Review: timeQuest | clueQuest (Print + Cut + Escape)

OFFICIAL INFO FROM COMPANY...

🕹️ timeQuest

🌐 clueQuest ▪ clueQuest "Print + Cut + Escape"

🗺️ Based In United Kingdom

⏲️ 90 Minutes ▪ 💪 3/5 ▪ 🔢 N/A

THE PREMISE

📚 Your mission in timeQuest is to help Mr & Mrs Q stop the troublesome twosome known as the Earlybirds from altering the fabric of time. With the help of specialist Dr Imani Chronos, you will have to follow them on a journey through time, putting right their meddling before time as we know it is history!

THE GUIDE

THIS IS CLASSIFIED AS...

▪ Play At Home » Print & Play Puzzle Game

YOU'LL ENJOY THIS, IF YOU...

▪ ...Are aged around 12, give or take a few years, and looking for a fun escape game to do at home.

▪ ...Are the parent of the above described child, and want something wholesome and fun for them to do for 1 hour or 2.

▪ ...Enjoy print-and-play games with both PDF file and web elements, similar to previous series from clueQuest.

▪ ...Appreciate time-travel themes portrayed in awesome artworks and animation videos with vibrant colors.

▪ ...Fancy these (similar) titles: The Mysterious Case, Houdini's Secret Room, The Bank Job, Christmas Scene Investigation, and National Elf Service, ie titles designed for family and children with/without paper based media.

GREAT! ANY ADVICE OR TIPS?

💪 On company's site, difficulty is officially listed as a 3/5.

🧐 However, based on my team of 1, it felt subjectively like a 4/10, since it's a game geared towards younglings.

🔢 With the reasoning above, I would recommend a team of 1, especially if you're an adult player.

MY BODY IS READY! NOW WHAT?

🛒 TO BUY, CLICK HERE!

▪ For this: Print & play media requires PDF Reader to load the file, printer and paper to print, and scissors to cut.

▪ Alternatively, the company can have everything printed and mailed to you for an optional premium surcharge.

THE REVIEW

timeQuest from clueQuest (featuring matching capitalizations, neat) | clueQuest

INTRODUCTION

▪ Having already published a 3-episode series from their now well-known "Print + Cut + Escape" brand, United Kingdom escape room company clueQuest now has a title catered specifically for kids named "timeQuest", because why should adult puzzle lovers have all the fun? If you're a parent and have a child that you'd like to train to be an efficient and resourceful escape artist one day, this at-home print-and-play product is an appropriate and decent place to start!

▪ timeQuest, plot-wise, is unrelated to the Crimson vs BlackSheep saga, though it features the brand's yellow mouse protagonists Mr and Mrs Q this time around also (haha, word play). The villains introduced are the Earlybirds, whose sole purpose is to rid of bedtime by eliminating all the world's clocks through all of history. (There's even a bit of fun recap of time-measuring devices throughout the eras--candle, sundial, hourglass, etc.) This exudes a bit of Pinky and the Brain vibe, mixed with the obvious time-traveling element of Back to the Future. It's a fun premise overall.

Please supervise children while playing if a similar sharp blade is used during the game | clueQuest

DESIGNED FOR KIDS IN MIND

▪ There is no doubt this is a game designed for kids, and the young ones will have a great time. The contents are much more relatable to younger audience than the previous materials. To start, the villains appear to be forever-young children themselves! Now, they are little baddies who deserve some time-outs (haha, word play again), though one may question, if their goal is to destroy a proper bedtime, wouldn't a majority of the target audience align with their cause? A bit of a paradox there, but let's save for the philosophical questions for another time. (Man, I'm on a row!)

▪ Though the Earlybirds unleash chaos upon the world, they do so in the visions of young children. The most famous clock in the world, Big Ben from England, has been turned into a giant ice cream cone for Pete's sake! This is the kind of delicious ridiculousness that children will appreciate most, unless you're King Kong, in which case, this is the ultimate fantasy. It's pleasant to see clueQuest's lighthearted humor permeate through all their products, for adults or otherwise.

▪ Video are back! (Something that was missing in Episode 3.) And what a joy it is to see them in full, colorful animation glory. Every single puzzle is preceded by a short cartoon video clip, which doubly functions as the narration for the story so far, and to clearly explain the objective(s) of the upcoming puzzle. There shouldn't be any confusion on how to proceed. For kids, it's important to capture their attention to engage, and video watching is arguably a better, or at least a certainly more entertaining, route to go. And I am SO glad the designers have brought back these amazingly produced videos.

▪ As for the puzzles, one obviously noticeable difference is that the pieces are much bigger. This would facilitate the paper cutting and the crafting process of the game, assuming the youngest target audience may not be fully proficient with sharp blades. (Game is designed for as young as 8.) Bigger print-outs are also easier (and less tricky) to see, a suitable move for children who are possibly solving their very first escape game at home.

▪ Difficulty of the puzzles are obviously adjusted to be playable and reasonably solvable by the young ones. Most challenges are much more straightforward and intuitive, and I find myself actually overthinking out of custom. Puzzle types include: deciphering through tools (such as a cipher wheel), multi-layered jigsaw puzzle, observe and find (a sort of hide & seek), symbol match-ups, and pattern inference. They were not difficult for me, an adult, but were still delightful.

Wacky consequences due to the chaotic doings of the Earlybirds | clueQuest

VIBRANT PRODUCTION VALUE

▪ Lastly, it's once again worthy to note the art and production is impressive as made clear from before. The resident artists once gain flexed their creative and artistic muscles, and have given us pages and pages of attractive and fascinating artworks. Since this is a kids game, the images take on a comic book style approach. Compared to the previous trilogy, they come off more whimsical, more carefree, and sillier, which works for the intended tone.

▪ The video clips are rendered in bright and saturated colors, which is a sharp departure from the black-and-white artsy film style from the previous series. It's almost shocking to my eyes to see this other side of clueQuest, and I imagine this to be well-received with children since colors are stimulating, and therefore perceived to be more exciting to watch.

▪ In contrast, the PDF print-and-play file is optimized for printing, and therefore monochromatic. (The premium mail-to-your-house option is in color, to note.) But that's ok. Now the packet doubles as coloring pages. Two birds, one stone.

OVERALL: 😃

▪ There is a lot to adore in timeQuest. While I would recommend this product more for kids than to my adult readers, this is not at all a negative remark, since that is the exact intent from the publishers. Priced reasonably, this is a rewarding way to provide the children in your life a few hours of wholesome fun that promotes active thinking and improves problem-solving skills. But rest assured, fans of clueQuest of any age should find this agreeable enough to enjoy.

Signing off,

ESCAPE MATTSTER

Instagram @EscapeMattster ▪ Facebook.com/EscapeMattster

Full disclosure: complimentary game access was generously provided for review or testing purposes. All media are sourced from and credited to rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended. In certain cases, media materials are made available under fair use doctrine of copyright law. CQTime.