Forsaken Souls: Hidden Ward
The letter had no name. No return address.Â
Just a whisper from the past, sealed in paper.
Thirteen years had passed since Hawksley Asylum last saw your face. Back then, you tore through its walls and unearthed the dark secrets and horrors buried deep beneath its stone. But time doesn’t bury the truth. It only hides what’s left behind.
And now, you find yourself back at the asylum. You couldn’t resist the urge to find what had missed your eye over a decade ago, as the anonymous letter pointed out.
The halls rot and the silence stares, but something lingers. Symbols crawl across the cracked plaster. Footsteps echo where no one walks. The mysterious sender was not lying after all…
Will you uncover the darkest secrets of the asylum? Or become one of them, lost within its walls forever?
Escape rooms have always intrigued me. The thrill of finding things hiding in plain sight, cracking puzzles and riddles, and enjoying the reveals each round offers really fuels my appetite for being a part-time detective.Â
Aside from real-life escape rooms, my first shot at a print-and-play was spectacular, thanks to The Secret of Langton Manor. I still look back at that rainy night I chose to give it a shot for a full 3 hours! Felt surreal.
Since then, I’ve been on the lookout for a good printable escape room game, and I got excited when I stumbled upon Forsaken Souls, created by Dimitris Bendilas. By the time I discovered it, the Kickstarter campaign for the game (or rather, games, since it features two escape rooms) was already underway and going full throttle. So I had to give it a shot!Â
And in no time, I had my hands on Forsaken Souls: Hidden Ward!
Questions that lingered in my detective head before starting the investigation:
- How will it stand out from the escape rooms that I’ve tried before?
- Will the puzzles strike the right balance? Will they be too easy, or so difficult that I keep hitting the wall?
- I enjoyed The Secret of Langton Manor in solo mode. What will be the case for Forsaken Souls: Hidden Ward?
First Impressions
In my usual process of exploring games, I go through the game files, print them out, assemble any additional components, and give it a shot for at least a good couple of rounds before passing any judgment on the game mechanics. But this game was an exception, and in an awesome way.
Why? Because I felt like I was heard!
How? Cause there’s a GM Guide!
So get this. You are a game master who is transforming any place into an escape room to conduct the game. You will hide the clues the players need to find, and where you hide them is completely up to you. This lets you adjust the game’s difficulty depending on how seasoned the detectives are.
Other than that, you control the narration and a few key aspects that I’ll reveal throughout this article. To me, the aspect of having a game master with a full set of guidelines on how to conduct it with a group is a BIG win for the game. It’s something I missed while playing Chapter 1 of The Secret of Langton Manor, and I’m glad to see how Forsaken Souls already stands out from all the escape rooms I have experienced so far, even before I started playing it!
Time to prepare the game
You need to print 17 pages of clues and the GM Guide, which is 16 pages, totaling 33 pages. Best if you print them out in color.
Once that’s taken care of, take a pair of scissors, glue, and a few envelopes to sort the clues out. The game files also include a layout for an envelope; you can print multiple copies of it to secure the locked clues.Â
Cutting the clues and grouping them into the different rooms and clue types will take a while, so make sure not to rush it. Let’s call it a little workshop on cutting, pasting, and allocating!
Findings
So here I go, after a couple of rounds of playing the game: once in solo, and the second instance with friends! For obvious reasons, I’m not diving deep into the clues, or the story of the game. Let’s not spoil it for you.
Solo or group?
With a disclaimer that what I’m writing is just my opinion, I’d say the game is built for a group experience. While you can enjoy cracking the clues and revealing the mystery on your own, it truly feels like an escape room when played with others.
So if you have a knack for being a game master (like me), try playing the game solo first before conducting it with a group. You’ll LOVE it! If you are not a fan of being the game master (shame!), then find someone who is, make him/her play the game, and let them run the show.
A wide array of experiences unlock when you play the game in a group, which brings me to my next point…
A dance of paper and pixels
Try to visualize this:
You’re trapped in a room with friends, looking for clues.
Solving the clues you find, while looking for the ones you couldn’t.
A game master guiding you along the mystery.
Soundtracks in the background create a dark atmosphere.
The eerie video cutscenes appear every time you enter a room.
Absolute cinema!
The integration of analog and digital elements in the game has been spot on. While everything you’re trying to unearth and solve involves tangible elements, you can check your solutions, access layered hints, or view audio-visual cutscenes using a laptop, TV, or mobile. Yet another reason to have a game master onboard: let that person take charge of setting the atmosphere using all the elements the game has at its disposal.
The Puzzling Puzzles
In the words of Dimitris, the game has unique puzzles in the areas of logic, language, spatial perception, and numeracy. And that’s exactly been the case.
The puzzles had a lot of variety and didn’t feel repetitive. They were challenging, but not so much that you’d have to take hints for every one of them. If you give it your best shot, you can crack them all on your own; or at least, that’s how it worked for me and my friends.
It’s been just as fun to crack the puzzles myself as it has been watching my friends give it a go.
Replayable?
Ah, the ultimate question for every game. We have to consider the nature of escape room games, though. How many times have you repeated a real-life escape room? As for me, I only repeated them when I tried them with different groups. And the same is applicable for Forsaken Souls: Hidden Ward, if not more; kudos to the perks of being a game master.
And not to forget that I only played Hidden Ward. The Kickstarter campaign for Forsaken Souls also has another game, Cursed Artifact. And it’s claimed to be even more challenging.
So let’s brand the game as replayable. Case closed!
10 days to solve the case, detective!
The Kickstarter campaign for Forsaken Souls is down to its last few days, so if you are a fan of escape room games then it’s time to dive into the immersive experience that Dimitris has prepared for you.
Set the stage, dim the lights, and give yourself and friends a fine cinematic thrill!
Game Overview
Publisher: Solar Wind Publishing
Designer: Dimitris Bendilas
Number of players: 1 to 6
Difficulty level: Medium
Rounds of gameplay needed to learn: 1
Game duration: 1.5 to 2 hours
Available on: Kickstarter
Theme: Escape Room Puzzle Game
Number of pages and color: 33 (color print)
Assembling difficulty level: Super easy, only need to cut the clues and glue the locks
Lamination: Not required
Additional elements required: A pencil or pen, glue, a pair of scissors, and 3 rooms! A laptop/mobile/TV is also needed to view the cutscenes/hints/solution.
Travel-friendly: 9/10
Shelving friendly: 10/10
Rating from PnP Time: 9/10
Tasliman is a board game developer based in Bangladesh, with the dream of exploring the world of games and introducing it to anyone new to it. He is the founder of Kraftz, a brand that develops board games commercially, as well as with reputed entities like BRAC and The Gates Foundation.
