Box Two By Neil Patrick Harris

Another super fun at home experience and a great use of space! Just like Box One, there were tons of fun props that had multiple fun uses. The limiting factory for me which prevented this from being a loved experience was the chat bot. I didn’t have issues using it, and it was helpful when I needed help, but when I found the answer before it was finished prompting it kept going along with the original script until I could get to a place where it would be ready to accept an answer. Fun experience, just prolonged by the chat box.

Throughout ‘Box Two’, the animated personality of the central character shines as the most memorable part of the experience. While the box’s engineering and design is something of a marvel itself, the puzzle flow quickly falls into an instructional experience that is more directive than explorative for the players. Where ‘Box One’ built towards a narrative resolution, ‘Box Two’’s final puzzle felt confusing and misaligned with the overall experience. It’s hard not to compare the two ‘Box’ experiences. ‘Box Two’ was enjoyable, but does unfortunately pale when compared with its predecessor. Nonetheless, experienced fans and new tabletop escape room players will find a handful of enjoyable moments throughout ‘Box Two’.

Enjoyable but it has some issues, Box One is so much better. Pros: ➕The materials are high quality, great production value ➕Some magical reveals ➕Great for fans of Neil Patrick Harris ➕Playable all in one sitting unlike Box One ➕Can be played solo or with a partner ➕Fully resettable and regiftable ➕There is nothing directly related to Box One. If you haven't done either game, and are only playing one of them go with Box One. If you are going to do both, play this one first before Box One. Cons: ➖Chatbot function was annoyingly limited and required for most of the game. It feels like it was handholding a bit too much. ➖One puzzle was particularly tedious, though some people may enjoy the format ➖The story/narrative was weak, nowhere near as good as Box One ➖The puzzle flow can be a bit confusing due to how the puzzles jump around between objects

A solid game that would've been better received but for Box One being super awesome and AI taking off over the last couple of years. Still fun, with a few nice surprises and cool ideas, though the chat mechanism was somewhat restrictive and tedious. A step down from Box One, unfortunately, though I nonetheless appreciate the effort.

Absolutely not worth seeking out. You can tell there's a lot of care put into making this but its hard to appreciate that when using the frustrating chat system to enter solutions. There also isn't enough content in the box and the puzzles aren't particularly interesting this time around. I would hesitate to lend my copy to a friend unless they really wanted to see it for themselves. It's hard to recommend this over an exit game which is much cheaper, although not always reusable.

It’s fine. Definitely less good than Box One, but Box One was quite a standout. The vibes / style / components are quite good but the actual puzzle content is meh. Online chat interface is pretty terrible. They could’ve actually paired you up with another person; would’ve been an interesting gimmick at least. Instead we get the “chatbot with a human name and face and delays sending messages like it’s ‘typing’ response”. I strongly dislike these bots in all contexts, and I’m sad to see them used here. 3/5

Fun time with a solo game! Most of the puzzles were fun and I enjoyed the overall experience (also appreciate that the game is fully resettable so others can enjoy it too!)

This was good but not great. Thin and uninteresting plot. clunky chat. quality pieces though.

It’s not quite a sophomore slump, but it’s close. A lot of risks were taken to make this game different, but they weren’t always worth it. One of the weirdest features of the box is hard to interact with, hard to read, and tedious to deal with. The hint system and chat mechanism is too robotic and limited, though it is a clever idea. I think everything attempted is better in concept than practice; it still is ultimately a fun experience. Expect tedium, expect awkwardness, and expect joy.