Scarlet Envelope Game 6 - Screaming Venice

Inspectors' Review:

• Couch puzzling is the best puzzling!

• Supervising is sooo exhausting so I took a nap in between puzzles. XD

• Bookmark is not meant for eating! Unfortunately...

• This paper is the best bed for grooming! 4/4 paws! Nice glossy brochures!

• I think there's a puzzle under my paw...come look at it!

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Scarlet Envelope is a Canadian owned mystery puzzle subscription service run by Anna and Lisa. Each month players receive a red enveloped filled with documents, letters, brochures, and more that create immersive worlds filled with puzzles. Currently Scarlet Envelope has six games released. This project launched as a Kickstarter back in June 2021 with the promise of 12 games. Each game focuses on an entirely different theme and set up from a murder mystery in a small town to code breaking while deep space exploring. There is an overarching meta-story involved a mysterious Game Master and an initiation. I backed for the full year subscription and this review will focus on the most recent episode launched.

Screaming Venice follows with you being hired (after the Game Master has provided your excellent puzzle credentials to the museum) to assist in finding a stolen painting. Using two brochures, a bookmark, and a photo of the crime scene you will identify who the thief is and where the painting has gone. I found the narrative to be simple yet fulfilling. There wasn't a strong plot development as I felt it was more escape room style with a strong theme but the story was cohesive and came together evenly. The ending provided additional teasers for the meta-story that really intrigues me. I did note that there wasn't a lot of consequence revealed for the thief that I feel could have really rounded out the narrative but I was happy with the narrative and it worked really well with the overall game. The components of the game were few but extremely effective in creating immersion in the world of the game. It goes to show you don't need dozens of papers to provide a rounded experience! I really loved the world of this game and the story complimented it.

In terms of puzzles I will say the puzzles were on the lighter side. I was able to really relax with the game which is a nice break. The puzzles consist of paper manipulation, logic puzzles, pattern identification, and more. I will say it was a little difficult to get started because there is quite a bit to look at and there is an order to the puzzles but the hint system did help nudge me to which puzzles I should focus on first. I tend to struggle the most with order in my games ( I prefer linear) and, even though I hardly used any hints, having the hint site up immediately gave me more focus as I saw the number of puzzles I was to work on. The puzzle for the hint system was good and took me a few moments to figure out. It was much easier than the previous hint puzzle in game 5. Once you get going the puzzles are well organized and do a good job in falling into each other to provide you with the final password you need. The bonus puzzle to get the special letter for Game 13: Initiation requires two steps this time! It stumped me for a bit and because its a special puzzle it does not have the answer on the hint page.

Customer service from Scarlet Envelope has always been good. They are quite responsive to messages and really look for feedback. Their Kickstarter has been delayed with launching all the games but they continue to update and have fulfilled 50% of their games so far. Overall, excellent service!

In the end, game 6 of Scarlet Envelope was a fun and relaxing puzzle experience with an excellent theme and really elegant puzzles. This game is perfect for an afternoon puzzle or when you have time after a busy day and are looking to wind down. The components are effectively used and show the creators are quite careful with choosing the right pieces for their game. These games are quite affordable - $25.00 CAD a month - and this game took me around 2 hours to complete as a single player (with cat inspectors).

If you are interested, check out Scarlet Envelope here.