How “The House of Riddles”* with the three question marks, “The Enchanted Forest”*, “The Sunken Treasure”* (all for beginners) or “The Cemetery of Darkness”* or “The Abandoned Cabin” (for advanced users) were unanimously recommended.
Information and conclusion: Regrettable failure in the core competence
From our point of view, the “Lord of the Rings” version of Exit can be described in one word: a shame! Because the game does so much right, builds up a lot of atmosphere with pretty graphics and a nice Middle-earth tie-in story – only to then fail in the core competence of the exit games. Because without coherent puzzles, even the best packaging is useless in escape games.
Exit – Shadows over Middle-earth: Watch the game on Amazon
With more fine-tuning of the tasks, this would have been a real exit recommendation, so it’s only enough for Middle-earth mediocrity.
- info to “Exit – The Game: Shadows over Middle-earth” at a glance:
- Number of players: 1 to 4
- Age recommendation: from 10
- Duration: 45 to 90 minutes
- Publisher: Cosmos
- Author: Inka Brand, Markus Brand
- Per:
- Immediate entry through self-explanatory process
- Beautiful design
- Atmospheric story
- Successful integration into Lord of the Rings plot
- however, no previous knowledge is required
- Cons:
- Illogical puzzles dampen the fun of the game considerably
- Can only be played once
- Editor’s rating: 5 out of 10 points
Conclusion: The “Lord of the Rings” edition of the popular Exit series begins promisingly – and too often trips itself up with incomprehensible riddles during the trip through Middle-earth. Unfortunately only a recommendation for exit completists and hardcore Tolkien fans.
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transparency notice: To test the game, the publisher provided us with a review copy without further conditions.
