RATING: 1 Key          RESULT: Win          REMAINING: *not timed 

It turns out Neil Patrick Harris wasn’t nearly done with his Series of Unfortunate Events.

Box One is an ever evolving game of trivia, code breaking and puzzles uniquely designed to challenge only one person, and it seems that person is YOU. And ONLY you. ALONE.

Prepare to set out on an exciting adventure like no other, as you discover, unlock and decode the secrets of Box One.

From the moment its plastic wrap is opened, Box One sets out to be a very intimate, highly personal, elegant take on an escape game at home. Constantly presented as designed “just for you” it sets lofty expectations that it quickly proves itself unprepared to achieve.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that Neil Patrick Harris is affiliated with this game. Maybe it was his name embossed in GIANT GOLD LETTERS no less than five times on each side of the box that gave it away. Or perhaps it was the the repeated mentions of him throughout most steps of the game which gave the clue. Come to think of it, the real clarity could have come from how quickly a game “designed for you” becomes all about NPH, and stays there until the end.

If Box One was “A game for one, created by one” – in both instances that singular party alluded to is always Neil Patrick Harris. Welcome to the world’s most self-serving escape game.

When discussing a home game, we define “Scenic,” from a graphic design perspective, as well as the quality, weight and feel of print materials inside the box.

In terms of strictly packaging. Box One is perhaps the most stunning at home game to be found. The box is exceptionally heavy duty material, trimmed and embossed on all sides with a shiny golden foil. Deeply layered dimension cutouts line four of its sides forming a keyhole for the star of our show, Neil Patrick Harris to make his presence forever apparent.

The dedication to production quality continues on the inner linings of the package. A smaller box holding the game’s Challenge Cards is equally ornamented and embossed in gold foil, while a mysterious black envelope is also trimmed with a striking metallic red. In terms of playable content, Box One almost entirely relies on a card-based system. Each is a fairly thick, glossy texture that have the feel of a deck of playing cards, while also carrying similar dimensions of 3.5″ x 2.5″ in size. Also included is a branded notepad and black and gold pen, of course bearing the initials NPH.

Here’s the thing: all of that swanky packaging gains no consideration from our Key Rating system. The content that matters – the challenge cards relied upon for almost every moment of the game – are plain, drab affairs on their usable side. Don’t expect catchy artwork and fun graphics to be found; these cards are nothing but basic text and nothing more.

The remainder of Box One’s playable experience exists online, largely through a very long series of videos. Naturally, most of them star Neil Patrick Harris. And the videos that somehow do not include NPH – well don’t worry; they’re still all about him.

Progressing through Box One will lead its singular would-be Neil Patrick Harris on a primarily card-based gameplay that is, in effect, nothing more than an arbitrary and disjointed collection of prior knowledge trivia questions leading to what effectively could be best described as a proverbial crossword puzzle played out across the deck of cards. For example, each step is often structured as “What’s the fourth letter of the the trivia answer on card #7?”

Typically, our focus would immediately shift to entirely disqualifying a given game for requiring prior knowledge, but to be fair, in the case of Box One, it is made clear that NPH’s one true fan will be expected to have access to the internet in order to proceed. Through this requirement, it essentially encourages the use of Google to search out trivia answers, like authors of random books, famous quotes and popular athletes, because escape game.

What results is an entirely repetitive game where most “puzzles” are basically just the same action over, and over, and over again – despite not even being fun the first time around. Even when the game finally embraces a shift to the internet, it still almost obsessively relies on the forgettable Challenge Cards to navigate from one webpage to the next.

One particularly obnoxious step requires the entire game to come to a screeching halt for a full 24 hours. This may sound like an exaggeration. It is not. While we won’t spoil it for any gluttons of mental punishment who still wish to partake, there is a certain computer cheat that can mercifully bypass this to finally end the Box One experience much sooner.

Box One is an instance where expectations for “what could have been” were exceptionally high. After all, Neil Patrick Harris (who you may or may not have realized by now is involved with this game) is a self-professed escape game geek, just like you and I. It seems reasonable to assume, knowing that, that Box One would be the type of game specifically designed to appeal to established fans of the gerne.

If we had a nickel for every time we’ve played a home game series created by a team whose mantra is “designed by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts,” well, now we’d have two nickels. It may not seem like a lot, but that’s not the point. There’s a certain reasonable expectation when a game as branded as such that it will, at the very least, avoid the cliché puzzle tropes that we all tend to roll our eyes at – yet in each instance, the exact opposite is true.

We aren’t going to claim to know the inner workings between the collaboration of Theory11 – the company which produced the game, and Neil Patrick Harris, the one whose name is plastered all over it ad nauseam. Perhaps NPH really did single-handedly design all of these terrible puzzles and self-aggrandizing storyline. Or, perhaps he simply signed a licensing agreement that granted Theory11 the rights to use his name and likeness for this Box of Unfortunateness™ they produced.

But here’s the thing – is one hypothetical really any better than the other? Even if NPH actually did just sell the rights to use his name, one would think he’d have a bit more pride in the product. One would hope it wouldn’t just be a Krusty the Clown-esque ‘I’ll put my face on anything for a buck‘ mentality. We’ll probably never know the true story; but this much is clear – we just sat through this entire game and don’t even have a cool scar from the surgical removal of a jagged metal Krusty-O to show for it.

*Taron & Mako, Escape Authority’s Co-VPs, Dog Business™ and lead home game correspondents endorse the opinions found within this review.

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Venue:  Theory11

Location: At Home Game

Number of Games: 2 (1 in this box.)

GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

Duration: not specifically timed, but designed to take more than 24 hours to complete (we played for roughly 90 minutes)

Capacity: 1 person

Group Type: Private / You will not be paired with strangers (but if you are, call 911 immediately to report a home invasion.)

Cost (at Publish Time): $34.95 (Amazon.com)