Cursed Tales - The Forest - Review
During the Covid pandemic, we managed to play a lot of different online escape rooms, which all seemed to differ in style and presentation. Some had live hosts, in some we controlled a live avatar, and some relied on a simple point and click mechanism like an old PC game from the 90s.
Cursed Tales falls into the point and clock category but manages to liven up the presentation with filmed segments, voiceovers and and a very polished interface that meant it was easy for us to move around and/or refer to items we had picked up earlier in the game. This was achieved via an effective journal and inventory mechanism on one side of the screen which kept everything in place. The main screen was then taken up with the map, or scenes from the game and the entry mechanism for locks. At this point, we must mention the ease of which it was to enter combinations into the padlocks. This was easily one of the slickest game interfaces we have ever experienced.
Clearly a lot of thought and design had gone into the game, including the style of clues and help that can be requested when stuck. Unlike some more linear games where it is obvious which clue leads where - there is an element of trial and error which had us running round the virtual woodland trying to find which lock to try the code on!
Despite The Forest being a horror based game, the scares lie more in the story telling and as such there are no jump scare within the game itself. Just a creepy level of tension throughout, which created an engaging storyline which was especially enhanced by the atmospheric video intro.
Finally, the game comes in different levels - easy, standard and a no hints/no clues version. We played the standard difficulty which is described as the regular setting if this had been a real life escape room, and we escaped within 54 minutes. We needed to use one full lifeline in a situation where we had the numbers right but were reading them the wrong way round. In fact, several of the puzzles required a double solution, so we would suggest you read everything clearly instead of just diving in like we did
But all in - we thoroughly enjoyed the Forest and look forward to playing their other game - Mother, very soon!
Cursed Tales falls into the point and clock category but manages to liven up the presentation with filmed segments, voiceovers and and a very polished interface that meant it was easy for us to move around and/or refer to items we had picked up earlier in the game. This was achieved via an effective journal and inventory mechanism on one side of the screen which kept everything in place. The main screen was then taken up with the map, or scenes from the game and the entry mechanism for locks. At this point, we must mention the ease of which it was to enter combinations into the padlocks. This was easily one of the slickest game interfaces we have ever experienced.
Clearly a lot of thought and design had gone into the game, including the style of clues and help that can be requested when stuck. Unlike some more linear games where it is obvious which clue leads where - there is an element of trial and error which had us running round the virtual woodland trying to find which lock to try the code on!
Despite The Forest being a horror based game, the scares lie more in the story telling and as such there are no jump scare within the game itself. Just a creepy level of tension throughout, which created an engaging storyline which was especially enhanced by the atmospheric video intro.
Finally, the game comes in different levels - easy, standard and a no hints/no clues version. We played the standard difficulty which is described as the regular setting if this had been a real life escape room, and we escaped within 54 minutes. We needed to use one full lifeline in a situation where we had the numbers right but were reading them the wrong way round. In fact, several of the puzzles required a double solution, so we would suggest you read everything clearly instead of just diving in like we did
But all in - we thoroughly enjoyed the Forest and look forward to playing their other game - Mother, very soon!
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