Art Deco inspired fun
Gather your family or call your friends! Our new online experience Imaginarium will challenge your puzzle-solving skills in a new and immersive way.
Play the part of a team of adventurers & treasure hunters. Receiving a mysterious invitation, begin your journey into the unknown.
Lately, we at Review the Room have been on the hunt for hidden gems in the world of digital escaping. In our hunt, we came across Conundroom and their free digital adventure: Imaginarium. This game is perhaps not quite as hidden as some of the games we’ve come across in our quest for games (unlike A Perfect Day to Save the World, and Diabolic Escape), as we have seen a few people mentioning Imaginarium on social media, but it is still a relative unknown. And it doesn’t deserve to be, particularly as it is currently free to play.
At first glance, arranging to play Imaginarium appears a bit more complex than most digital games, as you’ll need to “book” a time slot using the same booking system that is in place if you were to book a live game at one of Conundroom’s physical locations in Washington. But don’t be fooled by needing to book a time slot – in reality, the game can be played at any time, and you’re not restricted to the hour slot that has been reserved. We booked our slot, followed the instructions to log on from separate devices, received our mysterious invitation, and we were off into the unknown.
CONCEPT/EXECUTION
Imaginarium is a simple game design with the puzzles delivered using a series of beautiful illustrations and buttons to click for additional information. The game has point and click elements, although, the pointing and clicking is actually just enlarging and zooming in on any relevant images for a closer look. The cartoonish imagery and the linear gameplay makes this game ideal for families looking to play a game (but don’t let that put you off if you’re a puzzle enthusiast, it’s still good fun.) Though the game design is quite simple, Imaginarium has a strong narrative driving the game forward and even provides a few opportunities to choose your own adventure, asking players to make choices.
We’ve played a number of games now where the underlying mechanics are quite simple, but the user experience leaves something to be desired. Imaginarium is not one of those games, and the experience of playing was completely without frustrations, with many of the things that have irritated me in other games absent: Anytime passwords need to be entered, they can be clearly seen, making it easy to check an answer for typos, rather than assuming it’s completely incorrect. And where multiple answers from different information are needed to progress, the game will highlight which answers aren’t quite right, saving time on checking everything. Occasionally information found throughout the game would become relevant later, in an unexpected way, but because the game opened new tabs for important things as we progressed, it was easy to navigate back to the relavant information, without disrupting the flow of the game.
PUZZLES
Puzzles in Imaginarium felt rather sparse at first, as the game presented a combination of one or two (relatively) easy wins reliant on observation with images to progress the narrative. This changed as the game took an unexpected turn, and we were presented with a number of puzzles to investigate and solve, culminating in a final meta puzzle.
These puzzles were typical of the style we tend to see not just in digital games, but also live escape games, with logic problems, observation, deductive reasoning, some simple maths, and even a bit of decoding needed. And while the puzzles leading up to the finale are relatively simple, they are less simple than they seem at first, drawing information from everything you’ve encountered since the moment you received your mysterious letter.
CLUE SYSTEM
As much as we would all love to solve an online escape room without the need for assistance, there are some days where things just don’t click, and it’s useful to have a system to deliver clues. Luckily, Conundroom have included clues for each puzzle. Should players need a nudge, a button will reveal a popup with a few gradual hints, so there’s no chance of spoilers, and players can determine how much assistance they need. Pressing the “HINT” button enough times will eventually result in the solution if you’re really stuck, but thankfully it’s not possible to get the solution accidentally, as it is clearly marked when you will be given the solution as the final hint.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Imaginarium is a delightful little free game, enjoyable for all, but particularly perfect for families. If you want to try a digital escape room with the kids, it’s definitely one to try.
TOOLS REQUIRED
- Device with an internet connection (Computer recommended, all devices supported)
Final Rating:
| Puzzles | |
| Concept/Execution | |
| Clue System | |
| Value for Money | |
| Enjoyment |
Team: 2 players
Time Taken: 40 minutes
Website: http://www.conundroom.us/
A quick update: This room is now $10 which I do feel affects the value for money rating quite considerably. We’ve also played Missing and Hunting a Killer for a similar price, both of which were phenomenal!