As with the AR Rune Decoder the installation process for the AR Puzzle: Perspectives was easy and worked exactly as shown in the video above. At first glance I love the idea of a perspective puzzle. I have seen them time and time again in a variety of video game titles including my favorite series, The Room. This is the beginning of what I could see as a greater expansion in Augmented Reality in escape rooms.

The AR Puzzle: Perspectives is in my opinion, just O.K. It does have an initial wow factor but is extremely limited in it's versatility and usefulness. I actually racked my brains trying to think of what type of escape room scenarios that this would be useful in and I couldn't come up with much. The theming is bland and unimpressive. There is only a single solution. There is no adaptability and this in and of itself limits the usefulness of this particular application. Besides the initial wow factor of I am getting to use something similar to what I have seen in The Room series, I was left wanting more.

As an escape room enthusiast I love when bold new technologies are experimented with and incorporated into the theme with some sense of belonging there. When something doesn't fit thematically, or make sense to the narrative I lose my suspension of disbelief. This takes away from my enjoyment of the experience.

As a an escape game designer, when I design a new game, I try to answer Dr. Scott Nicholson's questions posed in his paper, Ask Why: Creating a Better Player Experience Through Environmental Storytelling and Consistency in Escape Room Design. If I were to see this particular puzzle in a given escape room I would ask myself exactly this. Why is this in this game. What does it add to the narrative? What purpose is this serving to drive the action forward. Is this in this game for the sake of something new? With this particular application I would have a tough time answering those questions. I am not totally discounting the effort that it takes to develop something like this. I commend The Riddle Factory for bravely stepping into a new area of Escape Room game design.

About AR Puzzle: Perspectives

Riddle Factory Catalog link to

Cost:$99.00 USD

Platform: Android

Delivery Method: Electronic, Approximately 53Mb

Purchase from the Google Play store﻿





I love where the Escape Room industry is heading. Immersive theater, 3-D illusion, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, these are a few examples how far Escape Games have come in a few years. While there is always a place in my heart for a "Gen 1" game, players are getting more accustomed to higher end games with a variety of challenges. These applications are a good example of where the industry is going. The Riddle Factory is thinking ahead of the power curve.

Both of these applications are solid examples of the potential of Augmented Reality. I believe that they are both limited in their versatility and usefullness across a broad spectrum of escape rooms.

Before I state this next part. I understand fully what it takes to create an application such as this. I have personally created three separate applications for my own use and it is a very steep learning curve to learn how to use Unity, and Vueforia and produce applications to be used in wide circulation. Having said that, I believe that these two applications are priced excessively high compared to their versatility. At $99.00 a pop they are quite expensive for what you get. In the case of AR Puzzle: Perspectives you get a single solution that is hard to fit in a very wide variety of escape room scenarios. In the case of AR Rune Decoder you get some additional versatility but still the theming is limited to Rune Stones which can be used in a wider variety of settings.

I do want to commend The Riddle Factory for being one of the first widely available Augmented Reality Live Action Escape Room Puzzle applications available. If this is the beginning I can't wait to see what the future holds.