The Lost Knowledge

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You are contacted by the research team of world renowned Archaeologist Professor McEwan as he has gone missing while searching for an ancient artifact. Believing he must be in danger, it is up to you, The Enigma Fellowship to solve his whereabouts and bring him back to safety before it’s too late!

The Lost Knowledge is the second game the ERA team has played from The Enigma Fellowship. Similar to The Scattered Cards, almost everything you need to play the game can be found in a beige manila envelope (or should we say envelopes). This is a testament to the creators wanting to leave a smaller footprint on the environment which is something we really appreciated. The other aspect of the game is the online component which you utilize when entering the solutions to the puzzles and for more backstory throughout. One thing we enjoyed with the online component was the option to either read the information or listen to it which makes it more of an accessible game. Unfortunately, this was where the positives regarding the component quality ended for our team. To say that there were a large amount of components, almost all of which were paper, would be an understatement. This became frustrating throughout the game for many reasons as the seemingly endless amount of paper that was found in each envelope, including items that were completely unnecessary, felt daunting and incredibly overwhelming. The start of the online component can be accessed via desktop or mobile device, but it quickly forces you to switch over to mobile which was frustrating for one of our team members. Once on the mobile device, we found ourselves constantly having to sort through many open screen tabs as the website opens a new one every time an answer is input or you advance in the game. Again, once in a while we would come across a game component that was of great quality but overall, the quality was consistently inconsistent.

Was the game immersive? Unfortunately, most of our team did not feel immersed while playing The Lost Knowledge and for those who did at the start, they quickly became disengaged. The story started out strong but was quite inconsistent and did not really develop until close to the end with little to no payoff. We somewhat got to know the characters involved but all of that was due to the initial information we received at the beginning of the game. One of our team members said that it had a very similar feel to “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” so fans of that series might find the game more enjoyable. We did however recognize that due to current pandemic restrictions, this game was played via Zoom and might have been more enjoyable in person. Overall, our team had a really difficult time getting into it as the vast amount of information thrown at you was overwhelmingly daunting and just felt like all work and no play.

The best area of the game for us was the puzzles as there were some great puzzles found within and even a few none of us have seen in the past. The hint system included in the game was great as well as it offered 6-7 good clues to help you before finally giving you the answer. This is always nice as it helps to move the players along, often allowing them to solve the puzzles on their own rather than just giving the answer after the first hint. Unfortunately, most of the puzzles were overly complicated and a couple could have even been bypassed as we ended up unknowingly figuring out how to advance without even solving two of the puzzles. We also ran into quite a few issues while attempting to input the answers to the website. Many of the answers in the game are found in the lower case but you were required to input the answer in capital letters which led to a lot of wasted time and frustration.

So, last but not least… was The Lost Knowledge fun? Unfortunately, our team did not thoroughly enjoy playing this game but that is not to say others would not as there were some aspects we enjoyed. Overall, we just agreed that the game felt more like a chore than enjoyable. If you do choose to play the game, we would recommend playing in a group of 2-3 players with a single copy and in person. Ultimately, while the game had some positives and, with some refinement could be a solid play-at-home game, we felt that for every one positive, there were another three areas which needed improvement. In summary, there was a ton of leg work for a small payoff. As always, thank you for reading, stay safe and happy escaping!