Hourglass Escapes

Not the greatest for arachnophobes, but that is only a short section - just be prepared to look away for a period!

Interface is good - you can see where your other companions are if they're in the same location, and you have the same telescape environment to play in. Some of the locks feel a bit samey and if you have people opening locks you do tend to spend your time playing catch up with "what did you do", "what clues do I now ignore" type of questions to your companions - but that's no more than other escape rooms.

Theming was good - mad pharoah about to rule the world, stop them somehow. Feels a little 'location light' but there's enough puzzles there to keep you interested for a while. Not sure it would be a 90 minute game for a larger group though.

We found ourselves on the Road to Innsmouth. Not quite knowing why we were there, but sensing our surroundings and taking one step at a time.

What a beautiful game! Full of cutscenes and dark scenery. Mystery. I don't know Arkham Horror lore, but it didn't matter for this story. We did feel a bit plonked down into the story, but the beautiful scenery made us forget that and we just started solving the puzzles. 

The puzzles were varied and the locks were not just traditional locks. The game was very long and we did feel like some of the middle scenes didn't need to be there, but we enjoyed it anyway. The puzzles made sense. 

You have to remember that you need components more than once. I am from the school where it is "once and done", so I struggled a bit with this part. 

It is based on Unity and Telescape and having it run in the browser without installs was perfect. 

This was  fun game, similar to their other games, and, as always, this was good value for money

Mend your ship and save human kind!

This game was played in a 3d space (telescape) and then you navigated to screens where you had to solve a 2d puzzle. At some point there was also a seeking puzzle in 3d. 

Great puzzles though the story felt a bit weak. Not very escape room like - at least we don't play the kind of escape rooms where you bring in lots of screens :). We had to communicate a lot to not just make this two people solving puzzles near each other. No collaboration needed and since it was easiest and fastest to just divide the puzzles between us, we really had to fight that urge and make sure that we were both involved in the puzzle solving. For us it would have been a crappy experience if we had just done our separate thing - we play to solve things together. 

We really liked the ID-card and crystal puzzles and did not care for the puzzle that suggested you use a piece of paper. 

As a group of 2 experienced players we enjoyed the non-linear nature of the game. Nova comes packed with plenty of proper puzzles to solve, which we really enjoyed. The game doesn't necessarily have much narrative, however if you're looking for enjoyable and logical puzzles, this is the game for you!

Also, the entire game is illustrated with high quality graphic 360 environments.

Would deffo recommend!

Really enjoyed this online experience!  Lots of puzzles to keep us busy, and it was non-linear so we could spit up and work on different things.  Graphics were top class, and everything flowed smoothly and made sense.   I would recommend!

A Christmas re-brand of their Ghostly Galleon game--fortunately we had forgotten most of the details, so this came up fresh.  Some clever puzzles, and nice Christmas integration.  A piece of advice--you don't necessarily need to fill out the whole chart, and definitely shouldn't bother if you're pressed for time.

A Christmas version of their Ghostly Galleon room, nicely themed for the festive season but the puzzles are very very similar.

Nice set and good amount of tech. Some funny moments.

This was a fun game, although we did have a technical glitch that held us up and we had to wait for someone to fix it.  Overall a good game, although rather short.

Loved the theme and some of the graphics - going down the hall at NASA.

A bit too static for my taste. I like the escape rooms where you have to roam around in a 360 degree setting and while this game was based on telescape which usually has this kind of exploration, it did not utilize it. There were also no inventory. 

Did at one point feel a bit like doing math homework, which for math people like us is not a bad thing, but it is also not something we go for in escape rooms.

After a very punny intro, you stand in a room with a sarcophagus. Lots of great puzzles around.

This is a special game because you get a character to play. There are six characters so in our case being only two people playing we got 3 characters each. With each character you get a tabletop - a kind of personal inventory. Some things end up with you when found and you then have to analyze them. You of course decide yourself how much collaboration you want - with two players it might be easier to just play all characters both of you. 

We really liked most of the puzzles and loved the decor. The experience was a bit short for us, but also prized low, so we are not unhappy.

One time there was a creepy feeling - but you are puzzling with a dead pharaoh, so that shouldn't be a surprise.

We loved how the tech supported the puzzle solving, like in a specific translation puzzle. The telescape platform was a great choice for this.

If you're a fan of the movie, you will love this.  The attention to detail is fantastic. 

Didn't enjoy this one as much as their other two games - more of a box puzzle, and some very obvious leading from the avatar so you didn't always need to do much to solve puzzles. Nice theme, good videos

Really strong escape room. Fun puzzles, great avatar. We had only watched the short cheat sheet of the film, and it wasn't a problem. Incredible detail, lots to do, and lots of variety with the puzzles.

Some fun, different puzzles. Enjoyed the character of the avatar, and there were lots of different style puzzles which kept all of our team involved.

HourGlass continues to be my favourite online rooms so far.... Seph.. I mean Shep is such a cool Host/character to guide an Zoom experience! The inventory system allocates roles, which scared me, but all players can see each role and get involved.

 I really enjoyed thisgame and was especially glad of Shep's help when i needed it most!

This is the first online escape room we've played that makes a real effort to allow for the members of the team to work independently, as you would if you were doing the room in person.  The inventory system is set up around 6 characters, with a desk for each one that hosts different items as they are uncovered.  At various points individual players can "step away" and solve particular puzzles on their desk, which definitely makes things more efficient.  The puzzles were generally solid, with a good integration into the story line.  Our avatar was very pleasant, and gently directed us away from some dead ends that would have wasted time.  Overall a very strong integration of online elements, and a fun experience for everyone.

Played this as an online avatar game and smiled the whole way through.

Love the setting, the character and the puzzles. 

This room is one i would love to visit but only got the chance through online and my only negative is that i believe it would be even better in person! 

Well themed game with lots and lots of all things pirate! The game uses telescape and uses it well as there are a number of puzzles that you can interact with in the inventory and the avatar works well with the ghostly theme (even if his skeleton hands are useless for opening locks!). The puzzles flow well and are well signposted and the avatar is a master at subliminally clueing you to what you missed with some very classy and subtle camera work. Not quite as much to do as there is in Evil Dead, but I found it just as enjoyable, its an excellent room.

Very nice set, and a good avatar who actually donned very cool skeleton gloves to add to the atmosphere!  Mostly straightforward puzzles with a good integration to the theme.  Unfortunately the key puzzle upon which the "escape" rests was made much more onerous by a rather clunky approach to solving it.  I can't say much more without providing spoilers but...don't bother with the chart!  It doesn't have to be that hard.

A bit of a step above other online games I've played.  Players are provided with materials before the game starts to get them in the mood, and can choose to dress up as certain characters in the narrative.  There is also a custom Zoom background provided.  The game itself is very immersive--excellent set, with a lot of fairly high tech elements.  The inventory system works very well (better on a second screen) but we appreciated that the GM still too the time to show us all the elements in game.  Overall an excellent experience!

They did a great job with the license, and the avatar character is very amusing and engaging throughout.  If you're in the area, it might be worth holding off so you can experience the room in person -- but you'll actually be missing some fun interactions, such as telling the avatar to do certain scary things...