The Witching Hour by Cafe Nordo

Inspectors' Review:

• RIBBON AGAIN!

• I smell...magic!!!

• Boss I think you're gonna get us in a sticky situation!

• There's a pamphlet! Look!

• The ribbon is delicious.

• Oh pouches!

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Boss' Review:

The Witching Hour is the second immersive at home experience created by Café Nordo, a Seattle dinner theatre company. This experience takes on a more humorous approach as you sign up to join the Society of Nocturnal Mysteries and find yourself involved in battle against the Fears with only some cryptic puzzle messages from your teacher left to guide you.

The overarching story is quite interesting but I admit it got bogged down by the focus on who the fears are in the videos. Much like the previous game, there is an online portal used to facilitate the narrative. There are separate pouches you are directed to open for each section and use them to solve. I found the videos interested up until the Fears appeared which then created some confusion for me. I felt the story became a little lost as we interacted with them. There was more of a focus in the videos are learning about who these fears are and how they act rather than understanding why they are present. There were some really interesting documents that discussed the last failed ritual and the Treatise of Fear as I wish they would have been tied more directly in the videos. As it was they felt a little unnecessary to dive into for progression of the ritual. There was a mention of fairies as well that appeared left field and I would have loved that unpacked more. I did like how there are different endings depending on the choices you make. I was able to get two of the endings.

This experience definitely has more puzzles. There is a cipher that we solved with a substitution technique. There was a cool layered puzzle as well. I also really had fun with a folding message puzzle. There are also some activities mixed with the ritual and one you have to be pretty careful when doing. The slightest mistake will impact how you conclude the experience and thus impact your ending. I think more sign posting or a way to check your work before proceeding would definitely help. I was playing with three other people and it was tricky as we all had different ways looking at the instructions. When I got to the ending I got that bad ending and only through going through each option did I find my way to the good ending. Even at this stage I am unsure if the reason I got the bad answer was because of my personal choice or because I made a mistake in the initial part of the game (ie. Are you meant to make a personal choice are you meant to end up at a specific trajectory).

In terms of customer service, again I had the package sent to me through a friend. The dessert was better in this experience but it was still quite bedraggled. The beverage was fun. I also loved how beautiful the set up for this game was with the pouches, thick parchment, and the pamphlet! Despite my struggles I can see the amount of effort and detail in this and really appreciated the amount of immersion that went into this.

Overall, I enjoyed the puzzles and the introduction of the experience. I felt the fears bogged down the narrative a bit which made some of the additional detail in the pouches almost seem unnecessary. I do think this experience has a beautiful set up. If you prefer strong narratives this may not be your cup of tea but it has a fascinating premise and quirky characters you get to engage with. If you are interesting in trying this immersive experience, check it out here.