The Game: The Far West

I try hard to rate games in an objective way, to the limited extent that’s possible with something as inherently subjective as enjoyment of escape rooms. By which I mean, I attempt to put less weight on considerations that are specific to me or that particular day. Sometimes I happen to enjoy a game less, or do badly at it, for reasons that really aren’t the fault of the game or how it was run, in which case I don’t want to penalise it unfairly. With Far West, the experience left me frustrated and sour, and I’m not sure to what extent that was just us. So I’m aware that I may be giving too harsh a rating to a game that was undeniably very impressive in most respects.

The ending is my main grudge. It’s set up well to give a high-adrenaline finale, where you have to think on your feet and make a good decision under pressure, with multiple possible outcomes depending on what you do. But in practice (and this may not be the case for other groups), it used a combination of puzzles, including one where you can’t be confident your answer is right until it’s accepted, another that felt like a bit of a gotcha, and another that involved careful observation in an area that was now low lit. Those pieces combine to give a final code; so if you have one or more of them incorrect, there’s no way to know which. From the lengthy complaint you’ll guess that we failed; which is hardly a new experience, but this one stung because it felt unreasonable and demotivating.

I’d be more willing to write that off as bad luck and saltiness on my part, but it seemed like there were at least a couple of other points in the game where a mechanism was confusing, or where our reaction on solving something was, ‘really??’ instead of ‘of course!’. On the other hand it might just be that my brain doesn’t really click with this company’s design style; I also found the other games I’ve played here to be bumpier than I’d expected.

Having let off steam, I should acknowledge all the things Far West does right. (At least, after pointing out that had the meandering pre-game story intro been cut to a quarter of the length or less, it would have lost nothing and gained much. Ahem. Anyhow…) For each puzzle I’m complaining about, there were three or more that were well designed and/or fun. They’ve created a whole world for you to explore, with multiple characters who each have their own personality and agenda. (There are no live actors within the game – this is achieved using voice recordings and other tricks.) There are cool effects and fun interactions, and the ending should have been a highlight; and for many teams it probably is.

In a weekend playing ten of Paris’s top rooms, Far West was the one misfire. Maybe that was just a combination of bad luck and personal taste; had a few things gone a bit differently I’d feel much warmer about it. This review is either a reason to look elsewhere or a cautionary tale about how any game, no matter how high quality, can still result in a poor experience on rare occasions. If you’re deciding whether to play it, I suggest taking this as just one data point and check out some other reviews for comparison; if you’ve played it yourself, I hope you’ll leave your own review to give an additional data point for others.