Exit games are tough to review. How do you review an escape room game without giving away some clues and riddles? I can tell you that this is a fun co-op game, and that I will keep my review spoiler free.
Exit Games are one-time use! You will not be able give them to someone else when you are done. Why not? Because you will have to cut, fold, tear, and/or write on the game materials inside the box to solve the puzzles presented to you.
There are over a dozen “Exit: The Game” escape room games available from Kosmos Games. Exit: The Gate Between Worlds is a good game for experienced Escape Room players. All of the Exit games are ranked in difficulty from 1 to 5 stars (1 is for novices to Exit games, and 5 is for Experts). Although I don’t think there is a 1 star difficulty, so really 2 stars is for novices. 😉
Below is a list of all the Exit Games and their corresponding difficulties. I have also provided links to Amazon in case you want to read more reviews from fans who have played each game as well.
- Exit: The Abandoned Cabin (2.5 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Catacombs of Horror – This is a 2-Part game (4.5 difficulty)
- EXIT: Dead Man on the Orient Express (4 difficulty)
- Exit: The Forbidden Castle (4 difficulty)
- Exit: The Forgotten Island (3 difficulty)
- Exit: The House of Riddles (2 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Mysterious Museum (2 difficulty)
- Exit: The Pharaoh’s Tomb (4 difficulty)
- Exit: The Polar Station (3 difficulty)
- Exit: The Secret Lab (3.5 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Sinister Mansion (3 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Sunken Treasure (2 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Sacred Temple with Jigsaws (3 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Deserted Lighthouse (with Jigsaw Puzzle) – (4 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Enchanted Forest (2 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Cemetery of The Knight (3 difficulty)
- EXIT: The Stormy Flight (2 difficulty)
- EXIT: Theft on The Mississippi (3 difficulty)
What is an Exit: Escape Room game?
EXIT: The Game is a series of escape room games for playing at home. Players must solve riddles and puzzles and crack codes in order to escape from an imaginary room or environment. Each time you solve a riddle or puzzle, you will be one step closer to exiting the game. Games typically have about 8-10 unique puzzles to solve.
The Exit games play with 1 to 4 players. The players work together trying to solve riddles and puzzles to escape the room. We have actually played Exit Games with more than 4 players, and I think they play fine with 5 or 6 players if you have a larger group. 5 or 6 players might be “too many cooks in the kitchen” for some people, but I think it works fine if you all get along.
Each game has its own unique setting. Everything you need to “escape” is usually included in the game box. And each game will take about 1-2 hours to solve.
If you get stuck along the way, there are 3 hints for each riddle/puzzle you encounter.
What is Exit: The Gate Between Worlds?
“You have followed an ancient map to a hidden cave which purportedly contains some kind of mysterious gate. Inside the cave, you find a large metal circle made of concentric rings embedded in the rock wall. You approach the gate hesitantly and touch it. To your astonishment, the metal rings can be rotated. Suddenly, everything goes dark around you. When you regain consciousness some time later, you are no longer in the cave, but in a bizarre new world. Where are you? And how are you supposed to find your way back to the world you know? Only by working together as a team, solving riddles as you travel from world to world, will you be able to make it home safely.”
This Exit Game is recommended for players ages 12 and up. Playtime is supposed to take 1-2 hours long.
What’s in the box?
The box is about 5 inches x 7 inches x 1.5 inches. As the box is fairly small, I think Exit games make for great stocking stuffers.
The box contains:
61 Cards:
- 30 Help Cards
- 30 Answer Cards
- 1 Riddle Card
- 8 Posters
- 10 Strange Items
You will have to provide your own writing implements, scissors, erasers, paper, and maybe some other things around the house.
For added enjoyment, you can download the Kosmos Helper App from Google Play or the Apple App Store. The Kosmos Helper App will enhance the game with a Tutorial, soundtrack, a timer, and a creepy voiced guy setting up the scenario for you. The Helper App also tells you how to set up the game on your table. The tutorial goes into a lot of detail explaining the game if this is your first time playing an Exit game.
This is the same story you can read in the guide book, but the guy in the app will probably do it with a little more style than you can. The soundtrack here helps set the mood for the game. The App will also tally a final score based on the time it took you to complete the game, and how many clues you needed along the way.
What are the puzzles like? How does the Gate Between Worlds Play?
You and your gaming group will have to progress sequentially through various riddles and puzzles to escape the Gate Between Worlds. The puzzles are: logic puzzles; word puzzles, picture puzzles; riddles; and crafting puzzles. Crafting puzzles might include cutting things and rearranging the pieces. I don’t want to give much away, but the puzzles are always fun to solve.
If you are having any trouble solving a puzzle, each of the 10 riddles give you 3 clues to help you get back on track. So, if you are really stuck on a puzzles, you can get a hint or 2 or 3! The 3rd clue will essentially solve that particular riddle so you can move on.
As you are playing the game, you will use the decoder disk to point you to an Answer Card. The Answer Card will tell you if: 1) you can advance your way out of the House, or 2) if you are still stuck in that section.
When the game is over, you will be given a score from 1-10 stars based on: 1) How long it took you to Exit the EXIT: The Gate Between Worlds, and 2) how many clue cards you used. The overall score does not really affect how much fun you will have playing the game.
Likes, Dislikes and Final Thoughts
Likes
I like the variety of puzzles in the game. Sometimes you are solving simple riddles. Sometimes you are playing with clues in drawings. Sometimes you are solving logic puzzles. Sometimes you are cutting up the clue posters.
This is great co-op game. Everyone gets a chance to contribute their ideas to solving clues and riddles. And even though the game says 1-4 players, you could even bring in a couple of more players if you want. We played this game with 5 players and it was still enjoyable for everyone. I think 2-3 players is the sweet spot for this game.
The Kosmos Helper App is very effective. The Tutorial is very well done! And the App sets up the environment for you, and will act as a timer.
If you get stuck, there are 3 tiers of hints that will help you get back on track. You might need all 3 of the hints at times. We might have used 3 hints once (or twice. 😉
You get a nice sense of accomplishment escaping the The Gate Between Worlds … even if you need to look at clues along the way.
Dislikes
I think EXIT: The Gate Between Worlds is more difficult than the 3 star difficulty. Our gaming group was made up of 5 players. And we are all college graduates. And this game took us almost 3 hours to beat. And we definitely needed to use a few clue cards.
One of the puzzles is a text based puzzle with lightly colored words, and it was difficult to differentiate between the blue and the green. Make sure you have great lighting at home!
Final Thoughts on Exit: The Gate Between Worlds.
This is a game you will need to dedicate a game night to. You invite over a few friends, and set aside to 1-3 hours trying to escape The Gate Between Worlds.
As I mentioned, I think this is one of the more difficult EXIT games I have done. We actually had 5 people playing this one. And we have all done EXIT games before, and the game took us about 2 hours and 55 minutes. I am not sure if something got lost in translation from German to English here, but don’t be afraid to use the CLUE cards!
That isn’t to say we didn’t enjoy ourselves. Many of the puzzles are very satisfying to solve. A few of the puzzles left us scratching our heads even after looking at the clues. I just think this particular EXIT game falls into the difficulty of 4 to 4.5 instead of the 3 it shows on the box.
I don’t recommend this as your first EXIT game if you are new to the series. Start with a 2 star difficultly game instead.
Sure, the game retails for $14.95, and the The Gate Between Worlds is only good for one 1 play-though, but the experience is worth it. Most physical Escape Rooms will cost about $25 per player. So 4 players will be spending $100. The Gate Between Worlds will only cost 4 players about $3 – $4 each if people chip in.
This would make a nice gift for most gamers.