Charm of Christmas Past by The Escapement

In honour of Christmas in July, I am FINALLY posting my holiday game review! Please enjoy :)

Inspectors' Review:

• Boss waited very long to post this...Christmas has passed!

• The tree is very tasty but Boss doesn't approve.

• She was up quite late with this one.

• We supervised.

• Good paper!

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Boss' Review:

The Escapement is a escape room company from Kent that branched out with two at home escape room games - the first being The Network and the second being this game, their seasonal game. This most recent game centers around deceased Winifred Maud Brisley’s final wish to spread Christmas joy. You receive a sack filled with notes and various other presents and gifts from her solicitors and as you unpack this mysterious inheritance you learn a little bit more about the meaning of Christmas.

This sack of puzzles was beautiful put together and I appreciated each component. The drawings, the paper, and more really helped build a beautiful setting for the game. These components didn't necessarily create the narrative but they gave you pieces and puzzles. The narrative experience primarily comes from audio clips that you listen to after completing each puzzle page. You learn about Brisley's past christmases and while they were sweet I wasn't too engage. In addition, I wished there was some one of transcript to follow as I sometimes forgot to listen and would have to go back. I would say this game is more about a little old lady reminiscing about Christmas in her youth. As someone who enjoys more plot driven narrative, I left wanting a bit more in the story department

I felt most of the puzzles were good but there were a few that were a bit of a miss. The puzzles consist of pattern identification, orientation, math, and more. Each puzzle gives you a password to unlock the next page of the experience using an online portal. I loved the tree puzzle and the concluding puzzle because of how hands on they were but really struggled with the ice skating one and the one using the chess board because they required ( to me) some pretty precise placements that I could not figure out.I think a more robust hint system with written clues (not just audio as it is currently) would have made things a lot smoother for me as I tend to nee a bit more hand holding in my puzzle games. If you are a strong puzzler you should be fine but those who are looking for more leisure should be aware the hint system only provides two hints before giving the solution.

I admit to having very little information about their customer service as I purchased this game second hand. I will note all components were present and showed obvious attention to detail.

Overall, Charm’s of Christmas Past is a challenging and sometimes rewarding experience. If you tend to lean towards more puzzle focus in your gaming with a focus on challenge I think you will be satisfied because there are some great “aha!” moment! Also, if you love games that focus more of maneuvering and orientation these puzzles will be great for you. If you tend to use hints more often than not, maybe have another person or two to play with.

If you are interesting in trying out this season game, check out Escapement’s website here.