Everyone has something that relaxes them and brings them joy. For some, it may be unwinding by binging through Netflix. Others get pleasure from spending time scrolling through social media, and for many of us, playing a game alone or with friends is where it’s at.
When it comes to gaming, there is little I don’t enjoy. I love it all, whether playing console or PC games with friends, escaping reality by diving into VR or settling in for a board game night.
Another thing I love doing that ties many of my loves together is Escape Rooms. There is just something about the physical and tangible reward I get from playing Escape Rooms that’s out of this world.
So when I finally got to sit down and play my way through Exit – Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Over Middle-Earth, a game that is essentially an Escape Room in a box that promises all the joy of an Escape Room without the need to leave my house or wear pants, I was excited, to say the least.
For those who aren’t already aware of the Exit games, they are games you can’t avoid and are available pretty much everywhere anything is sold.
Essentially, the Exit series are escape rooms perfect for the Hobbits among us who want the thrill of escaping from a room but also enjoy and appreciate the comfort of our own homes.
Players are tasked with solving puzzles and riddles and cracking various codes to escape from an imaginary environment. Each box has a unique setting, theme, and difficulty level for that particular box.
In Exit: The Game – The Lord of the Rings – Shadows over Middle-earth, Gandalf sends players on a crucial mission to embark on an adventure to ensure all hope does not die. Throughout the game, players will visit locations they recognise and know from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The game starts with Frodo and the Fellowship going to Mordor to destroy the One Ring, but they can only do it with your help. This particular box is rated a 2 out of 5 on the difficulty scale and promises to bring the excitement and intensity of an Escape Room to wherever you are.
Even though I’ve already been rambling for a while, some stuff needs to be addressed before we can go into the review itself. Firstly, all the Exit games are entirely unplugged, meaning no apps, phones, or PCs are needed to play. So, in theory, this is a great way to pass a couple of hours of load-shedding.
The other thing worth noting is that regardless of which Exit game you pick, each game can only be played once, as players will need to cut, fold, rip and draw on the game to play through it. Now I’ll be honest with you; I don’t love this.
I have a room in my house dedicated to board games and proudly display them, so knowing I’ll have to destroy the game to play it doesn’t bring me joy.
On that note, players must also ensure they have scissors, pens, pencils and paper before diving into the game.
Now to try and assuage some of the concerns around sustainability, the EXIT games are advertised as fully recyclable as all the components are made out of paper or cardboard… unless you count the plastic shrink wrap that the game comes in… and a few plastic components found within…
From what I’ve seen doing research online, it’s also vitally important that you check the difficulty of each EXIT game before picking it up because they vary greatly, although the only EXIT game I’ve played is Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Over Middle-Earth so I can’t offer much from personal experience.
However, the game doesn’t just drop you in the deep end, as there are always two hints given per puzzle and a solution card if you are stuck and unable to move on. Although I will say that the hint system isn’t the best, the first hint is basically just a repeat of the puzzle description from the book and the second hint gives so much information it renders the solution card irrelevant.
Another thing worth noting is that even though the games are advertised for 1-4 players, I can only see a world where you could play it with up to two players. The reason why I say this is twofold. For starters, there is not enough to do in the game to support more players without some people just sitting there, scrolling through their phones, wishing time by. The second reason comes down to comfort.
With the Exit games, everything is played within a small A5 booklet, meaning there is not enough space for everyone to see the pages and participate when more than two people are playing.
Now that the basics are covered, let’s get into the actual review. I won’t lie to you; I’ve sat here, in front of my PC, for the longest time, wondering what I would say and how I would say it. The reason for my hesitation is not knowing if I would recommend someone spend their money on one of these games or not.
I didn’t enjoy my time playing Exit – Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Over Middle-Earth, but my partner I played the game with did. Now let me explain why I wasn’t sold and then leave it up to you to decide how you feel about it based on the issues I will raise.
My first issue comes down to the theme and, more specifically, the theme of the art. Now to play fair, I haven’t included any photos of what the inside of the booklet you play through looks like for the risk of spoilers. However, trust me when I say the art looks like it was created specifically with young children in mind. Not teenagers, children.
Everything is drawn so juvenile that I can’t imagine the creators had adults in mind when putting it together. Yet, the game requires such heavy reading that there is no way any child can play it. This issue also carried through to some of the puzzles, with one memorable one asking me to count fish on a card without the creators even trying to make this tricky.
Another issue I had with the game: almost everything in the box is only used once. I play many code-breaking style games and, as I’ve said before, have a rather significant soft spot for Escape Rooms.
One of the things about this sort of game experience is that everything builds upon each other. So, for example, you might be stuck on a puzzle for a while, and then when you solve it, learn a skill that will be used again in a later puzzle.
Or you might have to solve a puzzle to get something that you need to solve a future puzzle – the point I’m trying to make is that usually, the beauty in the type of game is that everything builds and builds and builds until you finally have everything you need to complete it.
However, that is different from the approach that Exit took. None of the elements are used more than once, making the game feel shallow instead of a fully fleshed-out escape room-esque experience. When you learn the logic required to beat a puzzle, you promptly move on, never to face a similar puzzle again.
Also, the game comes with loads of components, but once again, each is only used once and then forgotten about until the game reaches its unsatisfying end without any fanfare or an Ah-ha! Moment to be found.
As I said earlier, my partner ended up having a different opinion on the game than I did, and to make this review feel fair, I need to add some of his thoughts. To start, he agrees with all the points I’ve raised above and, in some ways, feels stronger about some of the game’s downfalls than I do.
However, he does raise many things that tripped me up because I play games regularly, which has led to a level of expectation and a yearning for more depth. So in his (wrong) opinion, if you don’t play a lot of board games and are just looking for a fun, casual date night idea, this is a game for you. He praised the occasional cleverness and variety of puzzles the game includes. Also, he raised the undeniable point that there is no way you can go to an actual escape room for the same price, which is also something the game has in its favour.
