Play with a friend! Can you decipher enigmatic puzzles that require constant communication between you and your teammate to solve? Your escape is dependent on how well you work together to find your way through gadgets and clues to solve the puzzle. Using two separate devices, play with a friend on the couch or even all the way across the globe on the phone or video chat!
Rating: Brilliant
Completion Time: 1 hour
Date Played: 23rd June 2021
Party Size: 2
Recommended For: For a great 2 player browser escape room game
One game down, two more to go in the Enchambered series! After the success with Alone Together, my co-puzzler, Borderline Puzzler and I immediately hopped into playing Together Apart the same evening. What can we say, it’s just such a winning gameplay format we couldn’t resist but to re-enter the curious, puzzling world Enchambered have created.
Together Apart picks up where Alone Together left off, if you could really call it a sequel. There isn’t too much for a story in these games, but the world with it’s strange torn up notes and steampunk tech is consistent between the two games and leaves you feeling like you’ve re-entered a familiar space. Unlike the first game, the second comes with an optional price tag – pay anything over $5 USD to play. Frankly, that’s still an absolute bargain for the quality and length of game you get to experience!
The Fortune Teller or the Clockmaker?
As you open the game, you’ve a very important choice to make. Will you play as the:
- Fortune Teller or the
- Clockmaker
For this game, I opted for the Fortune Teller whilst my co-puzzler chose the clock maker. What this means in reality is that you’ll see a very different desk space and one half of a series of unusual puzzles to solve. Whilst I can’t speak for the Clockmaker, as the Fortune Teller I encountered a series of tarot cards, crystals, a bowl to mix potions in, and some very creepy looking skulls. The Clockmaker on the other hand sees slightly more mechanical looking puzzles – metal and cogs a-plenty!
Whilst the game is designed for 2 players (also the optimal amount, in my opinion) this interface of ‘choose a team’ makes it easier for more players to join from further afield – just pick a side and get puzzling.
Communication is Key
As with the earlier game in the series, communication is key! Unlike the first game, there are clues in this one which we did not use. Largely, by over-explaining everything on your screen, you can eventually come towards a delightful conclusion to each puzzle, thus revealing the next hidden thing on your desk to interact with. It’s also a lot of fun trying to describe funny looking symbols, or sketching them on tiny post-it notes to hold up for your Player 2 to read off the Zoom camera.
At one point we got quite stuck figuring out what to do next – a sort of bottleneck where the logical thing to do next wasn’t triggering a thing. At another point, I definitely accidentally brute forced the final part of a puzzle – kinda like when you have 3 out of 4 digits for the code and so rapidly just try all the other combinations until you hear that satisfying click!
At another point, we each had our own trial-and-error style slider puzzle to combat, prompting a good 15 minutes of quietly mumbling “ugh this is so difficult I’m so sorry to make you wait”. This was the closest the both of us got to rage quitting the game, but the thing is I actually quite like slider puzzles. I don’t mind spending a bit longer on a particularly tricky one.
An Immersive, Puzzle World
Again, my favourite thing about the Enchambered series has got to be their world-building. I can’t claim to understand what is actually going on – there’s not too much of a plot to speak of, other than a brief intro letter telling you what to do. But the graphic design and illustration is second to none. It’s like stepping back into an alternate world of wonder where magic and clockwork work together. Yep, I’m living out all my steampunk fantasies whilst playing Together Apart and it’s fantastic!
The Verdict?
Overall despite our hiccups with the game, we both had an absolute blast of a time and it’s clear that Together Apart is a very special, if a little tricky, game. The price, combined with some fantastically ingenious puzzles and gorgeous interface makes Together Apart a ‘must play’.
You can book Together Apart for $5 USD on Enchambered’s website here.
