The Room – Lost Treasure – 8/10
Berlin, Germany
Archeologists wanted! A tight passage was found during repair works in the basement of the Humboldt University which leads into an abandoned secret study chamber deep under ground. The brothers Humboldt might have built it centuries ago to examine and hide precious and mysterious artifacts they found during their travels. People say there might even be the lost holy grail…
Played January 2023
Straight into our third room of the day, The Lost Treasure. There was quite a long intro to this one with our hilarious GM, telling us exactly why we were there and what we were doing. It was extremely silly!
We get sent on our way through literally a small hole in a wall. This game contains copious amounts of crawling, squeezing, weaving… it’s not for anyone who struggles with mobility I’m afraid, and there was one room my hips struggled to enter, so consider me starting a diet on Monday! Once we reach the first room I am floored. I loved it. So much time and care has been put in to creating this room as well as the other rooms that we find throughout the game. It’s beautiful.
The game itself is Indiana Jones meets the Goonies meets Tomb Raider. Take three things I already love, add some puzzles, let me feel immersed, and Bob’s your uncle, you’ve made yourself a room that, I at least, will love.
We got off to a great start, dividing and conquering. There are plenty of puzzles I didn’t see so I’d gladly go back and do it again. But then, I’d do it again just to see it again I think. Seriously, the artistry… enough now A, get on with the other bits. After a while the games becomes a lot more linear so we’re all crowding round the same thing. It was frustrating like some rooms can be but I guess the optimal number of players in there would probably be three. The puzzles themselves are a decent mix of observation, traditional style puzzles and techy-but-not-too-techy puzzles. The tech worked, which was a thumbs up.
We did eventually get stuck on something for a while that we really shouldn’t have done. I had observed something, and said this observation out loud. D thought that meant something else, didn’t say it out loud…15 minutes later our GM says exactly what D was thinking. Communication. We never get it right! This was right near the end so once we finally completed that puzzle it was pretty much over.
The website warns of darkness and there are dark areas but most of the game is very well let so this needn’t be an issue for much of the time.
This game is award winning, and rightly so. It’s gone straight into my top 10 and I highly recommend it.
Theme/Immersion – 8.5
Puzzles – 8
Fun Factor – 7.5
Difficulty – 8
Reviewed by A