Review of the Escape game Forbidden Basement

19. September 2021 - Anika Semmer

Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement – Crack the Old Safe | Review


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In the Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement, the mission is: First puzzle, then puzzle to crack the safe! In this Escape Game for your home, you puzzle the Escape Room together yourself and you’ll already have the first surprises.

This detail on the puzzle looks completely different from the one on the packaging, doesn’t it? Mice are hiding everywhere – or are they rats? And then there are all these numbers. Bathed in pale green light, the spooky cellar slowly takes shape, puzzle piece by puzzle piece. As soon as the last missing piece completes the atmospheric motif, the puzzling and riddling begins. And the searching! Because it’s not that easy to discover the puzzles in the detailed creepy cellar. 7 puzzles are hidden in the Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement, which have to be solved in order to open the old vault.

The games publisher Ravensburger is known for its great puzzles and had the congenial idea of combining the principle of Escape Rooms with puzzling. The games publisher has been releasing these special puzzles since 2018, with 11 Escape Puzzles released so far. Each contains a story and puzzles and the aim is to find the exit from the Escape Room puzzled together.

The Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement is already my 5th Escape Puzzle and I can say from experience that the Escape Puzzles differ greatly from each other in the level of difficulty both in the puzzling and the riddling. The missions and solutions also differ and every Escape Puzzle presented a new challenge. The game principle is the same for all Escape Puzzles. On Abenteuer Freundschaft you can also find my reviews of the Escape Puzzle Space Observatory, the Escape Puzzle Witch’s Kitchen, the Escape Puzzle Angkor Wat and the Escape Puzzle Im Drachenlabor.

Note: Ravensburger kindly provided us with a review copy of the Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement. However, this review is unpaid and gives our honest opinion.

The Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement  Overview

  • Game type: Puzzle, Riddle game, Escape game for home, Adult puzzle, Family game
  • Age: from 12 years
  • Players: 1 player or more
  • Duration: approx. 6 – 8 hours
  • Publisher: Ravensburger Spieleverlag
  • Game author: Johannes Schiller
  • Year of publication: 2019
  • Game objective: Puzzle the creepy cellar together to form the Escape Room and then solve the 7 puzzles hidden inside to crack the old safe and get to what’s hidden inside.

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Escape Puzzle Forbidden Baseroom – Master the Mission in the Puzzle Room

A beautiful motif and solvable puzzles await you in the Escape Puzzle forbidden basement from Ravensburger.

An atmospheric motif with 7 puzzles hidden inside

Game Material

The game box contains 759 puzzle pieces, a quick guide with the story, the mission and the QR code to the app with tips on how to solve the puzzles if things get stuck. The Escape Puzzle also includes a sealed envelope with the final solution to the mission. The puzzle measures 70 cm x 50 cm and is made of high-quality material, as you would expect from Ravensburger.

The Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement – the Escape Room

The motif of the puzzle is a full cellar bathed in greenish light, with stairs leading down to it. There are thick beams on the ceiling, an old grandfather clock is on the wall, a flour sack pours its contents on the floorboards. And lots more old stuff is there. Wait a minute, are these actually stuffed, creepy animals still alive??
The puzzle motif differs from the motif on the cover, which makes the puzzle more challenging and more fun. Because you are much more intensively occupied with the atmospheric motif.  In terms of difficulty, the puzzle is not difficult to complete, but it is not too easy either because it is in relatively similar shades of green. It takes about 5-6 hours to complete the puzzle.

For searching and solving the 7 puzzles you should allow about 30 – 60 minutes depending on your previous experience.

The story: You are on your way to the old mansion of a recently deceased distant relative to clarify the claim to your inheritance. Then a thunderstorm breaks out unexpectedly and you run to a building to take shelter. There, by chance, you discover an old trapdoor and climb down. Among all the creepy objects in the cellar, you discover an old safe…

The mission: Open the old safe!!!!

The 7 Riddles

The Escape Puzzle forbidden basement consists of an atmospheric motif with lots of details

I wonder what the white rabbit is all about

The puzzle hides many strange symbols, weird signs, lots of numbers and the motif clearly deviates in many details from the motif on the cover. The bear suddenly opens its mouth, the parchment roll is suddenly rolled up, these are all clues to possible puzzles.

Pattern the Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement very carefully, look for deviations that occur several times and discover patterns. These are clear indications of puzzles that can be combined to form a code, for example. To keep track of the puzzles, it is helpful to write down the discovered puzzles and their solutions on a notepad.

There are 7 puzzles hidden in the creepy cellar, which have to be solved in order to master the final mission. Part of the puzzle is to discover them in the motif and combine them until you find the solution. If you get stuck, you can use the QR code in the booklet to get to an app with solution tips before frustration sets in. Attention: For each puzzle there are 4 tips that become more and more concrete and it is advisable to use them only when you are stuck.

The app for the Escape Puzzle forbidden basement contains helpful hints for solving the puzzles

Help if you get stuck is available in the Ravensburger App

There are different types of puzzles to solve, but they are all familiar to experienced puzzle fans and solved quickly by professionals. They are variously demanding and complex in terms of difficulty. For example, there are symbol puzzles, combination puzzles and number puzzles for which you have to know simple mathematics. If you are new to puzzles or don’t have much experience with Escape Games for the home or Escape Puzzles, you will probably find the level of difficulty to be just right. For children, however, the demand is quite high.
The final solution is in the envelope and of course I won’t reveal anything about it 😉 I’ll just say this: As with the other Escape Puzzles, the final solution is the highlight and the crowning glory of the Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement!

Recently, there is a indication for the difficulty level on the cover of the newer Escape Puzzles. Ravensburger rates the Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement with 3 / 5 possible points as average difficulty.

Rating and Conclusion

The Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement takes about 5-6 hours to complete.

As if by magic, a skeleton appears during the puzzle

Puzzles, discovering surprises, puzzling: Escape Puzzles have more to offer than just puzzling. Rethinking, discovering details, again and again you experience little surprises that actually don’t have to have anything to do with the 7 puzzles. The richness of detail is a joy in itself, just like a hidden object picture. As a result, the escape puzzles develop a real pull for casual puzzlers who like to puzzle. You really dive deep into the drawn world, which you put together part by part.

Rating

Idea
Materials
Fun
Manual
Price / Performance
Total Grade
excellent

Pro and Con

The motif is beautifully designed and rich in detail and, despite the fact that there are only 759 pieces, it is not too easy to puzzle together due to the similar green tones of the puzzle pieces. This makes it just right for not particularly experienced puzzlers in terms of difficulty level, comparable to the difficulty level of the Escape puzzles Witch’s Kitchen. The puzzle pieces are made of thick cardboard, are of high quality and are great to puzzle.

I found the storyline of this escape puzzle a little lacking, but the puzzles were all relatively logical and easy to solve, perhaps thanks to my previous experience. I haven’t found this to be the case with all my previous escape puzzles. The puzzles differ in type of puzzle and challenge and are thus varied. If you get stuck, you can follow the solutions using the 4-step tips in the Ravensburger app and find the final solution in the solution envelope provided. The key to success is to look carefully and study the motif in detail. The final solution of the Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement contains a nice “aha” effect for first-time players. This is the case with all the Escape Puzzles I have played so far.

All in all, you get a lot of fun at a very good price, because you don’t need any accessories with Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement like with other Escape Games for the home and you can re-solve the puzzle as often as you like (and forgetful people have the advantage of being able to solve the puzzles as often as they like ;-)).

For Whom Is the Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement Worthwhile?

The Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement is ideal for adults who like to do puzzles. According to Ravensburger, it is suitable for ages 12 and up, but for children the puzzles are quite steep. An ideal escape puzzle that parents can solve together with teenagers. Overall, the puzzle takes up most of the time, only about 1/6 of the time is spent solving puzzles. The Escape Puzzle is therefore primarily a puzzle and, with a playing time of 6-8 hours, a game that fills several evenings.

If you like puzzles, you get a nice motif that is not too easy to put together despite the fact that there are only 759 pieces. You don’t have to be a trained puzzle professional, but it still pays off if you are familiar with classic puzzle types.

The Escape Puzzle Forbidden Basement is suitable both as a starter and for experienced escape puzzlers. The latter, however, will solve the puzzles quite quickly.

Conclusion

Atmospheric puzzle escape room that is fun to puzzle through and is just right for both down-and-out puzzlers. The puzzles hidden in the creepy cellar are varied and solvable. A puzzle with mission and riddles for good measure, whose finale fits perfectly with the subject of the puzzle!

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Do you love puzzles and games? Check out our game tips or discover special ideas for activities for two, family and friends on Abenteuer Freundschaft.

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*This article contains affiliate links. This means that if a product (e.g. from amazon) is ordered through it, we receive a small commission without changing the price for the buyer.


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