[Before I even start, The Cupid Caper is a “room escape” deductive-puzzle mystery game. If I am vague on many points of this review, it is not only to prevent specific spoilers but also to mask what may or may not BE a spoiler. Everything in the game could matter at some point. -dc]
I’m not particularly good at puzzle games. That makes the “escape room” genre of games particularly frustrating for me. I’ve reviewed the Kringle Caper and Pumpkin Problem entries in the Holiday Hijinks series and they were both challenging. The publisher, Grand Gamers Guild, rates both of these as a 2/3 difficulty. The Cupid Caper rates a 3/3 difficulty, with all three allegedly taking 60 minutes to solve.
Last night I made the moderately embarrassing mistake of trying to stream my solving the case on YouTube and our new Twitch channel. I was kind of tired so after roughly 50 minutes I was probably only 1/2 to 2/3 complete. That timing included using way too many hints and several “I give up, what’s the answer” prompts. I can’t believe I’m linking to it, but you can watch me suck HERE. I think it goes without saying that the video includes spoilers for the portion of the game I streamed.
It’s Valentine’s Day, and your much-anticipated date has met with an unexpected hiccup. Can you solve the mystery and salvage your date night? Without spoiling it, that’s basically the start of this game. From there the mystery unfolds bit by bit, card by card. The only advice I’m going to give you, dear reader, is that you should take the time to look at the info section of the game’s app page BEFORE you start. This section provides information that the average person may or may not know that may or may not be helpful for them to know. That simple knowledge base may be enough to avoid needing a bunch of score-impacting hints.
The same app page is what gives you hints if you need them and generally guides you through the game. When you think you have the correct answer, you enter it into the site and if it’s correct, you’ll be instructed what to do next. One thing that I encountered, and didn’t love, is that there was a point where (as best as I could tell) the trail I was following ended abruptly and I needed to start down a different path without really being explicitly told to. But I stopped streaming shortly after that point, so I may actually be entirely incorrect, just for the record.
Even though I have huge problems solving the problems, I honestly love the Holiday Hijinks series. One of the reasons, beyond just the challenge, is the small format. It’s easy to bring along somewhere, easy to play just about anywhere, and whether you play the physical version (which I prefer) or the Print-and-Play edition (as I did with Kringle Caper) you’ll have an amazing experience. Because I have such faith in the PnP version, I’m writing and posting this review with much less lead time as I otherwise might. You can go right now, print the game, and be ready to play in no time. Alone, with a date, or just with a group of friends this is a superb way to spend at least part of your Valentine’s Day.
You can find Grand Gamers Guild online at grandgamersguild.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/grandgamersguild.
TheRatHole.ca does not accept payments for our reviews but may have received a promotional copy of this product for review.
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Just to further embarrass myself, here is another link to the terrible stream of my live failure: