Escape Room in a Box: Flashback – game review

Doc Gnaw is a werewolf on the loose and your team of 2 to 8 players has 90 minutes to find clues, solve puzzles and crack codes in order to escape!

Solve 19 puzzles and unlock 4 real combination locks to construct a powerful amulet that holds the key to your freedom!

Such is the premise to one of the latest Escape Room style games to hit the market.

A lot of game companies have published escape room style games over the last few years and we’ve reviewed a number of them. This latest game is from a company you’ll know well – Mattel.

It’s time to unravel this mystery and share our thoughts on Escape Room in a Box: Flashback.

 

How to Play Escape Room in a Box: Flashback

This section will be really short, because explaining how to play the game is very simple. Open the box, read the initial page of instructions and start solving puzzles!

That’s all there is to it.

We’re obviously not going to spoil it by telling you details about the puzzles in the game, because that’s where all the fun is — in discovering the variety of puzzles and figuring them out.

So let’s dive in to what you really want to know…

 

Can the whole family enjoy playing Escape Room in a Box: Flashback?

Escape Room in a Box: Flashback is definitely a family game.

Not only are the puzzles on a level that all but the youngest players in the family can work on, there are 3 different paths of puzzles to solve.

The game is arranged in such a way that players can split up to work on different sets of puzzles.

Once you start into the game, you’ll notice colored containers with locks on them. Each color container has its own set up puzzles that will get you to a point where you can open the lock. So you can either work on all of them together, split up as individuals, or split up into sub-teams.

One thing we found cool is that each path of puzzles seemed to favor different types of mental challenges.

There are word and physical puzzles as well as visual and spacial challenges.

Some of the escape room style games we’ve played are just decks of cards where you need to find clues and figure things out from what you can see visually on the cards. However, Escape Room in a Box: Flashback is full of physical components to work with. And that’s perfect for family with kids who want to play.

When we played, there were three of us. This made it perfect for splitting up and each working on a different path. By the end of the game, our kitchen table was full of game components spread out all over.

It was also cool that if we got stuck on a particular aspect of our own path, we could ask each other for a new perspective. So we would look over to see what each other was working on.

And at the end of the game — after our paths converged to solve the final part of the game — we also walked each other through our own paths, what challenges we encountered, and how we solved them. And when we find ourselves talking about a game after it’s over, we know its a successful night.

As with most escape room games, the game is timed. We clocked our time at 70 minutes from start to finish. And since everyone was involved in solving puzzles the whole time, we didn’t even realize we’d been at it for over an hour.

 

How does Escape Room in a Box: Flashback score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

As we’ve tried numerous escape room type games, we’ve found that each publishing company approaches the style a different way. And Mattel has gone the route of physical components that you manipulate to get to the solution.

The downside to such a route is that the game is a one-and-done type game.

Once you’ve played the game, it won’t really be in a good state to repack it up to play again (or gift to someone else to play).

While this could be said for most escape room style games, some games we’ve played are just decks of cards that can be resorted/reset and played again. Granted, players may easily remember the puzzles in any of these games if they’re to play them a second time. But it’s also fun to pass such games around to other family members or friends to try. Unfortunately, Escape Room in a Box: Flashback doesn’t easily transfer for others to try.

That being said, Escape Room in a Box: Flashback creates a fun evening activity for a family to enjoy playing together and we’d happily play another Escape Room in a Box by Mattel.

We’d like to thank Wild Optimists for a review copy of Escape Room in a Box: Flashback.