Doomensions is a demonic pop-up puzzle game from Mysterious Package Company. Unfold the manor, crack open the case files and prepare to come face to face with evil in this great twist on the play-at-home escape game.
Players: 1-4 // Age: 14+ // Playtime: 10-15 hours
What you need: Nothing! Everything you require is provided in the box. This is a completely offline experience apart from an optional intro and conclusion video.
Story
“When an ancient talisman is stolen, its scholarly steward needs your help to recover the mysterious artifact, and banish the demonic creature it has awoken..
As a newly commissioned paranormal investigator, gather your thick scrapbook of evidence and pay a visit to the three-dimensional Mysterious Manor – no assembly required! Secrets may lie hidden in every dark corner, behind every closed door, making repeated exploration of the manor crucial to your investigation!”
First impressions
Doomensions has been sitting on my ‘to play’ pile for far too long! Not because I’ve been uninterested in playing it, but because I wanted to save it for the run-up to Halloween. Something about this time of year adds an extra dose of spooky when playing these types of games. With the ever-darker evenings drawing in, the time has finally come to crack it open…
Where to start? Well, the box design is absolutely glorious, the striking other-worldly pink glow and spooky imagery really catch the eye. The embossed writing makes the title really pop and feels great to touch. I don’t see how anyone could walk past this box and not be intrigued. The sheer weight of the box is something I wasn’t expecting, it definitely feels like you are getting your money’s worth.
Within the box are items that will aid you on your ghost-hunting quest. A torch, magnifying glass, notepad and pencil will all be put to good use throughout your time in the manor. There is also a dossier and the pop-up manor, which I will talk about more in a bit. Inside the top of the box is a list of all the Kickstarter backers who supported the game, which is a really nice touch. It is perfectly themed to fit within the context of the game as well. On the inside of the back of the box is a locked safe that you are instructed not to touch until you have the combination. Every little detail has been thought of and every inch of the box used to enhance the game.
Lastly, there is a refill kit to replace items that may be written on or destroyed during gameplay. Given that this is a premium purchase, it is great to have the option to either sell it or pass it on to a friend after I’ve played it. Consumables have a handy logo on them throughout the game, so you know which items you are able to write on or manipulate with the peace of mind that there is a replacement.
Gameplay
General
This is a hefty game, with 10-15 hours of gameplay, so it was a welcome relief to find that it is broken up into five different chapters (cases). Each of these cases focuses on a different character who has entered the manor to conduct an investigation using their own unique set of skills. As such, the cases are quite distinctive in terms of the components included – one heavily leans into technical equipment, while another uses more supernatural methods of obtaining information. The great news is that you do not need to play the game in one sitting, in fact, I would highly recommend breaking it up across multiple sessions. This is easily done as the cases all wrap up neatly and as you complete each one there is a natural stopping point.
But before you can venture into the manor, you will need to read through the instruction booklet. It includes a list of items you should have in the box, clear instructions on how to play the game and details of an optional scoring system you can use if you are particularly competitive. There is also the option to listen to an audio version of the introduction, which I did and it really helped set the tone of the game.
The Manor
I haven’t played any pop-up games before so I was pretty amazed when I opened up the Manor for the first time. Inside the box it is held closed by three pink ribbons, once fully opened these ribbons are again tied to hold the manor open. I must admit that it was pretty fiddly to try and tie these at first, but I eventually got the hang of it. You may decide to leave the manor open between your various play sessions, which is what I did, but it is also possible to collapse it again if you are short of space.
The overall quality of the manor is really good, apart from a few issues with some of the items becoming unstuck. It didn’t ruin gameplay but could definitely be improved. I am pretty forgiving given that this is Mysterious Package Company‘s first foray into pop-up games and the project overall is very ambitious.
The Dossier
Perhaps my favourite element of Doomensions is the scrapbook-like dossier, which is packed full of mysterious ephemera. Newspaper clippings, letters, photos, strange symbols and more are contained within its pages and they all play a key role throughout the game. There are some clever interactive elements within the book as well, but I am staying deliberately vague as part of the fun is discovering these for yourself.
Puzzles
Each case is broken up into four different puzzles to solve and each of these reveals a three-digit answer. Once you have correctly solved all four of the puzzles you can use the answers to chart out a specific constellation – the name of which is important towards the end of the game.
To verify your answers there is a handy Answer Wheel, where you input the puzzle letter and each of the answers. Then when you look at the back of the wheel you can check if all four symbols match. If they do then the answer is correct, if not, you will need to try again.
The puzzles are a bit of a mixed bag and, while I enjoyed a lot of them, I did find some of them mildly frustrating. This was partly down to the fact that they relied quite heavily on finding things in the manor, which was fun at the start but can get a little tiresome. Breaking up gameplay across multiple sessions really helps with this – it definitely isn’t recommended to play it all in one go.
On the flip side, a lot of the puzzles were really clever and inventive. Some of the highlights for me included safe-cracking, using an infrared finder, a touch of blood spatter analysis and a cool stencil puzzle! I really enjoyed the last case, where you have to identify the name of the entity from a list of demonic names using all the information you have found. There are plenty more I loved but I’m staying tight-lipped on those.
Hints & Difficulty
The hint system is completely analogue and is in the form of a book that is included in the box. It has one or two hints for each puzzle, followed by the solution. I do feel that the game would have benefited from some of the hints being more granular, as on a couple of occasions I needed more of a nudge but I only had the solution left. That being said, I did appreciate that I didn’t need to also have my laptop open to look up hints – which was refreshing!
Difficulty-wise, I would say that at times it felt a little too easy, but at other points, I was scratching my head. After one particular puzzle, I couldn’t quite work out what I was doing wrong, even when I had read the solution. There are some very straightforward puzzles, others that take a while to click but feel rewarding when they do, and some that I struggled to complete without hints. A mix of difficulty isn’t necessarily a bad thing though.
Verdict
Doomensions
Summary
Doomensions is a hugely ambitious game and whilst it doesn’t hit every single mark, it does get a lot right! The artwork is superb, the quality of the components is great and the pop-up manor, despite a few niggles, looks pretty spectacular!
I am in awe of the amount of work that must have gone into every element of this game – the art, puzzle design and testing. There are so many fun puzzles and mysteries to unravel. It makes me excited to see what Mysterious Package Company has come up with for their next release, No Escape: Dead Man’s Tale.
This game is perfect for Halloween – but you can play it at any time of the year. It is best played with others, over multiple play sessions, after which point you can pass it on to someone else using the refill kit!
About Mysterious Package Company
Mysterious Package Company is a purveyor of puzzle games and mysteries, based in the US. They have a sterling track record for producing games of the highest quality, ordinarily with a strong narrative element.
Previous games include: Post Mortem – a series of detective/murder mystery games, Curious Correspondence – an epic escape-room-at-home experience spanning 24 chapters and their most recent release, Body of Evidence – a murder mystery where you get to do the autopsy.
Disclaimer: This game was purchased with my own money as part of a Kickstarter campaign. As always, my thoughts are my own.
Discover more from The Escape Puzzler
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
