French game design studio Space Cowboys has embraced the growing popularity of “escape room” puzzles with the development of Unlock!  Escape Adventures.  Asmodee will bring the first three installments of the new series to the U.S. starting in Q2 next year.

In this cooperative card game, the players find themselves locked in a room from which they must escape.  They have exactly one hour to puzzle their way through the various clues represented on the cards.  By combining objects, they advance the storyline of the adventure, ultimately hoping to discover the four-digit code that will allow them to escape.

The action in the game is controlled through a free companion app, currently available in a beta demo version for Android.  As the players complete actions in the game, they will be instructed to enter codes into the app, which can either aid them along their way or penalize them with a loss of time.  The app can also provide hints and access to “hidden objects” that can aid the players, but which result in a reduction in the final score.

There will be three titles in the first wave of Escape!  games:

The easiest version is Unlock!  The Formula, created by Cyril Demaegd (Amyitis, Ys), in which the players are agents of “The Department” sent into the subway system of New York to locate the missing Dr. Hoffman.

Next is the cartoon-themed Unlock!  Squeek & Sausage.  Here the players must stop the evil Professor Noside from using a diabolical machine to destroy the world.  Squeek & Sausage was created by Alice Carroll.

The most difficult installment is Unlock!  The Island of Doctor Goorse, by Thomas Cauet (Nefertiti), which features multiple players working simultaneously while trapped in different locations.

All three Unlock!  sets include a 10-card tutorial game in addition to the 60-card game deck.  They are intended for 1 to 6 players, ages 10 and up, and play in under an hour.  MSRP is $14.99 each.

Unlock!  will not be the only puzzle-based game Asmodee is releasing in early 2017, Braintopia (see “Players Get a Mental Workout in New Asmodee Game”) will also release next year.