The Morrison Game Factory is a cleverly crafted ‘puzzletale’ that interweaves physical components with a digital experience, combining a charming narrative with inventive puzzles. However, a series of questionable design decisions frequently break immersion - particularly for non-US player - and can shift the focus away from solving puzzles to second-guessing the game itself. Despite its originality and heartwarming theme, these issues significantly affected our enjoyment.
This is an anti-spoiler review. It contains no information about the story or photos of components beyond that on the box or the PostCurious website blurb. It doesn’t reveal any pleasant surprises.
But it will offer you a spoiler trade-off. Because the publisher, PostCurious, has done (or not done) one or two things which may spoil your enjoyment of this game… and worse. And I would like to tell you how to side-step them. You will be clearly warned before the spoiler trade-off, if you wish to avoid it.
The Morrison Game Factory is a cleverly crafted ‘puzzletale’ that interweaves physical components with a digital experience, combining a charming narrative with inventive puzzles. However, a series of questionable design decisions frequently break immersion - particularly for non-US player - and can shift the focus away from solving puzzles to second-guessing the game itself. Despite its originality and heartwarming theme, these issues significantly affected our enjoyment.
This is an anti-spoiler review. It contains no information about the story or photos of components beyond that on the box or the PostCurious website blurb. It doesn’t reveal any pleasant surprises.
But it will offer you a spoiler trade-off. Because the publisher, PostCurious, has done (or not done) one or two things which may spoil your enjoyment of this game… and worse. And I would like to tell you how to side-step them. You will be clearly warned before the spoiler trade-off, if you wish to avoid it.
Is it an escape room game?
Only in the sense that it’s a themed series of puzzles that need to be solved in order to progress. There is no mood of fear, jeopardy or urgency to escape which are common in escape rooms. The feeling is of progressing towards something positive, rather than fleeing something negative.
There’s also no clear, single goal. In an escape room you must escape. In The Morrison Game Factory you are asked to help, but how isn’t clear. It draws you in like a mystery rather than setting you a clear goal.
What is it and how does it work?
It’s an aptly named ‘puzzletale’ set in a board game factory where mysterious things have been happening. The box says it exists at the intersection of escape rooms, interactive fiction and immersive theatre.
The story is intriguing and the characters endearing. I cared about them and wanted to help them. But several aspects of the game made it harder to stay engaged in their whimsical world.
The evocative mid-twentieth century artwork of the box and components was what first drew me to this game. The box does clearly state ‘internet access required’, but from the retro theme I had been expecting a largely analogue, unplugged experience with an occasional answer-check online. That wasn’t the case. The analogue-digital experience is highly integrated for almost the entire duration of play. You will need a reliable internet connection and a fully charged device. I strongly recommend that you don’t use a phone, because there are some long passages of text and puzzles that require you to go back and forth between different pages. Please use a tablet or larger screen if possible.
In contrast to the analogue mid-century vibe of the physical components, the online graphics are straight out of the 1980s. Then again, the amount of screen time, and one of the themes in the story, are current. This array of time periods left us puzzling over what decade we were supposed to be immersed in, or whether it was one of those stories that is told across different timelines, and shifted our focus away from the experience.
We wanted to pause the game and resume another time, but were unclear whether our progress would be saved. We hadn’t been asked whether we wanted to accept cookies, or to create an account, and there were no ‘save progress’ buttons. I left the tab open and turned off Wi-Fi, and our progress was still there two days later. Whether this would work with other devices or settings, I don’t know.
Another key consideration is that the game is very American-centric. It’s helpful to look at it through an American lens, as the issue comes up again and again. For some puzzles, the difficulty is on the same low level of ‘pavement’ vs ‘sidewalk’, and can be thought of as just another layer on the puzzle. But for other aspects… you don’t know what you don’t know. This American-ness is an obstacle that American players don’t have, and the game would benefit from an international edition.
How many players?
PostCurious says 1+ players, best at 1-3, aged 14+. I played this as a 2-player game, and think it’s probably best at 1 or 2 players. There is only one set of physical components, and unless you want to have each player looking at a different screen, you must be able to comfortably sit next to each other to view the same screen.
Despite being co-operative, much of the time felt like parallel screen-staring or individual problem-solving, with us often focusing on our own workings before regrouping to share our findings.
Is it accessible to everyone?
Some of the puzzles are colour-based, and one is audio. I saw no signposting of alternative forms of these puzzles, and no icons or shapes associated with different colours.
When I asked PostCurious whether the game is accessible to colourblind people, they told me “The Morrison Game Factory was designed to be colorblind-friendly, and we know of multiple people who are colorblind who have played it without issue”.
If you may have difficulty listening to the audio puzzle, read the spoiler trade-off further down the page.
Is it replayable?
This game can only be played once by you. It’s a series of puzzles and once they’ve been solved, they are solved forever. The obvious question is whether it would be better value for money to buy a different, replayable game. But instead of comparing it to a replayable board game of the same price, compare it to other 2-4 hour one-and-done experiences such as visiting an escape room or cinema, and the value seems greater, especially at higher player counts.
Unlike many other puzzle games, none of the components must be destroyed or marked. There is one puzzle that invites you to write on a paper component, but you could do this lightly in pencil then erase it, make a photocopy and write on that, or take a photo of it on a phone or tablet and draw on your screen. The game can be fully reset and passed on to friends or family, then their friends or family, and so on. You are potentially creating a chain of linked experiences for your loved ones.
What’s the spoiler trade-off?
I don’t give spoilers lightly, but two particular aspects of this game caused significant frustration. To warn you about these and explain how to side-step them, I need to share two small spoilers, which I believe will improve your overall experience. If you’d prefer to avoid them, skip to the next section now.
After completing the first puzzle, the game appears to require you to call a phone number to receive the next clue (that’s spoiler #1). What isn’t made clear is that this is a US number, that international players may be charged, and that the message is long and complex enough that you may need to listen more than once. In our case, this resulted in unexpected charges of £18.
Coming at such an early stage, this phone-bill moment set the tone for the rest of the game, shifting our focus from solving puzzles to questioning how the game itself worked and whether we wanted to continue playing.
But this can be avoided. The introductory letter directs you to a website “if you get stuck”, but this page also contains the full audio and a written transcript of the call (option 8), allowing you to proceed without phoning.
Here comes the second mini spoiler: when you take the lid off the box, the first thing you see is a letter that sets the scene and says “check it all out, but especially [XYZ]”. We don’t have a lot of experience with puzzle games, and hadn’t realised the significance of the understated “check it all out”. In our naivety and enthusiasm we raced off to XYZ, and this, combined with an American-centric issue, resulted in a level of confusion which again made us wonder whether to continue playing. When I asked PostCurious about the significance of “check it all out”, they said it was “intentional” and “fun”, but to us it felt like the rules of engagement hadn’t been clearly explained.
“Check it all out” should be taken literally. While it’s not necessary to read and fully digest everything, it is important to look through all components before focusing on XYZ. Clearer emphasis here would help guide less experienced players.
Both of these issues are avoidable, but in our experience they disrupted the flow of the game and pulled us out of its otherwise thoughtfully constructed world. The puzzles themselves should have been the challenge - not working around unclear instructions or unexpected real-world complications.
Who is this puzzletale for?
This is a one-and-done experience and ours was a negative one. But with the preventable obstacles flagged or removed, I think it could have been wonderful.
The Morrison Game Factory has charm, whimsy, creativity, and often thoughtful design, but its missteps - particularly around communication and accessibility - significantly affected our enjoyment. We had set it aside as part of a birthday weekend, expecting a relaxed, shared activity, but instead found ourselves second-guessing the game and stepping away from it out of frustration. That’s not the kind of experience a co-operative puzzletale should deliver.
For players who are experienced with puzzle games and aware of the potential pitfalls, there is still an inventive, engaging, and often delightful experience here. For those seeking a smooth, immersive, and accessible introduction to the genre, this may prove more frustrating than enjoyable.
With clearer guidance and fewer avoidable obstacles, this could easily have been a much stronger experience.
Zatu Review Summary
Score Zatu
50%
