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0 Scholar’s Mate is an immersive first-person horror Escape Room experience developed and published by JanduSoft. This game is the next in the line of games developed by JanduSoft, quite different from the previously developed ones. Scholar’s Mate puts you in the shoes of a young woman called Judith. Judith has to escape an eerie psychiatric hospital putting you through a series of escape room-type challenges with a small twist!
Scholar’s Mate is available on the PlayStation store right now!
No thanks, buddy!
Gameplay
The gameplay in Scholar’s Mate is quite a simple concept but innovated in the right way! Judith has to find clues in books and notes to be able to solve puzzles, which puts her closer to being able to escape. Your basic movement is a thumbstick to move and X to interact. You use R1 and R2 to enable and disable your flashlight which is an odd choice however it works! You sometimes use the right thumb stick to interact with certain puzzles, which can feel a little awkward sometimes but apart from that the control scheme is simple and straightforward.
Scholar’s Mate gives you a variation of puzzles to face, my favourite would have been the chess piece puzzle, I won’t spoil it but it’s very fun if you’re even a small chess nerd (like myself)! The game has a few very frustrating puzzles which I had to consult with my partner on as I felt they were a little hard to grasp, however, for someone who really enjoys a challenge, Scholar’s Mate will do just that. Challenge you!
The game adds a variant to the escape room formula by putting in an ‘enemy’ which will look out for you and chase you down. You have to be smart and route him through the facility. There is a knack to this and provides an extra edge to the game and definitely kept me on my toes!
Graphics & Audio
The graphics and audio make the game shine as it immerses you into the facility and the thrill of the chase. The graphics are sometimes hard to tell from the real world, especially with some of the details on small objects in the facility. I am quite nitpicky when it comes to little details and Scholar’s Mate does not disappoint. The sound design is fantastic, creating a very immersive and tense experience. Having to hide from the gruesome man and hearing him stomping around the corner had my heart racing! Every crack and creak was well heard through my headphones and made the experience so much better.
I will say the death animation being separated with a black screen suddenly was very odd and is the only thing I had an issue with. It takes out the immersion and the animation being the same did get a little tedious. Especially when you get caught a lot due to silly mistakes!
Longevity
Scholar’s Mate is a quick and valuable experience of an escape room. The game takes around 2-3 hours to complete and provides a solid experience all around. In terms of replayability? Well unless you want to watch a friend struggle with puzzles for 2-3 hours there isn’t much in terms of this. Maybe that’s your kind of entertainment, I won’t judge!
Final Thoughts
Overall Scholar’s Mate provides a very different take on an escape room game. With a tense atmosphere and plenty of puzzles to keep your brain busy. However, I will say the game is quite short and offers not much else apart from this. The audio is where the game shines and is a positive to take away from the experience. I hope the developers use this well in their upcoming games! If you are looking for a quick experience and to spend a small amount of money to keep yourself entertained then Scholar’s Mate will reach that expectation!
Scholar’s Mate receives the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
If you enjoyed this review, check out my previous one here!
Disclaimer: A code was received to write this review.
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