DarkMaster: Into The Reliquary

Few companies make such a stir so soon after opening as DarkMaster. It wasn’t long after they launched their first two games that word spread that they had something special; and of the two, it was Reliquary that particularly caused the buzz.

This is a jungle / lost temple romp, in the style of Indiana Jones or Lara Croft, searching for a lost artefact, and in several ways it manages to capture a visceral, physical sense of adventure and peril in a way that few escape rooms can manage. I shan’t spoil the details, but be warned that careless players may end up damp. (If that’s off-putting, no more than one player needs to risk any contact with water.) Physical agility is useful for all players, though a bypass is available where needed. And this is all set in a lush jungle-scape, or as close to one as it’s reasonable to achieve in an indoor area, a gorgeous high-budget set that looked great from the outset and only got better.

In the midst of the cool environment, Reliquary’s puzzles are… fine. I’m not a fan of the ‘old journal full of clues’ trope; this game wasn’t a terrible instance of that trope, but the way it’s used makes it very likely to be at least a bit of a bottleneck. There’s also more use of UV searching than I’d prefer, and inevitably that was with a single unreliable torch shared between the team.

Those were the obvious points that enthusiast players might grumble about, along with an early emphasis on searching. However, those are partly a matter of personal taste; in other respects the puzzle design was solid and free from unwanted ambiguity, and the game was well hosted.

In any case, many groups won’t even think to nitpick, because they’ll be too wowed by the game’s highlights. There are two of these in particular, on top of the general lavish game design. With one of these, I can imagine some groups fighting over who gets to take point, and other groups where all players are reluctant – but it’s a brilliantly memorable sequence either way. The other was what really made Reliquary special for me, but some groups will play the game without ever seeing it – and frustratingly, there’s nothing I can say to help prevent that that won’t also spoil the magic of the moment. But hopefully if you get to the end of the game without seeing it, the hosts will show you what you missed anyhow.

Reliquary leads with its glitz and effects, and those are the reasons to play this game; the underlying puzzle sequence is enjoyable but nothing special. But unless you’re very particular about your puzzles, that shouldn’t matter. Put on your best Indiana hat and embrace the adventure, and you should have a blast.