Dead Man on The Orient Express | Exit: The Game - A Kosmos Game | Family-Friendly, Card-Based at-Home Escape Room Experience for 1 to 4 Players, Ages 12+

Dennis A. Pascale United States

A Tough But Fun Challenge!

This is my first Exit escape game and I played it solo. I have played other company’s escape games but so far this is the best one at least for me. I am a big mystery fan so the title appealed to me. However, I would recommend you playing a different Exit scenario first. This game was very challenging. I should have headed that advice from the other reviews. Still I had a great time. In the end I failed to solve the crime. I took almost 2 hours to complete the game and I achieved sadly 2 stars. But I really enjoyed the game. I’m not sure large groups would have fun with this. It’s a great solo puzzle or perhaps a 2 player challenge. I see many reviewers play with their kids so that makes sense but I usually play games with 5 adults and based on other Escape games, I can tell you only one or two people seem to take over and the rest of us watch and contribute here or there. Since the price for this game was cheaper I wanted to experience it on my own. I took my mug of coffee went down into the man cave and spread everything out on the table. It was a fun if frustrating ride. I would also like to say I loved the ap for this game. The timer and ambient sounds were great to help me immerse myself in the game. And I recommend watching the tutorial in the ap. It’s the same as the rule book but watching the examples made it easier to understand how to play. Please heed the follow tips: First off, this is a one shot game. I thought if I cut everything neatly or tried to be careful I could conserve the game so others could play it. I was also hoping maybe I could use the game as the basis for a murder mystery party. Because I tried to be too careful I blew the first set of puzzles. I had to resort to the hint cards. I saw the lines where it said to cut a certain card but tried to do it without cutting. Big mistake. One I realized you will cut tear write on and bend almost everything in the game I had an easier time of it. So be warned you will do things you never would do in a normal board game. Second. Make sure you give yourself a few hours to play and you have a big table. You will be laying out a few piles of cards and need space to take notes and brain storm. I also started late in the evening and I actually had to pause the game and finish it the next day. (This is another reason why I love the ap it saves the time that you paused the game and you can pick up where you left off. (Yes I played fair and didn’t look at anything when I stopped for the night). Also when I say give yourself time I mean it especially with this game. At the end for the last puzzle you actually have to attempt to solve the crime and check alibis and clues. I will admit I didn’t really take the time and kind of rushed it. That wasn’t the way to do it. WARNING: once you give your answer in the final puzzle the game ends so you only get one shot to identify the culprit. Unlike the rest of the puzzles in the game you can’t go back and rethink so make sure you’re 100% confident in your answer. I will admit I rushed it but the real solution was fair play and all the clues are in the game. A final tip. Yes you will mark up fold and cut all these pretty things in the box however Do NOT cut anything until you are 100% sure you have to. There is once puzzle in the game that seems to need to be cut out but actually only certain parts are cut. Remember your grammar school training and only cut on the dotted lines. I cut up pieces to one puzzle and couldn’t solve it and had to rely on the hint cards. Don’t get me wrong, they warned me in the clue itself but I think I was over eager. The plot is a fun puzzle game take on Muder on the Orient Express. The game materials are well designed and the puzzles excellent. A lot of the negative reviews seem to state how the solutions don’t make sense but trust me from someone who didn’t solve the case when I went back over the hints and solutions I was able to see clearly where I made my mistakes. All in all this is a great puzzle challenge. It can only be used once but I thought the price tag was more reasonable than some of the other games out there like this. I’m going to start another Exit game today and I’ve order 4 more. These games are great if you like puzzles and actually give yourself time to sit enjoy it and immerse yourself in the story.

Odd Duck United States

Awesome story, unique variety of puzzles, challenge but MAKES SENSE. One-time play but SO worth it!

Boyfriend and I LOVE escape rooms so we decided to buy this and a triple-game box of Unlock! series as our first introduction to escape room board games. We played the three Unlock! games first (pretty much in a row) and while they were fun to an extent, we found ourselves pretty disappointed as a whole. The hints didn't make sense, puzzles were a stretch, and timer was WAY too short (and distracting). THIS series, however, was. a. BLAST! The puzzles are so varied and unique! The story is AWESOME and makes the game so enjoyable (and story is not something I normally pay attention to). It's difficult enough to keep you engaged; challenging but not to the extent where it's no fun. The puzzles all make sense and can be reasonably thought out (i.e. even though we didn't successfully solve them all without hints, and even needed a full answer to one, we were generally on the right track and the logic made sense once we checked the hints/answer). Yes, it's a one-time use but, 1. It's more expensive for a single movie ticket than this game, and 2. If you've ever played one of the "reusable" escape board games, you'll definitely understand how much more satisfying this one is. I will say I wasn't paying attention to difficulty level when I bought this game (in the Exit series) and it was our first Exit game. I can understand why it's rated high on the scale. It took us over two hours (after the Unlock! game timer stress, we really took our time with this one--had a lot more fun that way), had to use a hints a few times, and did ultimately "fail" (but sooooo close and we could see where we went wrong) but it was still SOOO much fun!! Advice: Take your time! There is a scoring system for super escape room geeks that really want to test their skills (and have the appropriate number of people), but if you're new to the games or have just two or three of you, don't rush it. I promise, it's SO much more fun to meander through it than it is using a bunch of hints to try to hit the best time. I just bought five more Exit games, haha! I'm HOOKED! <3

The Non-Hipster United States

I adore these games and hope they keep making more

We were skeptical about how a small boxed game could deliver a decent escape room experience. We definitely did not expect the level of creativity, challenge, and just plain fun that these games have provided. We've probably done nine or ten of them so far and will probably do the rest of the line up in just a few weeks. Every game gives us something new and intriguing, and all of the components feel very thoughtful, high quality, and sensible within the context of the game. I've played escape room games from other brands where I was just confused as to what I was supposed to be doing, and where things made no sense in retrospect. While these games are generally fairly challenging, I never look back at them and feel like there was no path forward. There are clever (and sometimes even cute) puzzles, and I've often wished I could replay some of these games because the experience was that good.

Cory crandall United States

Challenging and fun. Not for beginners

Another amazing Exit game! "Dead Man on The Orient Express" was a great and challenging adventure. It is on the more advanced level (4/5 difficulty), though. If you are a beginner, I would not recommend starting with this one. (Start with a 1-2 level). If you are playing as a group with a beginner, but the rest of the group is experienced, you should be fine. You just may need to do more of the figuring out of the challenges to keep things moving.