RATING: 2 Keys          RESULT: Win          REMAINING: 0:56 

Captain! We must be running low on oxygen! (Because this submarine is giving us a serious headache.)

As we’ve touched on previously, being a home game, we define “Scenic,” from a graphic design perspective, as well as the quality, weight and feel of print materials inside the box.

We mentioned that Space Cowboys goes the route of fully card-based escape home games. Each edition is produced to the highest levels of quality – with thick, glossy textures that have the feel of a upscale deck of playing cards. Unlock!’s decks, however, are larger than a traditional card – measuring in at nearly 4.5″ tall by 2.5″ wide.

Something we’ve always enjoyed about Space Cowboys is their use of multiple different artists for each Unlock! box set. What results is a distinctly different animation style, evoking unique moods that help bring each storyworld to life. No two decks within a set will ever feel the same, or even slightly similar, for that matter.

Each game’s respective page within the Unlock! app fully compliments the theme of its storyworld, with unique buttons, sound effects and background music scores to transport the adventure off the cards and bring it to life all around players.

Progressing through an Unlock! game will lead players to either a number or letter – and if correct, this will indicate the next card(s) to draw from the deck.

Each Unlock! game is run through a free app, available in the Apple iTunes and Google Play stores. Through it, you’ll not only manage time limits and receive hints, but also enter various codes and even solve some of the puzzles in tech-driven, digital setting.

The app allows games to be played either with or without penalties for incorrect answers. We prefer playing without penalties, as we feel it more truly mimics a physical escape game experience where you may try a code in a lock when you’re uncertain. Although the penalty free mode is activated (in the app’s Settings) by turning off the timer, rest assured you will still receive your escape time at the end. In fact, turning off the timer is the only way to receive an accurate escape time, as penalties add multiple minutes to your overall duration.

Progressing through The Nautilus’ Traps is a rather unique experience for the Unlock! brand – and not just because of it’s clever constraint that explorers can actually run out of oxygen tanks along the way. Unfortunately, this particular game is considerably more frustrating than a typical Space Cowboys product, due in large part to a great number of logic leaps and some puzzles that actually verge dangerously close to requiring prior knowledge.

Familiarity of nautical terminology and the ability to identify piano keys are all but expected skillsets aboard Captain Nemo’s ship. There are, however, other tasks that flow far more intuitively, like tracking audible sonar readings and charting a course across a map of the seven seas. Unfortunately, The Nautilus’ Traps feels more like a series of give and takes, where each clever task is counter-programmed with an illogical one. Other puzzles require deciphering a specific order for a code, but give little indication on how to derive that order without just guessing. Assembling a wire maze to restore power to the ship created an engaging challenge, while setting dials and aligning lanterns left us equally annoyed. Much of the game’s storyworld documents are printed in a very small, cursive font that is incredibly difficult to read, potentially adding to the frustration level for some.

Oddly, despite having cards for an attack from the giant squid, we never actually battled him before surfacing the ship?

The Nautilus’ Traps is the medium difficulty game released as apart of Unlock! Mystery Adventures – Space Cowboy’s second commercial outing. This series may be purchased either individually or as a complete set, packing not one but three different full length home games inside the box. Interestingly, at the time we ordered ours, we’ve it’s almost always proven cheaper to purchase each single game one by one on Amazon. We advise you to price your options to find the most cost effective way to add Unlock! games to your own collection. It would appear as though Unlock! has since moved away from the individual games with newer releases, instead making them only available as single-boxed three packs.

As with each Unlock! offering, a playable Tutorial is included. It should be noted that the Tutorial is the same in every Unlock! series, so once you’ve played it, there’s not much benefit in revisiting it.

Space Cowboys also has a series of free, downloadable games – called Unlock! Demo Adventures –  available through their website, which you can find by clicking here. They range in length, although several are full 60 minute games. To play them, it’s best if you have access to a printer and several sheets of cardstock, as well as a scissors to cut out each individual card. Just for fun, we did try playing one game “fully digital,” with the help of Photoshop to lay out each of the cards on our virtual desktop – and while it did work, and we still were able to enjoy the Unlock! experience, we found this to be far more time consuming than just taking a few minutes and a few sheets of paper to print them out as intended.

The Nautilus’ Traps is an endurance test for far more reasons than the rapidly diminishing oxygen levels. Without a doubt, this is among the Unlock! brand’s most frustrating games – a rare comment in its own right when you consider how consistently satisfying most of Space Cowboy’s offerings have been. It’s important to keep in mind that overall, the majority of Unlock! games rank in the company of the very best at home escape rooms you’ll find. The Nautilus’ Traps may have sunken to the depths of oblivion, but it is in no way indicative of the quality you’ll find in most other Unlock! boxes.

*Montu, Escape Authority’s VP, Dog Business™ and lead home game correspondent endorses the opinions found within this review.

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Venue:  Space Cowboys

Location: At Home Game

Number of Games: 29 (1 + 1 Tutorial game included in this box)

GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

Duration: 60 minutes

Capacity: 1-6 people

Group Type: Private / You will not be paired with strangers (but if you are, call 911 immediately to report a home invasion.)

Cost (at Publish Time): $13.45 (Amazon.com) / or purchase the complete Unlock! Mystery Adventures box set for $26.64 (Amazon.com)