RATING: 5 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 3:59
1,001 tales to be told, as long as the princess finds a scribe to write them for her.
Princess Scheherazade is in great danger. In an hour, she must tell one last story to the Sultan to save her life. Unfortunately she is out of ideas. So, she asked her friend the scribe to help her, but he didn’t show up at the appointed time, and now the princess may very well end up in the hands of the executioner. Prisoner of the palace, she begs you to find the scribe and bring him back as soon as possible with a tale…
The ultimate tale of the Arabian Nights. The sultan is going to sentence Scheherazade to death. Fly to her rescue!
Based on the epic literary work, One Thousand and One Nights, Unlock! transports us back in time hundreds of years, to the Arabian palace where Princess Scheherazade is held captive. The Sultan requires she tell him a different tale for 1,001 consecutive nights, and after doing so, she will be set free. What Scheherazade never expected is that she could fall in love during the process – much to the chagrin of the evil Vizier Ashkan.
One Thousand and One Nights introduced now classic literary characters in many of its tales, among them Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp and The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor. They all play a part in Scheherazade’s Last Tale, each in unique and clever ways.
Appropriately, the narrative reaches its climax by helping Scheherazade compose her final tale (even if it does prove to be the sole illogical challenge within this game.)
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 an 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 scored in the tune of a whimsical-but-menacing soundtrack 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. Progressing through Scheherazade’s Last Tale will also require a good deal of (intuitive) outside the box thinking, character-driven problem solving and a little bit of magic. That’s right. Magic.
From chasing down a band of “three disabled monkeys” – each of whom can see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil to flying across the starry night’s sky aboard a magic carpet to transition from place to place, there’s instantly no question that Unlock! has cooked up something very different.
Incredibly satisfying challenges await scribes, from battling a cyclops in a thought-provoking digital challenge to charting a course across the seas to set sail with Sindbad himself. The game’s flow feels enchanted, and it at times it actually brings magic to life in the real world thanks to the rub of a genie’s lamp and a wish spoken aloud.
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. As an added bonus, the Unlock! app also includes themed background music that helps bring the storyworld of each game to life, sometimes even triggering sound effects to further enhance specific puzzles.
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.
Scheherazade’s Last Tale follows 1,000 timeless stories, making for a truly epic at home game. We would, however, be remiss if we didn’t mention this tale has a bit of a less than happy ending, thanks to its finale puzzle. In a moment clearly interwoven with the storyworld, scribes are tasked to help the princess write her finale tale. Unfortunately, despite being entirely organic from a narrative perspective, this puzzle is 100% guess-work, with no solid or logic way to deduce the correct answer.
Scheherazade’s Last tale is the medium difficulty game released as apart of Unlock! Exotic Adventures – Space Cowboy’s fourth 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 found 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.
They say all great stories need a beginning, middle and ending – but Scheherazade’s Last Tale proves that philosophy to be somewhat false; despite having an ending almost predestined to frustrate scribes, this game remains one of Unlock!’s very best. With a clever flow, puzzles and genuine surprises along the way, we still managed to fall in love despite being held captive by its less than ideal resolution. You guys, I think that makes us….. a princess?
*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): $14.99 (Amazon.com) / or purchase the complete Unlock! Exotic Adventures box set for $35.27 (Amazon.com)