Exit: The Forgotten Island

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Imagine being shipwrecked on the beach of a forgotten island? Your only hope is to solve a series of puzzles scattered all over the island to be able to access a boat that is chained up. If this sounds right up your alley then I’m sure you will enjoy the complex play at home game, The Forgotten Island.

The Forgotten Island was the second game my team and I played from the Exit series. With both games we noted the contents of the game are very well thought out and of high quality. The app to time your adventure is straightforward and easy to navigate. Both the booklet which contains the puzzles and the cards are printed on good quality paper and card stock. One of our team members is all about trying to preserve the game so that it can be played by a new group… unfortunately for her, The Forgotten Island puzzles require you to cut, rip out, and draw on several components of the game so it is definitely a one and done version. Oh, and some great tips are to have a pair of scissors handy, some paper and pens, and to keep all contents of the game close by, including the box!

Immersion is always a tough one with board games that try to create an escape room feel. You will never have the same immersion feel as you do with physically being in a room with props, music, etc. The app does provide background music which includes sounds that you would typically hear on an island so that is a nice addition to provide a feeling of immersion. In all honesty though my team wasn’t really invested in the story line nor did it ever develop throughout the game. It felt like we were just solving puzzle after puzzle and waiting for the end card to say we ‘escaped’. The puzzles themselves were nicely themed around the Forgotten Island title and that was appreciated for sure.

The puzzles were varied and no two were alike but we found that they weren’t as linear thinking as we had thought. We ended up using eight clue cards to solve several puzzles. I personally have an attention span for games that wanes after about 45 minutes of play. I was into the game but once we got to the end puzzles we felt there was way too much reading to be done that far along into the game. By the end everyone’s brains were fried and it was hard to focus and read all that was required of us. We did feel that this game would be hard to complete for a group of beginners since the puzzles were more intermediate. It definitely would be best played by a group of puzzle enthusiasts.

The fun factor would have been higher for us and more enjoyable if the puzzles weren’t so hard, and there was less reading that needed to be done. Those two factors definitely overshadowed the overall experience. The Forgotten Island is rated as Expert so perhaps our egos thought we’d have no problems completing this game… big mistake on our part! Thanks for challenging us Exit, as difficult as it was, we do appreciate a good ol’ challenge.

As far as ‘at home’ escape room games go, The Forgotten Island is high quality and a well thought out game from the Exit series. It would have been nice to have a couple of the puzzles be a little easier than others. It can be defeating to players to have to take a clue card for almost every puzzle. Maybe you’ll have better luck with it? So I pose this as a challenge to anyone that wants to one-up the ERA Team: try The Forgotten Island and see if you are able to get through the game in under an hour and with less than eight hint cards. Let us know!