Hallows Hill (Wolf Escape Games) // Review

Hallows Hill is an award-winning cinematic online escape room experience from Wolf Escape Games. Play alone or with a team to investigate and unravel the dark secrets of a mysterious manor. You better work fast or you could find yourself trapped there forever…

Players: 1-6 // Age: 13+ // Playtime: Around 90 mins+

What you need: A laptop or desktop computer, a compatible browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera) and a fast internet connection.

Story

“On Halloween, 1936, a child was born, a mother died, and a dark secret was buried. Gather your team and work together to unlock the twisted history of Hallows Hill…

Your adventure begins with the story of a missing old lady, who has vanished from her residential home. In order to find her, your team is lead to a spooky abandoned house (Hallows Hill) which has a deep connection to her past. You must enter the house and work your way around it by solving puzzles and riddles, unlocking the story (and the rooms) one by one until you reach the conclusion of the story.”

First impressions

Getting started

Tip: For optimum immersion, I’d recommend playing this game at night, in silence, with some candles.

One of the best things about Wolf Escape Games is that you just need to fire up your browser and you are ready to go. I’d fully anticipated having to download and install files on my laptop, but that wasn’t the case. After being guided through a few screens to check you are using a suitable device and browser, and confirming you have a fast internet speed, you’ll be asked to load the game.

The game is split into five chapters, each based in a different location within the manor or its grounds. It is worth pointing out that progress is saved automatically. So if you experience a technical issue or accidentally close your browser, you can load the game back up and resume from where you left off. My laptop cut out during my playthrough, so I got to put this into practice…

Gameplay

Web Interface

Once the game has started, you’ll be given a very quick tutorial on how to navigate and access various tools you might need. The point-and-click style of the game makes it very simple to move around and investigate objects. You don’t need to be an experienced gamer to play; it is designed with a range of users in mind.

There are some customisation options, such as being able to turn on captions or turn off “hotspots” to increase the game’s difficulty. Hotspots are little circular icons that highlight an area or object of interest that you can interact with.

Before you enter the manor you’ll come into possession of a diary that contains information that may come in handy for solving puzzles. Further pages will unlock as you progress through the game’s chapters.

Presentation

The Look

The production value of this game is pretty incredible. I’ll admit, I was a little dubious about what the quality might be like for a game that is run entirely within a browser, but I was so wrong. Every aspect of the presentation has been crafted with a lot of time and thought. The cinematics are well-directed and visually striking, pulling you into what feels like an interactive movie where you play the starring role. The 3D models, lighting and overall sharpness and quality of the images are superb. Everything conveys a creepiness and feeling of unease which is exactly what you want for a game like this.

In places, the visual style strongly reminded me of The Dark Pictures Anthology (Supermassive Games), which is a series of console-based horror games that I love. To be able to convey the same sense of wonder in a browser-based game is pretty impressive.

The Sound

Attention to detail doesn’t stop at the visuals. The sound design is masterful and elevates the creepiness of the game to new heights. The creak of a door opening, the turn of a clinking key or the deep hum of a generator coming to life; every tiny detail has been considered. Be prepared to jump out of your skin a couple of times, as is customary for spooky games. The voice acting is also top-notch, bringing the characters to life in a believable way.

A rousing score pulls together the whole piece, adding a sense of wonder and mystery while giving an epic feel to a fairly intimate experience. Needless to say, I have a lot of love for the whole production.

Puzzles

As you investigate the manor, you’ll be met with plenty of puzzles along the way. I believe I counted 11 or 12 in total and these were all different styles. If you’ve read other reviews you’ll know I don’t like to give away too many specifics (I hate spoilers) but the puzzles included a mix of logic, maths, safe-cracking and pattern recognition.

A highlight for me was a puzzle involving a family tree, which had a couple of layers to it. It was a really creative way of combining the story and puzzle elements. I do have a general fascination with family trees anyway, so it was fun to see that in the game.

One puzzle involving a locked door took me far too long to work out but was super satisfying once the ‘ah-ha’ moment hit. It is easy to overcomplicate things and often stepping away for a moment helps, even though the clock is ticking…

Teaming up

One of the key selling points of this game is that you can play it remotely with friends and family. All you need is a video chat with screen and audio sharing (Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc).

The game has a really handy Digital Backpack which allows all members of your team to examine clues on their phones or tablets. Only one person is in control of the game itself, but this is really handy when puzzle-solving so that you don’t have to keep switching between screens. It also lets your other team members feel more involved in the action.

Hints & Difficulty

Hints are available… at a cost. Five minutes will be added to your overall time for every hint you use. You’ll have to weigh up whether a hint may save you more time in the long run or not. The tiered hint system is very simple to use whether you just need a nudge or the full solution.

Overall I found the game to be medium difficulty. It wasn’t so challenging that I felt overwhelmed, but it also wasn’t easy in certain places. A good level of challenge!

Bonus content

Once you have completed the game you will be issued with a certificate that includes how many hints you used and how long it took you. This can be printed off or shared with friends and family on social media.

Verdict

About Wolf Escape Games

Disclaimer: Wolf Escape Games kindly provided me with a copy of this game in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influences the content of my review.