Theory 11 / Neil Patrick Harris: BoxTWO (Play at Home)

Everything is an illusion…

Your first choice in Box Two will change everything! Dive into a mysterious world filled with

puzzles, secret codes, and unexpected twists. Your brain will be put to the test as you join

others to solve the ULTIMATE challenge. With surprises at every turn, you’ll be hooked from the

start. So…Are you ready?

It was around December 2020 when we sat down to play Theory Eleven and Neil Patrick Harris’s BoxOne, and we’ve been waiting for a sequel ever since. We spotted a post on one of the many escape room enthusiast Facebook groups announcing that BoxTwo had been released and we instantly went to the Target website and put plans in motion to get a copy to the UK ASAP.

I can’t say for sure that we had the first copy in the UK, but it was certainly one of the early ones that’s for sure. The tricky thing was then finding the time to play it. Fortunately when a game of this quality comes along, you make time to play it, and that’s what we did.

Sat down in front of the fire, and our diaries totally clear, it was time to investigate what was hiding behind the very elegant packaging.

CONCEPT/EXECUTION

If you played BoxOne, then you’ll have definitely noticed the quality of the materials, and I’m pleased to say that BoxTwo was of an equal, if not higher quality. Part of the excitement of BoxOne was the unknown and being constantly surprised with things you hadn’t previously spotted in the box, BoxTwo was the same, however I’d say there were less surprises in this version but that could have been because we were expecting and looking for them.

BoxTwo, despite what the name may make you think, is playable as a solo player (although we did play as a two). The game uses the contents of the box in front of you and also an online portal that you need to login to and use to progress through the game. The online portal worked well for us however there were times where we were trying to enter information that it wasn’t ready for so we had to take a couple of steps back and spoon-feed it what it wanted.

As you would expect for a game that has Neil Patrick Harris’s name attached to it, he’s very much front and centre in the online aspect of this game. So if you’re a fan of NPH then that’s probably good for you. If you’re not, then you may find some of the ‘interactions’ a tad tedious.

Unsurprisingly, our copy of BoxTwo got opened up by Customs, and when you look at the quality of the parts of this game, you can see why. The Customs officers probably thought there were valuable items contained within, although I’m not fully convinced they found all the secrets that were hidden.

PUZZLES

When we played BoxOne we had completed it within the hour. BoxTwo took us closer to two hours, however… that was largely due to one early puzzle that we hated with a passion and made us want to chuck the game on the fire. The puzzle was clever, yes, but in my mind it had no right being in a game like this, especially with the way in which they made it trickier. It really did just feel like a time-sink and we were close to losing the will to live.

Ignoring that puzzle, the other puzzles were much better and less ‘I want to break things’ inducing. I don’t really want to say too much about the game, but observation is obviously vital, some basic maths, wordplay, and doing things that you really feel like you probably shouldn’t be doing, but then you do anyway and hope to God that you’re supposed to be doing it. Challenging and for the most part, fun and clever.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Like all good games, there was a system in place for getting help should you need it. Saying that, when we played, we found some of the hints to be a bit weak and didn’t really help guide us in the way we would have wanted (for that puzzle that made us want to quit.

Theory 11/NPH have created a game that feels like the help is part of the narrative and most of the hints feel like they come across naturally. Not all of them, but most. If you have the patience to get through the early frustrations then there should be no reason why this can’t be completed by everyone.

FINAL THOUGHTS

For me, BoxOne was a more enjoyable experience with better puzzles and a more engaging story. But there is no denying the quality of BoxTwo – IT’S SO PRETTY! Fun trinkets to interact with, and some clever dynamics – other than one puzzle, it’s a solid game.

I think this game may be going through tweaks with the online interface as the email we received when we played was different to the one that our friends received when they played. So things may still be changing. One example is that there was no reset link in our email, but in subsequent emails there was a link to a very slick reset video (fortunately we managed to guess it and reset it) – oh and yes, this game is fully resettable just like BoxOne!

TOOLS REQUIRED

• Computer with an internet connection
• Pen and paper may help

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players

Time Taken: 2 hours ish

Website: https://www.target.com/p/box-two-presented-by-neil-patrick-harris-game/-/A-90179220