Escape Puzzle: Space Observatory

We enjoy doing the Ravensburger puzzles as a family. This was our first escape puzzle. Putting the puzzle together was a little trickier than usual because it seemed like every piece matched with every other piece. Hmm, that can't be good. Plus the pieces were dark and the colors muted. After we finally finished putting it together the fun really began. There are very limited instructions on how to "solve" the puzzle and we stared at this thing for several days. Our table was filled with sheets of paper covered with numbers and symbols and letters. Until finally something just "clicked" and we excitedly came to the solution. Really enjoyed this new puzzle twist. Getting the witches kitchen next...

It was so much fun! This was my first escape puzzle, after this, I also got Witch's Kitchen and then the Submarine. I agree with a lot of reviews, I would recommend beginners to start with this Space Observatory or Witch's Kitchen. Putting the puzzles together takes time, but it's not really that much harder than other puzzles in similar colors and size. After you put the puzzles together, then it's time to look for clues in the image. In my opinion, finding clues, figuring out answers, and figuring out what to do with those answers are all part of the fun. I wouldn't say it's lacking instructions. It provided just enough information; the rest is on us. My boyfriend and I spent hours putting the puzzles together and then another few hours trying to figure out how to escape. It's so much fun! We are trying to decide which one to get next.

This is the second of these that I have put together and I have a few more on the shelf yet to do. I got a few cause I was enticed by the gimmick, that once you complete the puzzle there are hidden riddles that you can solve on top of that rather than just admiring the image and boxing it back up. Having done a couple now, I'm starting to see these as just jigsaw puzzles with a little bonus content on top. The escape room component feels very underdeveloped in general. Though I still like it quite a bit, I feel like they could do more with the narrative and the final resolution. In both cases, you are sent to find specific pieces to assemble a new bit, but there's no real resolution to it or big reveal. I've also done the Magic Puzzle set, which has a reveal of its own that felt a lot more satisfying in comparison. This one in particular was tricky because the image on the puzzle was a lot darker than the one on the box, which made a lot of the finer details really hard to make out. Once I had the solutions, as I said, didn't get the feeling like I accomplished anything more than having solved a few riddles. If they keep making these, I hope they use their resources to expand on the concept more. For now, they are high quality puzzles with fun, complex artwork and a nice little bonus if you're up for it.

Excellent quality

I had already done (and solved) "The Witches' Kitchen" puzzle in this series and decided to give this one a try. Unfortunately I ended up very frustrated and disappointed by the solution. The pieces are much darker than the picture would suggest, which not only made some sections difficult to assemble, but ALSO made it hard to see some of the numbers and diagrams needed to solve the riddles. As for the riddle itself, I ended up using the QR code on the box to access their "hints", but actually ended up MORE confused on some of them because there was no logical explanation as to how or why certain numbers were achieved (or why the digits I had figured out were placed in a certain order.) As to the solution, it was a major letdown. The Witches' Kitchen solution had actually been pretty clever and could not have been accidentally stumbled upon, but THIS one (spoiler) basically took six similar pieces with a red line through them and had you line them up to make a "laser" shooting the meteor. Given how many red-line pieces there were, one could have chosen several different pieces by mistake and still easily created the "laser". (If you accidentally read my spoiler, sorry and you're welcome; you just saved money and several hours of frustration with an unsatisfying end.)

I'll not post a picture as I would then need a spoiler alert! We have been doing a lot of puzzles during the pandemic and were looking for something a little different. Yes, the picture on the box is slightly different than that on the puzzle, but this added to the intrigue. The clues in the puzzle were fun to solve, but they didn't really give you the same satisfaction as getting out of a real escape room. Some of the riddles were redundant in their solutions. But we still had fun trying to find and solve all of them. I can't wait to try another one.

I love Ravensburg and I have enjoyed a couple of the Escape-room puzzles from this company. Witches Kitchen has been my favorite so far. The quality is high and the images are generally really beautiful and fun to work on. I like the challenge with the Escape puzzles not quite matching the image on the box and the interchangeable border pieces adding some difficulty. People complaining about this are not reading the description. There are pictures online of the completed puzzle if you need it. HOWEVER - THIS puzzle is printed insanely dark. Every piece is basically black . Even the portions that are supposed to be highlighted are grey or dark brown. I started trying to sort pieces and realized it was going to be tedious to assemble. It would be difficult to read clues for the escape element, so I returned it.

In tegenstelling tot de afbeelding is de puzzel veel te donker , ENKEL donkerbruin, donkerblauw en ontbrak er contrast in de afbeelding. Het leggen van de puzzel werd dooarom veelal een pijniging van de voor de ogen. Het raadselelement is een leuk gegeven aan de puzzel, maar opnieuw de lol werd weggezogen door het ontbreken van elk contrast in de prent.

Muy divertido

C'est un très beau casse-tête

If you want a puzzle with a twist… this is one

Assez compliqué mais très chouette à faire à deux !