I’m a big fan of escape rooms and solving mysteries. It’s an amazing feeling to find the solution after wracking your mind and connecting all the dots. Over the past couple years, there’s been no shortage of escape room style games in our hobby. Earlier this Summer, Argyx Games asked us to check out a piece of their new project Legacy: Quest for Family Treasure.
The Search for Treasure
In this preview, I’m going to be very general at times to make sure I stay away from any spoilers. Legacy comes with two episodes, Eiffel 1889 and Hellas 2019. We spent almost 2 hours solving the Hellas 2019 portion of this game which proved to be a fun and challenging experience.
In Legacy, players are searching for their ancestors fortune in Greece as they seek help from a cousin living in the region. Both of these episodes come with a box of documents, photographs, puzzles to solve and items to manipulate as they seek a solution. Players will also need a smartphone or laptop with an Internet connection to play the game. I have some thoughts on this later in this preview.
This box proved to be a closer experience to an actual escape room than the card-based Unlocked or Exit series of games.
When you first dig into Legacy, you’ll start with a notarized letter that starts you on your journey. One thing I noticed about Legacy is that many items are at your disposal at the beginning of the game. This is a hybrid game that will have you connecting with online resources that have you submitting passwords, codes and sending emails to further the adventure.
An Immersive Experience, Mostly
Legacy succeeds on a lot of levels. Argyx has put together a package that challenges players but doesn’t hold their hands like some of the escape room style games that are on the market. We found that the writing was solid on the resources found in the Hellas 2019 episode. The prototype components were good and gave us a glimpse at what the final product will look like.
The Hellas 2019 episode took our family around 2 hours which was a little longer that the expected 75-90 minutes. Each time we solved a puzzle, there was genuine excitement. We found that using a laptop is going to give you the best experience as you connect to the required websites and do additional research. I couldn’t imagine working through these using anything smaller than a tablet even though it is possible.
While the overall experience was great, I struggled a bit with the digital aspect of Legacy. I thought it was a nice touch that Greek music and a game timer was incorporated into the site as we worked through solving the mystery. My biggest issue was the overall design of the sites that were built for the game. The online portal and web assets for Legacy left me wanting a more polished product. Using the websites included in this game pulled me out of the overall experience because the design wasn’t there.
I want to be clear that everything we’ve played is in prototype form as the game seeks funding through Kickstarter. If these web portals get a face lift between now and publication, it would be a huge win.
Final Thoughts
Argyx Games seems to be on to something when it comes to creating an immersive experience in a box. I could see sitting down at night to solve these mysteries over the course of a couple nights with my wife. It was a big plus when our teenagers come to the table with some ideas that led to the next milestone in the mystery.
With some simple modifications to the final game components and a layer of polish on the website, Legacy looks like a game that puzzle/mystery enthusiasts will really enjoy. You can find the Kickstarter campaign for Legacy: Quest for a Family Treasure now through August 2, 2020.
Argyx Games provided us with a prototype episode of Legacy prior to their Kickstarter campaign. This in no way influenced our opinion of the game. Previews are a glimpse into an upcoming game with the pros and cons that we experienced prior to production of the game.
