Inspectors' Review:
Dog tags are delicious.
Paper is the perfect crinkly texture for lying on.
Box smells haunted,
Challenge coin is tasty.
Showing me floor plans does not mean I can help you at all - what part of illiterate missed the memo?
Box smell weird...likely because it is haunted.
What in the world have you gotten us into?
Boss has gone insane...I've just accepted my fate to watch this madness unfold.
Boss' Review:
The Messenger is a horror themed puzzle narrative experience created by escape room company, Immersion Interactive, who hale from Virginia. As a result of the escape room industry having to shutter their doors in early 2020 because of the pandemic, Immersion Interactive decided to branch outside with an at home experience through Kickstarter. This kickstarter launched July 2020 and arrived at the doorsteps of backers alike in March 2020.
The premise of this games follows the arrival of a very peculiar package at your door and what looks like a ledger of names. You read about a contract but don’t know what it entails and must unravel the mystery of how you acquired this package and what it does through reading an old diary and examining various artifacts and documents. This games requires connection to internet to play. I purchased the deluxe edition which came with a beautiful stained and aged box to house the game and a challenge coin.
I found the narrative to be extremely well done. Not only do you have the opportunity to piece together the narrative via making connections between artifacts and reading the diary but there are also video components with puzzles to solve in order to access the next video. I really appreciated the different mediums used to engage players and you truly have to engage with them – watching them and listening to them listlessly with not cut it. Another fascinating part of the story was how well all the artifacts worked into the narrative cohesively – at first it feels like a mishmash of items from dog tags to poker chip to tarot cards but as you unfold the story you realize what they all mean and it makes them all the more poignant. The ending is a little ambiguous with a choice you must make but I thought how they tied the final element into the overarching story was really good and highlighted a huge theme of this game – loss.
The puzzling aspect for this game was also really well done. There were a few times when a puzzle fully utilized a document or artifact so well that I was amazing and excited. The puzzles include logic, pattern identification, searching for clues, riddles, ciphers, manipulation, and more. I felt there was an excellent variety with hands on solving that kept your fully engaged. I also really appreciated the website that contained copies of all the papers so you could print them off in case you want to write directly on them. I will add some of these puzzles are TOUGH – you need to be paying close attention so I recommend not doing this game on a day/night you’re looking for something easy and mindless. It is very easy to miss something. The final puzzle had a really nice “aha” moment when you figured it out, which was a great way to finish the game.
In terms of customer service, I felt they did a good job updating backers and were really nice in message correspondences. I was one of the first people to inquire about Canadian shipping and they were happy to add that as an option, which I was thankful for. They have a hint system for the game but I feel it needs a bit of tweaking, which is an easy fix. Some of the puzzles could use an additional hint or quick way to check your answer. There are no solutions on the hint site and the final puzzle doesn’t have a hint. Adding to the hint system would really help smooth the puzzle process as there were a few occasions where I had to stop to wait for a friend to respond when I got stuck.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with The Messenger. I think the story was well done, the online component was engaging, and the parcel itself encouraged hands on puzzling which is my favourite. This game took about 8 hours to complete for me and I worked with one other person. If you love a bit of spooky paranormal puzzles with a storytelling mystery you can unpack I think this is a great option once it releases to the public. I am excited to see what the Immersion Team does next and I will definitely be one of the first to order it!
Check out Immersion here and follow them on IG or Facebook to receive updates about when this game will launch to the public!