The Forbidden Castle
09 April 2021
at home
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
The Forbidden Castle is another game in the Exit the game series, but this one has a higher difficulty rating of 4 out of 5. So I was eager to get stuck in and see what this game has to offer.
The premise is that you are off on a vacation and at your destination hotel you find a brochure for a beautiful castle. Eager to explore the local sights, you make your way there but find no ticket booth or any other people. As soon as you wander into the impressive throne room, the large wooden doors slam shut and you are trapped inside this castle filled with mysteries. You have to work hard to escape this trap before the host finds you. As with all Exit games, this one works with a series of answer cards, riddle cards, a disc and a few “mysterious items”, but Forbidden Castle does not have numbers on the disc. Instead, each of the three discs has a different part of a key, you have to assemble the correct key to get the code that leads you to the answer card you need.
I really enjoyed this mechanic as it adds an extra themed element to the game. There were a lot of puzzles to tackle, but most of the lead-ups and hints were very well constructed and followed understandable logic.
It did take quite some time to figure everything out, but I enjoyed every minute of it. All in all, it took me 66 minutes to escape, which is a really good time for a simple box game without much of a story. The mysterious items were quite clever, though maybe a little too easy to use. I would have liked to see a few more tricks along the way. Still, this game is full of amazing puzzles that are really fun to tackle and I can’t recommend it enough to those who enjoy escape room type games!