The Sick Colleague is an Escape Room video game, created by Bitbeast Games, a one-man indie development company based in Germany.
This is Bitbeast Games’ third title, created in the developer’s spare time, which is undoubtedly an achievement of its own.
The premises of the game
The Sick Colleague is a typical Escape Room game, where you as the player have to solve a number of puzzles that will lead you to your freedom. The game has a multiplayer mode so you can experience this with your friends.
There are two rooms to choose from on the start page. The one reviewed below is the second on the list, Barbara’s story.
The room
You find yourself trapped in a small room that looks like a storage. There is an old fridge, a shelf with what appears to be random items on it, an old study, and some storage boxes.
You need to search the place thoroughly and move the objects around to figure out every clue that will take you one step closer to your very much-desired escape.
The starting area has quite a few puzzles to solve before you can find and unlock the door to the next location.
If you are not familiar with this game style, expect to spend a good amount of time in there.
But if you have played your fair share of adventure or puzzle games in the past, you may not find it as hard.
Admittedly I’m a novice in this genre, so figuring out the clues was quite a challenge for me.
Luckily, I didn’t play it alone but with an experienced adventure gamer who did the majority of puzzle-solving.
I will not go into much detail to avoid spoiling it for you, but let’s just say that the word “sick” does not refer to a flu or a cold, but to something more disturbing*.
The plot thickens – or becomes clearer if you like – and the clues become more interesting and at times frustrating.
Things that will be useful to you: pattern recognition, pen and paper to write down things and knowledge of other “languages”… and I say languages vaguely.
The graphics of the game
The title is created with Unity but the graphics are very simple so don’t expect realistic illustrations. However, we can all agree that what makes a game great is the story and not the graphics.
However, you may ask yourself, how interesting do you find this story? How much do you enjoy puzzle-solving?
If you like dark secrets, hard-core puzzle-solving, patterns, and you have good observation skills then this title is for you.
If you don’t find yourself enthusiastic about any of the aforementioned features, then perhaps this game is not the best choice for you.
As I mentioned before, I’m not an experienced puzzle gamer – even though I have enjoyed two of the “We Were Here” series.
Having said that, my evaluation is that this game’s puzzles are on the hard side of the scale.
Consider yourself warned, or encouraged, whichever you prefer.
You can download The Sick Colleague for free on Steam.
Disclaimer: In my attempt to be transparent, we found some puzzles particularly hard that we had to consult a walkthrough. So yeah, they are not for the faint at heart.
*The game implies disturbing subjects (illegal activities) so if you are sensitive I don’t recommend you play this.