Review: Team Vs Time - Lost Book Of Spells

RATING: 4 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 7:43

Witch better have my Lost Book!

Story

You may have finally found it—the haven of Rosalind LeFay, a powerful witch, who is said to have in her possession the best-kept secret in magical history, the Lost Book of Spells.

You have been on the trail of the mysterious spell book for almost a decade and it all comes down to this… Now can you find the Book and get away before she returns?

Search the lair—which harbors dark secrets and terrible magic—and try to escape with the Book of Spells and your lives. Should you fail to find the clues before Rosalind LeFay returns… well, the sorceress had to get her human skulls from somewhere.

As luck would have it, a helpful villager has dropped some information that the witch is known to take trips into town to run errands and these jaunts last exactly one hour, naturally. Hopefully it’s enough time to get in, get out, and secure a new set of spells that will ensure the evil witch is banished once and for all.

The story here is a simple heist job dressed up in a Halloween costume but the straightforward premise acts as a believable springboard into the sinister world of danger and dark arts that is sold entirely by its spooky scenic elements.

Scenic

The magic-tinged caper starts as mystical bandits find themselves outside of the witch’s cabin. The moon must be hidden by the clouds tonight because it’s dark, real dark. Perhaps the darkness’ main purpose is to hide the abject lack of scenic embellishment in this first chamber. Thankfully a trusty lantern provides just enough glow to aid in some light breaking and entering without shining too much illumination on the flat black walls that makeup the “outdoors”.

What greets the invaders upon entering the cabin is a whole other story. Aged wooden boards make up the majority of the walls and even the floor, truly selling the old cabin in the woods vibe. Nearly all the props, save for some plastic bones, feel time period appropriate, made of weathered brass and decaying wood. The only items that feel out of place are the modern day locks.

The poison-dipped cherry on top is the dramatic lighting and ambient noise that pushed the sense of immersion to the next level. Mercifully, at this point the ambient lighting strikes an appropriate balance between being scenically appropriate yet bright enough to allow all invaders to see without the use of lanterns.

Puzzles

While the puzzles here are entirely adequate, for the most part they are the least remarkable aspect of this adventure. Aside from a few small hiccups, the puzzle flow is logical and intuitive.

Mystical invaders will have to search the cabin thoroughly and then put their magic skills to the test completing up all manner of potions and spells left out by the witch.

Sloppy witch, tsk tsk.

We felt that the best puzzles were front loaded making the latter half of the adventure slightly less interesting and as a result the sense of urgency did wane. Thankfully, as the story progresses, the atmosphere becomes more and more sinister which makes up for some of the less exciting puzzle fare.

Overall

The strong scenic design of the main chamber of the cabin combined with the ambient noise truly gave us the impression that we were exploring a cabin that we should not be in. Although many escape games provide justification for their hour time limit, something about the setting here truly made us feel a sense of urgency, all without providing a visible timer at any point in the adventure.

While there are pros and cons to not including a countdown clock within a game, we did appreciate their dedication to maintaining a setting as close to time period appropriate as possible. We especially loved that the hint system existed entirely within the storyworld, as we were instructed to hang our lantern on a hook outside the cabin for the helpful villager to see and then send help in the form of secret notes.

Overall, Lost Book Of Spells takes a simple premise and executes it in a tense and believable manner. While the overall footprint of the cabin is not particularly large, it does pack a few surprises along the way. The further we progressed into this mystery the more we felt like we were about to end up face to face with the most evil witch in town. The end result is a sense of dread that is palpable, in the best possible way.