Unlock! Adventures (Spoiler Free) First Impressions

Unlock! Adventures are a series of escape room-style games.

This is a spoiler-free preview of the system followed by a review of each game.

Unlock! Adventures is a cooperative card game inspired by escape rooms that uses a simple system which allows you to search scenes, combine objects, and solve riddles. Play Unlock! to embark on great adventures, while seated at a table using only cards and a companion app that can provide clues, check codes, monitor time remaining, etc.

I first played an Unlock! Adventures tutorial deck so you can get your head around the rules. This is before you get into the game in full. (They learned from T.I.M.E Stories here I think…)

Unlock! Adventures Game Play Overview

Again, it’s Spoiler Free with generic examples.

There is a deck of cards, each card is numbered (or lettered) on the back.

‘Room’ cards show you which of these cards to lay out. They show the items in the room. Each card has a number and can be combined with other cards.

So maybe you have a locked cupboard on card 30 and a key on card 21… 30+21 =51. So you look for card 51 in the deck. Find it, flip it over. You will then know if that key was for that particular lock.

But it’s not just combining cards. There is an app that times your game but also allows you to input codes such as a combination lock etc and you can ask it for clues if you’re stuck.

That’s all I’m willing to say really. It’s a great ‘Escape Room‘ type feel and although you only get one play from it you really don’t mind.

There are 3 ‘games’ per in the box and with second-hand copies doing the rounds already and holding their value, why not pick one up if you like a good puzzle 🙂

Update: 17 months after I played one Adventure I’m still interested. I don’t remember any details but I do know it made me really want to play more and more games like this. Games like Exit and Deckscape.

Below is a quick review of each of the Unlock! Adventures as I play them.

So, they MAY contain some details that you may not want to see. Still, I won’t spoil puzzles, only story elements. But I couldn’t let you read on in good conscience without a warning should you not want to know anything at all 🙂

Unlock! Escape Adventures

The Formula (August 2017 & February 2019)

I played this ages ago and can barely remember anything!

I remember the puzzles were really good, the story fun and the experience a really good one. Obviously, I’m still going and still buying.

Update: I played it solo!

It was good fun. A good mix of puzzles and a decent story. Nothing too tricky or awkward. By ‘not too tricky’ I mean no massive leaps required to connect two things together.

I only got 1 penalty too 🙂

Squeek & Sausage (February 2019)

I didn’t enjoy this. Very tough puzzles and lots of incredibly hard-to-read hidden numbers. The hidden numbers would help you with those hard puzzles. If you don’t, or can’t see them, you’re screwed.

Nice theme but I didn’t have fun here even with the out-of-the-box thinking required.

The Island of Dr Goorse

Coming Soon (I can’t play this one solo so it’ll take longer to get this played)

Mystery Adventures

The House on the Hill (March 2019)

This was very basic. Nothing exciting to say. There were some VERY hard-to-read numbers though.

It’s the easiest one I’ve played since the very first one. It was fun, but nothing special.

The Nautilus’ Traps (March 2019)

This one was a little different. There is an additional mechanism, a ‘second timer’ of sorts to keep your eye on.

Little things like this make the Unlock! series fun.

But, there were some issues with some of the puzzles, hidden numbers and fonts that lower this one in my opinion.

The Tonipal’s Treasure (April 2019)

I enjoyed this one. The theme of Pirates is cool and the puzzles around it were fun. Well, all but the last one.

No penalties, but lots of lost time on locks but they were ALL FROM THE SAME LOCK. Spacial puzzles don’t work well in this game.

This is the 7th one I’ve done and it took the longest. Mostly due to that last puzzle.

Nothing special here, but it was a good experience.

Secret Adventures

A Noside Story (January 2019)

So these are listed on this page in the order they’re released. But this is the first one I played (Except for the Formula which I played nearly 2 years before this). I played solo.

I struggled. A couple of times I had to use the hints because I literally had no clue what to do. A couple of times I had to use it to clarify something.

Some of the clues were really out there too. I forgot how tricky this game can be, I remember it as VERY easy 🙂

One of them needed a card to be folded, or at least suggested it should be. I didn’t do that.

3 Penalties and 13 clues are needed!

Tombstone Express (February 2019)

This was great. Mostly because it is VERY different from the rest I’ve played so far. They are very standard. Get cards, solve cards, discard cards.

This is very different and even requires a dexterity element. The addition of timed events was fun.

The ending, however, was not so fun.

Only 1 penalty…

The Adventures of Oz (February 2019)

This had a great story and was quite hard. There were very few clues as to what to do. So you’d just get a thing and that’s it… You’ll not only have to solve the puzzle but also find the puzzle, to begin with.

A decent story too, with a few new elements. Still keeping it fresh.

Only 1 penalty but lots of clues are needed. 2 of the 4 incorrect lock codes came from having 2 cards the wrong way around. But there was no indication of which way around the cards should be.

Heroic Adventures

Insert Coin (Spetember 2024)

This was a boring story, but it was told in a fun way although the ending was pretty sudden and unfulfilling.

Sherlock Holmes (September 2024)

This was good fun and felt a lot like playing Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. I did find it very hard and was stuck for a few minutes on a couple of occasions. I needed 17 clues!

There was one puzzle that I both hated and respected at the same time!

Alice in Wonderland (September 2024)

Quite an interesting story even if it is a bit disconnected. Some nice use of a small storybook keeping it on theme.

There is a dexterity element required which didn’t work as the cards were not up to the task with it being a second-hand copy. I saw complaints about this online too, plus issues with colour-blindness with this particular task.

Epic Adventures

The Seventh Screening (September 2024)

A very nice theme and a good story throughout. Has one of those bits where you have to split up which makes solo play quite awkward but I pushed through.

Had a unique and clever ending but setting that bit up was a chore!

The Dragon’s Seven Tests (September 2024)

Something went wrong here. I don’t know if it was the font or the art on the cards but I kept making mistakes. I’ve never done this on any other Unlock game. A couple of times I picked a card and thought it was clearly wrong, but it was the right card it just didn’t fit the situation I was in.

Those 4 penalties came in the fist few minutes of gameplay!