Enchambered: Together Apart (Play at Home)

Even better than the first!

I have come into my possession a curious contraption. It is locked by some kind of otherworldly energy! The box was part of a two piece set, I have sent its twin to a clockmaker colleague of mine. The two devices are inexorably linked to each other through time and space. It is my wish that you will work together to unravel the mysterious these boxes contain. I have left you a few notes of my experiments with this contraption. I hope they will prove useful.

‘Together Apart’ is the sequel to the wonderful ‘Alone Together’ which we thoroughly enjoyed so had high hopes for this game. Enchambered have created their own little niche of games with these experiences, they are fully online but play out more like a giant two-player communication puzzle.

This game is really designed to be played with two players, and you can do it from different locations using the joys of technology. One player joins as ‘The Fortune Teller’ and the other will join as ‘The Clockmaker’ and you need to work together to solve the puzzles, both options are equally well designed so flip a coin to decide who is who.

Somehow the two games that Enchambered feel very appropriate for these strange times that we are living in, just look at the names; Alone Together, Together Apart – very apt.

CONCEPT/EXECUTION

Much like Alone Together, the key to this game is communication. The actual mechanics of the game are probably quite simple, but the way they make two ‘separate’ users’ experiences merge together into one seamless game is very impressive.

Enchambered promise that Together Apart is twice as long as Alone Together, and looking at the time it took us, that statement is true. They’ve not just made the gameplay longer, they’ve also upgraded the gameplay and the graphics.

PUZZLES

Quoting Liz in her review of Alone Together: “Communication, communication, communication!” – that still rings true for this game. When you start playing this game you will likely spend some time working out what you can interact with, what moves, what changes when you click something, and what is purely decoration, before you even start communicating with your teammate.

We thought the puzzles were a step up on the previous game and had just the right level of challenge about them, yet were equally as clever. The previous game was basically one big puzzle, but this one had a few more mini-puzzles built-in for each player to solve on their own, logical deduction, and some decoding, that type of thing.

CLUE SYSTEM

Literally the only place where the first game, Alone Together, fell down for us was the clue system as, at the time of reviewing, there wasn’t one. However, in Together Apart that was solved! The team at Enchambered realised that this was lacking and have now put something in that is perfect for getting you moving again if you get stuck.

Considering our website has so far had over 6,000 visitors to the ‘Alone Together’ page, mostly consisting of people looking for ‘hints’, ‘solutions’, or ‘walkthroughs’, we think the clue system for this one will be well used!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Together Apart is a beautifully designed game and at (a minimum donation of) $5 it is a bargain, it would even be good at twice the price. It’s worth remembering that if you want to experience the full game, you can switch your roles and play again! The license key you purchase will be valid for 24 hours after you first use it.

TOOLS REQUIRED

• Internet Connection
• Some way to communicate – Zoom/Phone
• Notepad/Pen may assist in places

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players

Time Taken: 52:00

Website: https://www.enchambered.com