Escape the Dark Castle is the first in a series of narrative games from Themeborne, an independent design studio based in England where Thomas Pike, Alex Crispin, and James Shelton collaborate. The trio of designers is making these atmospheric storytelling games that feature fast-paced gameplay and barebones mechanics to keep games light and accessible for all who come to the table. The black-and-white artwork hearkens back to a time of pulpy fiction books and choose-your-own-adventure tales.

The sci-fi follow-up Escape the Dark Sector is currently back on Kickstarter with a Collector’s Box and additional mission expansions to keep that sequel full of possibility. I’ll be looking at that game next, but I wanted to look back at where it all started—the 2017 release.

A game of Escape the Dark Castle plays in about 30 minutes as one to four players embark on a journey to leave the dark and dangerous corridors of the castle dungeon behind and find their way back to the light.

It’s something that you can enjoy just about anywhere, so let’s see what’s going on with this original card-flipping adventure game.

STORY

Tammy the Tanner, Connie the Cook, and Steve the Smith walked into a bar. No, that’s not right. They walked out of a prison cell. Why were they there? Not really sure, but I think it had something to do with wrongful incarceration. But this isn’t the world of today. These three unfortunate wretches are not strolling out of a penitentiary with their watches and cell phones. No, they are picking up a few rusty odds and ends and then pushing forward into a dark dungeon. They’re underground, of course. And now they must move through the dim maze of this castle to find the way out.

If it was just that, though, it would be easy. All manner of evil lurks in this place. Spirits, monsters, the undead. You name it and it’s probably around the next corner. It will take everything that these simple tradespeople can do to get out.

But maybe it wasn’t the Tanner, the Cook, or the Smith. Maybe it was Alfred the Abbot, Mark the Miller, and Tinker the Tailor?

Ah, I can’t remember. I’m ruining the story. You’ll just have to find out yourself…

GAMEPLAY

At the end of the day (or whatever time of day you play games), Escape the Dark Castle is simple. It’s a fantasy adventure game that centers around storytelling and cooperative play. This is the kind of game where you read the flavor text. Honestly, you should always be reading the flavor text because some writer like me spent a lot of time carefully crafting those sentences! But… if you’re the kind who normally rushes past that, then you need to slow down. Because that’s the point of Escape the Dark Castle. The story takes the stage.

And the gameplay is a well-oiled little machine that facilitates players winding their way back to the story through evocative chapter cards.

Here’s what you’re going to be looking at on the table:

You’ve got the chapter deck in the middle, comprised of the starting narrative card, the 15 random chapter cards pulled from the shuffled set, and the final boss card. Those 17 cards will provide the stitched-together narrative of the prisoners’ attempt to escape. Above or to the side of that will be the chapter dice, which are used to denote the strength of enemies that players encounter during combat, as well as occasional items found in the dungeon. Speaking of, the item deck sits to the side, ready for players to grab something off the top whenever the situation arises. And then the character cards, unique dice, and notepad are all positioned at the bottom for easy access.

That’s everything you need. Set up takes no time at all.

With that, you’ll start playing. Controlling the prisoners, players will work together to overcome each of the challenges presented by the chapter cards. While it frequently involves combat with hostile entities, there are also other events that can provide benefits—or neutral encounters that merely grant a respite from fighting.

Depending on the player count, the prisoners all have a certain maximum health value that cannot be exceeded. That’s rarely an issue, however. Players will be suffering damage almost non-stop. The trick is figuring out when to fight, when to heal, and what decisions to make along the way. If at any point a prisoner loses all health points, the game is immediately over. So be careful. Chapter cards are revealed one by one, and players must suffer the consequences, with the prisoner who revealed the card usually being subjected to specific restraints.

Escape the Dark Castle does a great job of incorporating tension and dread into the decision-making process. One game that I played ended with all players being massacred by a simple dungeon cook because they tried to steal a pie. Another game ended with a needless fight against a skeleton by prisoners who hoped for some more items. Each choice you make can have very real and deadly consequences.

But it’s never overwhelming because the game is over so fast. And winning feels very rewarding. There will be plenty of losses, but they are still enjoyable because of the small, condensed narrative that was created along the way. Also, if you lose, just set it up anew and try again.

One thing that’s important—and that I liked a lot—was the unique advantages of each character. There are three defining traits: Might, Cunning, and Wisdom. Each player has a combination of these traits on their dice, so you want to bring a well-rounded group to the fight. Otherwise, you likely won’t get the right rolls to kill some monsters.

It’s all about the story, but the gameplay is fun as well as it keeps the players engaged in what’s going on.

I think that Escape the Dark Castle has a lot going for it. I do think it will need the supplemental adventures to keep fresh for longer, but I really like what’s already there. It plays fast, smooth, and I can easily teach it to friends and family. A strong start!

VISUALS

Here’s what you get in the box:

• One start card, 45 chapter cards, and 3 boss cards

• Six character cards and 35 item cards

• Nine chapter dice and 6 character dice

• One scorepad and 4 pencils

I was a little confused at first when looking through the rulebook because the graphics, specifically the contents page, featured what I believe to be Italian writing, but the rules were in English. The rulebook also stated that there were five boss cards, though I only had three. It was a little later when I discovered online that I had the right number.

Regardless, the box is relatively small and it fits all of the components nicely. It’ll be easy to tuck away on the shelf but it can also be brought on travels for some quick and easy tabletop fun.

The artwork is what I really enjoyed, though. The black-and-white aesthetic is very appealing and I love the illustrations on the chapter cards. I feel like I’m playing some ‘90s text-based adventure game on the computer. It’s great.

Chunky character and chapter dice have a nice heft to them and the big tarot-sized cards bring some visual weight to what is a smaller game. I like what I see and I want more of it. It couldn’t be further in style from PARKS which I’ve been reviewing recently, but I dig that fantasy setting and immersive artwork.

REPLAYABILITY

This is a game that could be played by anyone. In half an hour. And depending on the characters used and the cards that are drawn, it will be entirely different every time. That’s a strong case for a highly-replayable game. Escape the Dark Castle can be that light filler that you enjoy before your bigger games or it could be something you try multiple times in one night with varying success but always the same amount of fun.

It’s an engaging experience that I never found boring. For that reason, I’m happy to keep it on my shelf. If you consider the three existing adventure packs that add more content, then you’ve got even more replay value waiting to be unlocked. I’m curious to see how Escape the Dark Sector is different and how it compares to this experience, but I think Themeborne has done a fantastic job in crafting a thrilling little fantasy world.

WHAT IT COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

I would have liked more than 45 chapter cards in the base game, though. In every game, players use one-third of the deck. So there is a high likelihood that you’ll see some of the same cards in every game. They’ll be in a different order. And mixed with other cards. But they’ll be there. So making sure that the overlap is as small as possible would have been nice. Seeing something like 60 to 70 cards in one deck would have been cool. That would really increase the variability of every game.

Now, there are three expansions already for Escape the Dark Castle and they are relatively cheap if you want to supplement the original content, but I would still have liked a bigger deck at the outset.

It would also have been interesting if the character cards had an ability variant where players could choose to play with the vanilla cards and no powers or players could use special abilities that only those characters have. It wouldn’t have to be something crazy. Just some skill or knowledge that the character brings to the adventure.

VERDICT

But at the end of the day, I love how lame these prisoners are. They aren’t heroes. They aren’t even the Level 1 characters that you’d start a D&D campaign with. They are like the NPCs in Skyrim or other fantasy games that you mostly ignore. The tanner and smith. Or the abbot and cook. Super ordinary individuals. And I like to think that there was some maniacal lord or demented noblemen who threw these hapless people into the dungeon. Just so there could be an adventure about the average men and women having to perform their own rendition of Shawshank Redemption.

This game will not blow you away. It’s not really designed to do that.

Escape the Dark Castle is a comforting tabletop game that brings back nostalgic adventure in an immensely accessible format. It’s a special game that doesn’t need to court you with fancy miniatures and colorful art. It’s the relative at your family gatherings that you initially thought was boring. But then you grew up and realized that they’re pretty freaking cool and you want to keep hanging out with them.

I’ve died in the castle. I’ve escaped from the castle. And I think I’m going to keep going back. There are more adventures to be had…