Chaos & Confetti

Review – Scooby-Doo! Escape from the Haunted Mansion by USAOPOLY
Website Link – https://a.co/d/6LJIR7I
Price – ​​$29.54

THE PRODUCT:

Scooby-Doo! Escape from the Haunted Mansion is a cooperative exploration and puzzle solving adventure that places players into the shoes of the Scooby Squad.  The gang is trapped inside a mysterious mansion.  Can you help them get out and solve the mystery of Lady Fairmont’s ghost?

In this game, players will coordinate actions taken by Scooby and his friends.  Each character has a special ability that comes with a number.  When that number is combined with objects around the mansion or numbers discovered through puzzles, players will read a passage from one of the five narration books.  Passages may lead to more clues, characters, item cards, rooms, or other surprises.  Players continue exploring the mansion in order to uncover more clues in a quest to figure out an exit strategy and the truth behind the ghost.

Everything players need to play can be found in the box, and no internet or outside knowledge is required.  The game consists of map tiles, clue cards, narrative books, standees, and secret envelopes.

Escape from the Haunted Mansion is suggested for 1 or more players, ages 12+.  There is not an advertised play time, but as a duo, we took between 2-3 hours.

OUR THOUGHTS:

Puzzles: 3/5 Stars

Escape from the Haunted Mansion does a good job of weaving puzzles throughout the game.  Some puzzles are foreshadowed well in advance and others will pop-up quickly.  There is a good amount of variety to the puzzles and they will test players’ different skill sets.  The game uses cards, narrative, and surprise objects to keep the puzzles fresh and surprising.  

The game advertises itself as a medium level difficulty experience, and we would have to agree.  None of the puzzles felt overly challenging, but plenty took enough thought that we probably wouldn’t trust this game to young kids alone (also, there is plenty of reading).  

There is a built-in hint system that we never used.  However, the tiered hints are easily accessed through the narrative books with the help of a chart found at the back of the instruction booklet.

While we enjoyed the puzzles overall, some did feel either a little too straightforward or a little wonky at times.  Some puzzles are easier to brute force and others do require a little cartoon logic.

Narrative: 3.5/5 Stars

Being a Scooby-Doo game that relies heavily on exploration and mystery solving, Escape from the Haunted Mansion delivers a lot of narrative.  In fact, the game comes with five narrative books full of possible story passages.  Each character of the Scooby Squad gets their own booklet with texts that plays into their character and personality.

The game gives off the feel of a classic Scooby-Doo adventure.  That means there is plenty of zany fun to be had.  That also means that the mystery only goes so deep and certain aspects can be a bit cartoony.

Players should enjoy the exploration aspect of the game that creates good connective tissue between puzzles and offers ample reason for characters to be switched in and out of the game (let’s split up, gang!).  The mystery/escape piece provides solid forward momentum to the game.  

Overall Fun: 3/5 Stars

As big fans of Scooby-Doo, we really enjoyed the theming which provided a strong flavor to the game.  We also liked the attempt to pull in the dynamics of the Scooby Squad by giving each their own abilities and narrative books.  While we never fully felt like a team of teens working together, we still liked how well many Scooby aspects were captured.

The game hits a strange middle ground in a few ways.  At times the adventure feels more aimed at children, as it holds your hands through certain puzzles and plays into the cartoony nature of the theme, but then at others it takes a lot more attention to detail, thinking, and reading skills.  

There is also the trouble of trying to keep all the clue cards and other resources straight.  While the game does a good job of removing cards from the play area as they are no longer needed and resetting certain aspects as you play, players are still sure to find themselves with a play area covered in cards, map tiles, standees, and narrative books.  Despite many strong qualities, the game can feel a bit cumbersome at times without enough play space.

Escape from the Haunted Mansion might also work best with a smaller group.  The directions recommend spreading the narrative books out so multiple players can read from one each (or more if needed), but taking ownership of a character can be tough when not all characters are always present and some definitely have more to do than others.  Everything works best as a shared resource and with shared control.  Also, with the game mostly being linear, there isn’t enough to do for a large group to all be active at once.   

We did like the use of Scooby Snacks to score players at the end.  Everytime players take hints or miss an answer, they have to “eat a Scooby Snack.”  This doesn’t actually hurt players, but at the end of the game, the fewer snacks left, the lower the score players will get.  This creates a good tension of wanting to do your best to receive a higher score.  

As a whole, we enjoyed Scooby-Doo! Escape from the Haunted Mansion a lot.  It does a fantastic job of feeling like a classic Scooby-Doo adventure while giving players a chance to step into the characters’ shoes.  The game isn’t perfect, but fans of the franchise and/or more guided mystery adventures built on narrative and puzzles, should enjoy themselves.

FINAL SCORES:

Puzzles: 3/5 Stars

Narrative: 3.5/5 Stars

Overall Fun: 3/5 Stars

OFFICIAL C&C FINAL RATING: 3.2/5 Stars

Disclaimer: we purchased the game with our own money, this review is not sponsored. All thoughts are our own.