Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
“DADDY! You got the next Exit Advent game?”
My daughter got excited when I brought the box up from the game closet to our kitchen island. That’s where last year’s entry, Exit: The Game—Advent Calendar: The Hunt for the Golden Book, lived for about three weeks as we worked through the 24 puzzles in that edition.
Our family thought The Hunt for the Golden Book was the best Exit game we have ever played, and maybe the best escape room / one-shot deduction puzzles we have yet tried. As I noted in my review, it is perfect for solo players or families who want a minor challenge spread across a number of 15-to-30-minute exercises for the brain.
Sure, the story behind The Hunt for the Golden Book was only OK. But all I need is a proper setup before diving into a puzzle, and that game had it. Exit: The Game—Advent Calendar: The Silent Storm (technically a 2022 release, but we got it during the summer of 2023 from our partners at KOSMOS) sets up another holiday mystery complete with interesting ways to solve a series of riddles.
If you have questions about how the Exit Advent games play, feel free to peruse my review of The Hunt for the Golden Book from last year. How did I feel about the new game?
Family First
Like last year’s play, my family and I completed the first 12 of the 24 included puzzles in time for this review. The main difference for us between The Hunt for the Golden Book and The Silent Storm has been the puzzle difficulty.
Both games claim to accommodate Beginner-level puzzle purists. However, we are finding that the majority of the puzzles in The Silent Storm have been easier than last year. If you are new to the franchise, I would start with The Silent Storm.
When the smoke clears on the Exit franchise, I really think we will say that these are the greatest puzzle games ever made. The creativity behind some of these puzzles is so good, and our family feels so clever each time we have the “a-ha” moment that leads to a successful solution. In particular, chapters 6, 7 and 8 all had these moments. In one case, it was my daughter, in another, my son made a suggestion that made all of us look at [solution deleted], and in another case, my daughter and my stepmother solved a puzzle before I could even get a chance to look at one chapter’s clue cards.
Which brings me to another point about these Exit Advent Calendar games: we are having fun with 4-5 different voices helping to solve each puzzle. But I think the sweet spot might be to have just one or two people doing each puzzle because everyone will really feel like they are a part of the solution.
I mentioned that in one case, while serving as the reader of that chapter’s intro, the rest of the group solved it before I even had the chance to take a look at the clue cards. I didn’t really mind, but later I thought more about having a chance at being a part of the solution celebration, however minor. That chance is taken away when you’ve got four smart people at the table and it becomes hard to get a voice in edgewise.
In a couple cases, we needed to check the solution booklet for our answers because no one could figure out where the game wanted to take us. That happens with each Exit game at some point, and The Silent Storm is no exception. I don’t even mind that any more because it’s a part of the process, but I was surprised that this happened twice in the first ten chapters alone. (I’m looking at you, Chapter 9!!)
Buy It, Stat
Exit: The Game–Advent Calendar: The Silent Storm is really good. The puzzles were better (both during the first 12 that I reviewed, but overall, after we finished last year’s box) in The Hunt for the Golden Book, but The Silent Storm is no slouch and features lots of creative ways to think through a problem.
The main edge I’ll give to The Silent Storm: I liked the story a little more this time! I thought the flavor text behind The Hunt for the Golden Book was sort of ridiculous. Not so this time around, providing a fun adventure set around Santa’s Workshop and throwing in some fun ideas about what it might be like to live and work at the Workshop.
For a gaming family (even one that is not religious, as the Exit Advent Calendar games don’t spend any time around the topic of religion), The Silent Storm is an excellent gift. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for next year’s release!!
Exit: The Game—Advent Calendar: The Silent Storm details
- Designer: Inka Brand, Markus Brand
- Artists: Thomas Hussung
- Publishers: 999 Games, IELLO, KOSMOS
- Release Date: 2022
- Player count : 1 - 4
- Age range : 10+
- Time range : 45 - 800 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Cooperative Game, Deduction, Solo / Solitaire Game, Storytelling
- BGG Geek Rating: 7.98888 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 4.0.
- More articles about Exit: The Game—Advent Calendar: The Silent Storm.
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