Udexia Review

I absolutely love it when designers and publishers contact me about reviewing their work. Yes, it provides a sense of accomplishment that a little group of reviewers who spend very little money on this endeavor can be recognized enough for their efforts for someone to seek out, but also because many times we may not have been made aware of their work otherwise. Such is the case here. I was contacted to review Udexia and could not be happier to oblige. This is a little different than most of our reviews, and there is much I cannot divulge. But, if you are up to read ahead, then I shall provide as much as I can for you.

As printed on the cover of Udexia, this is an “interactive escape room book.” We have covered an array of escape-room-style game systems: Deckscape, Decktective, EXIT, Exodus, Crime Zoom, Holiday Hijinks, and others whose reviews have yet to be published. Udexia is an escape room style game in a quasi-graphic novel style. It can be played by as few as one player and as many as can fit around the book.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS.  -T

To setup, grab a writing utensil, sheet of paper (both optional), and the book. Open the book. Begin play.

There are no turns in Udexia. Instead, all players are working to figure out the puzzle presented on one or both pages. To check their results, players will consult with Udexia’s website by inputting their answer into the page. If correct, players are awarded with a code word that may be used in later puzzles. If the answers are wrong, the website will offer hints to players.

I have come across a couple puzzles that seemed a little difficult for me, and the hints were not incredibly helpful to me. Should that happen, the game’s website offers a forum to which players may post questions and answers on the puzzles being played. This offered much more help to me as I navigated through the book on my plays. I really cannot offer more detail without spoiling puzzles and such, but players simply work their way through the puzzles and entering the answers in the website. Game sessions can take a few minutes, or many puzzles may be attempted over the course of hours.

Components. This is a paperback book with a nice matte cover and black and white art within. The art is all nicely illustrated and the superfluous portions usually do not interfere with the puzzle components, as shown below. I only have one comment on the components, and that is simply that I wish the art pages featured full-color illustrations, but I know that increases production costs, and I understand the decision to withhold.

I very much enjoyed my time with Udexia and was pleasantly stumped on several puzzles. I would not consider this a pushover book/game, nor did I think it was incredibly impossible. Others I played with echoed my thoughts about the art, and were in agreement on difficulty of the puzzles. I could see myself buying several of these books if they were offered as part of a series. I do not know if there are more books coming, unfortunately, so we shall all wait impatiently for that news together.

If you are interested in testing your constitution against this unassuming tome, the best way to acquire a copy is via Amazon at the following link: Udexia on Amazon. Please keep us updated as to your progress, as I am very interested to see how others enjoy this as well.