Unsolved Case from Eleven Puzzles is a cooperative escape room puzzler where you’ll team up with a partner to play as a pair of gumshoes trying to solve a cold case that has suddenly started to heat up once again. Detectives “Old Dog” Kowalski and Ally Abernathy put away the Cryptic Killer years ago, but after receiving a mysterious locked briefcase and a host of strange clues, the familiar tells of this twisted mind sends shivers down their spines. Could they have caught the wrong person, or is it a copycat? The only way to know is to piece the puzzle together as a team and hope they can escape this conundrum unscathed.
Although I don’t play them quite as much as I would like to, I’ve always been a big fan of escape room puzzles. Whether they’re in board game form, digital, or IRL, the idea of working as a team to solve multi-step puzzles is always a blast! Sure, you’ll find yourself getting into arguments with your significant others, friends, and family, but that’s part of the fun! If you can eventually come to a consensus it's always so satisfying to finally unlock that last door and soak in the sweat relief of escape.
So, when given the opportunity to check out Unsolved Case, we jump on it immediately! Not only did it give us a chance to exercise our puzzle solving skills, but because it was an asynchronous cooperative game it meant we truly had to work together and communicate to arrive at a solution. Which seemed super unique and exactly the type of experience I would hope for from this type of game.
A big selling point for any puzzle game is its visuals and Unsolved Case’s graphic novel aesthetic does a great job of setting up the scene and making you feel like you’re playing through a classic detective comic, especially during the story sequences. One thing I will say however about its style, and it didn’t happen very often, was that it wasn’t alway clear what we were looking at. And if I needed to communicate what I was seeing in order to solve a puzzle, it meant we would hit a roadblock. A good example of this was when we needed to figure out if something was missing when looking at a photograph. It was tough to tell if it was just a stylistic thing, or if what we were looking at could be interpreted as a clue.
Speaking of solving puzzles, that’s pretty much what you’ll be doing during your time with Unsolved Case. Like most other escape room games, you’ll be given a scene and you’ll have to poke and prod to find clues that’ll help you progress to the next one. What really made playing Unsolved Case unique however, was how the co-op portions were integrated. Each player is given their own scene and a set of related puzzles and/or clues. To solve the puzzles you’ll have to describe to each other what you see and piece together how those things are linked. For instance, one player may have a TV Guide and the other a TV, and you have to figure out by working as a team what information is important so you can navigate to the right channel.
One cool feature that helps you organize your thoughts is that you can make notes by drawing on the screen. So if you need to remember the order of something, or a sequence of numbers, just mark it down and you’re good to go! When it comes to the puzzles themselves, a few could be a bit obtuse, but I think that was more us learning how the puzzles were structured. Once we got the hang of it though, and figured out that communication REALLY was key, solving them became that much easier. Nonetheless, whenever we did get stuck, or whenever we needed a nudge in the right direction, the game’s hint system got us back on track. Which is something I always appreciate, but always hesitate to use because solving the puzzle on your own is that much more gratifying! Fortunately, we only needed to use it a few times.
One thing I always forget is how much fun playing escape room games are, and Unsolved Case is no exception. With it requiring a meager 30-60 minutes to finish, it was a great distraction that we could play through in the morning while we were sipping on our coffee. And the fact that it’s currently free means you won’t need to take our word for it, and can play it for yourself right after you finish reading this - it releases today!
My biggest takeaway after completing it was that the team effort used to get through the game was truly rewarding, and I’m happy to say that little to no arguments were required to get there. Like I mentioned early, I don’t play them as much as I would like, but the spark has definitely been lit under my butt, and now I can feel the pull to seek out more. The good thing is, Unsolved Case is a prequel to Eleven Puzzles’ other games, so checking them out would be a great place to start.
With a fun graphic novel aesthetic, a compelling mystery to solve, and a host of co-op oriented conundrums to unravel, Unsolved Case has us eager for more escape room brain busters. Two crime solving thumbs UP from us!
I've always enjoyed puzzle solving games and they're definitely worth checking out, especially when they're free. I used to play games like this on Facebook, those were the days...
I agree! Puzzles games are always fun and it was especially fun that we were able to play this one cooperatively. It made solving the puzzles that much more exciting!
I like the comic book look it has 👌👌
Same! The style gives the game a fun vibe, and I love that it makes it feel like you're playing an interactive novel.
I have never played escape room, it never caught my attention, but after reading your post, I will add it to one of my things to do, I love the aesthetic of the design, it looks like a good way to have a good time
It was a really fun premise and if you get a chance to play it, I hope you enjoy it! It's always so satisfying to figure out the solution to the puzzles, especially when you're playing with friend.