The Turner family have always joked about Uncle Artemis and his eccentric ways. A World traveler with a keen interest in relics from around the globe and a head full of steam, the family never understood him like you did. News of his death has hit you hard, and while the rest of the family go about managing the estate, your only thoughts are with the single item he bequeathed to you, the key to his study. That place was his sanctum, and where you most loved spending time with him. As a child it was full of wonder, as an adult the key you hold in your hand is the key to Uncle Artemis’ most intriguing secrets. With a heavy heart but a buzz in your soul, you unlock the door and step inside…

Ratings

Theming: 4/5

Puzzles: 4/5

Online interface: 4/5

Fun Factor: 5/5

Difficulty: 3/5

Overall:4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An unusual game…

So, this was an unusual game for us for two reasons:

One, we were joined by a fifth escapee, Russ, from Russ Builds (you may recognise him as the creator of such games as Airlock and Citizen (side note, please read this in Troy McClure’s voice from The Simpsons)).

Two, we were playing a digital room, which was set in a physical room we had previously played a different game in (which was very strange!). Uncle Artemis is in the physical room where we have previously played Seance (well, some of us played, others sat down and thought that Enigma Wakefield had hired a small child to play a terrifying demon… Check out our previous review here!). 

We are big fans of the Enigma franchise and have played a lot of their games across a range of locations in the North of the UK. The Enigma Rooms seem to be run by people who are super enthusiastic about their rooms, often creating hand-built escape rooms which feel unique, fun and definitely challenging.

Uncle Artemis brought a brilliant new opportunity to play yet another Enigma Wakefield room, after completing all of their current physical rooms back in 2019!

A strange contraption…

Uncle Artemis begins with an introductory video, pulling you into the story of your quirky Uncle Artemis and setting the premise for the rest of the game nicely. The room converted into a digital form via Telescape was done really well, and there was a section of the room specifically adapted to the online interface – a strange contraption we had to get working using clues from around the room. This made the flow feel very smooth and helped to make it really stand out from your average ‘point and click’ escape room.

The strange contraption also aided the puzzle flow in the room, as players needed to keep returning to it after each ‘mini-puzzle’ was solved throughout the room. We always love a room that helps you track your progress, and Uncle Artemis delivered well on this. 

Same room, COMPLETELY different game

The room itself has been cleverly adapted from Seance; whilst some of the items were familiar (shout out to the creepy drawers!), it was really interesting to see how Enigma Rooms Wakefield put together a whole new room, including new puzzles, using the previous room’s theme.

This did mean that there were a few areas we spent a long time looking at and thinking “Where will we use THIS?”,but there were no obvious red herrings that led to any stunted puzzle playing – it all came together (very satisfyingly!) in the end. 

Teamwork makes the dream work!

This is definitely a room for teamwork. We often found ourselves pulled onto different puzzles, as this is not a fully linear game, so people were solving different things at different times. We enjoyed the puzzles that forced us to rely on each other for communication, as often online games can lack that interactivity with other players that brings so much satisfaction (and fun!) in real-life escape rooms.

It was a good job we did split up and conquered as this room contained SO MANY puzzles. A big shout out to Russ for being a very, very welcome fifth player on this! It gave us all the opportunity to play to our strengths. However, we can safely say that Tasha and Al do not gel well with spatial puzzles based on screens, as they spent a long time looking at a picture of a key…

The Verdict?

Overall, this was a solid, enjoyable game. We were really impressed by how well Enigma Rooms Wakefield had changed the physical space we’d previously experienced – it felt like a brand new game! We would recommend a group of around 4 players or more as our group of 5 worked well for us.

We managed to complete it in a respectable 46 minutes – given that Enigma Wakefield have given this a 9/10 difficulty rating, we’re very pleased with how we fared!

If you are ever in Wakefield, we cannot recommend Enigma Wakefield enough (go and check out their Murder Motel room – we once beat the record there!).

Uncle Artemis is suitable for groups of up to 6 players. You can book to play Uncle Artemis for £20 here.