After being entranced by Blue Prince earlier this year, I’ve been on the hunt for a new puzzler to scratch that special part of my brain. Secrets of Blackrock Manor – Escape Room immediately jumped out at me, and the news of a console release only added to its appeal.
It’s a first-person, 3D puzzler with graphics in the same vein as Blue Prince, but the truth is the game is far from the ideal puzzle adventure I was hoping for.
Unlocking the Manor’s Mystery
The idea behind the narrative had me intrigued: after an entire bloodline is nearly wiped out, a distant relative hires you to uncover the secrets of Blackrock Manor. Your reward? 10% of the loot… Which seems fair enough. The mystery unfolds across an abandoned mansion with eight rooms, each packed with puzzles and tasks.
My wife and I usually do alright with puzzle games; we’ve completed many escape room-type games together. Launching into this latest mystery, we were optimistic and confident.
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Unfortunately, some of the puzzles in Secrets of Blackrock Manor are brutally complex, confusing, and their intended order is never quite clear.
Puzzling Frustrations
On two occasions, I managed to completely cheese a puzzle, skipping half the room’s required tasks without any effort. While it was a relief to bypass the puzzles I was stuck on, the satisfaction of solving the mystery immediately disappeared.
To make me feel worse, I wanted to go back and complete the room properly, but doing so would have sent me back to the start.
Pro tip: Save often to avoid unintended cheesing moments.
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Rooms frequently require you to solve one puzzle to unlock another, yet the order you need to complete these puzzles is rarely clear. This lack of clarity led to plenty of frustration. Even when a solution finally revealed itself, we struggled to establish the logic of how we got there — despite a built in clue system.
Some puzzles simply aren’t fun. Many rely heavily on mathematical equations, which was an absolute headache. I appreciate a clever puzzle, but too many confusing numbers and codes made my head hurt.
I’m no Einstein, but with a publisher sporting the name “mc2games”… A challenge should’ve been expected.
Thankfully, it’s a short experience. You could finish the game in a couple of hours if you don’t have too many issues tackling the puzzles.
Sound and Accessibility
The game severely lacks accessibility options. Beyond volume control and mixing, there are virtually no options. Audio cue puzzles would improve the experience greatly by utilising closed captions.
The game does feature some voice acting, usually just an occasional line or two after completing a puzzle. I felt these moments could have been utilised more effectively to provide helpful hints or deeper narrative context outside of the game’s intro and conclusion.
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Should You Buy Secrets of Blackrock Manor?
This game wasn’t made for me — and that’s fine. I’m sure many of you geniuses out there will enjoy this one. If you are genuinely up for a significant, head-scratching challenge, Secrets of Blackrock Manor – Escape Room will certainly send your brain into overdrive. However, its puzzle logic won’t always make sense and its story may leave you disappointed.
Secrets of Blackrock Manor – Escape Room is out now on PC via Steam. It’s coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on November 20th. For $15 on Switch, it’s at least worth a try.
Quest Daily scores Secrets of Blackrock Manor – Escape Room:
6/10
A copy of Secrets of Blackrock Manor was supplied to Quest Daily by the developer.
