Review: Axxiom Escape Games - Pirate's Cove

RATING: 4 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 5:27

Can you find buried treasure without breaking new ground?

Story

Navigate the high seas and charter yourselves into Pirates Cove. On the search for hidden treasure, you and your band of marauders have come across a secret cabin. What lurks in the hearts of men? Enter and find out! But beware…this area is known to be protected by pirates and you can be sure they wouldn’t take too kindly to trespassers. Booby traps await and some be deadly! Will you make it out alive?

It’s a tale as old as time. A pirate’s treasure has been buried, er, hidden deep in the sand…er…cabin? For some reason it has been left unguarded for the next hour. Never mind the details, there’s treasure to be found and any group of pillagers worth their weight in gold would be foolish not to take advantage of the situation.

In a world of escape games packed to the brim with cookie cutter pirate themes, we were ready for a fresh take on the genre. Unfortunately, the story here is as uninspired as a hastily raised surrender flag, acting merely as a means to justify the swashbuckling set dressing.

Scenic

Our expectations for the Pirate’s Cove scenic value immediately dropped once we realized that it is deceivingly set entirely inside a pirate’s cabin. Thankfully, this hut packs a scenic punch that effortlessly pulls off this nautically themed sleuthing adventure.

Aged walls contain shelves adorned with all manner of pirate artifacts, likely the bounty from a lifetime of the requisite pillaging and plundering. A large wooden table sits in the center of the modestly sized cabin, appropriately aged and seemingly soaked with spilled grog and the tales of high seas marauders.

The cabin feels embellished enough to hint that the residents are in possession of a large amount of hidden gold, yet lived in enough to ominously nod at the rough and tumble nature of its outlaw inhabitants. More cleverly, as maritime detectives make their way further into the cabin, what at first appeared to be a relatively benign domicile eventually transforms into a much more elaborate death trap.

Puzzles

Despite the constraints of the time period, Pirate’s Cove is a deceivingly high tech game that seamlessly combines more traditional lock and key fare with puzzles that both surprised and delighted us as their solutions became apparent.

In order to reveal hidden treasure, intruders will have to complete a rum barrel full of tasks. Deciphering old captain’s logs, navigate maritime maps, and even delicately wiring unstable dynamite are all on the table.

While there are a few puzzles that were appropriate to the storyworld, the majority are shamelessly puzzles for puzzles sake. Thankfully, with the exception of one puzzle that immediately becomes tedious, the more superfluous puzzles are completely on-theme and, quite frankly, a blast to complete (especially when they involved dynamite).

We appreciated just how much was packed into such a modestly sized cabin. Nearly everything you see will come into play at some point, even items that appear to only be included to up the scenic ante.

Overall

Pirate’s Cove creates a modest yet believable throwback to a world where cutthroat captains ruled the high seas. Though the scenic premise is humble, not taking any big risks, we get the impression that Axxiom understands their limits and doesn’t bite off more than they can chew. Although we wish the puzzles were more connected to tangible real world actions necessitated by storyworld goals, as far as rooms full of puzzles go, this one definitely hit all the right marks for our crew of swashbuckling sleuths.

Pirate’s Cove is like the comfort of watching a rerun of your favorite tv show. It isn’t breaking any molds or subverting a trope, but it is self assured in it’s solid execution and sometimes it’s just what you need. Essentially, it takes an overdone premise and aims straight down the middle, saying “we can do this well”. While it may not pack as many surprises for veteran seafarers, we suspect that first time swashbucklers on their first pirate plunder would find it a suitable and thrilling challenge.