iDventure The Heist. Bank robbery in real time. Live mission game. Crime escape room game. Detective game. Cold case files

We have enjoyed games from idVenture before so were keen to give this new concept of a "Live Mission" game a try. We played as a two on a dark Sunday afternoon. On opening the box we found a raft of paperwork - no physical objects, but a nice variety including leaflets, photos, maps and diagrams. The first letter introduces the case and instructs you to install the Telechat App which was new to us, but works really well. Once set up you work your way through the game using the chat to speak to an AI who helps you to get going, and then the three agents you have at your disposal. They will ask for information and instruction via the app. The game recommends that you split the agents between two or more players, but we installed the app onto a laptop and controlled all chats in the one interface, which we thought worked well as we could see all the information in one place like we had a mission control! The tasks you have to complete to find what you need to move on are great and varied - reading maps, finding clues amongst the paperwork, logic puzzles and viewing websites as well as sifting through information. We found the story progressed clearly and we loved how the agents communicated with us, it really felt as if there were real people chatting with you in real time, and sending media as well as text which added to the richness. Everything made sense and we never needed to use hints, we did guess wrongly on one puzzle, however, you are not met with the usual "try again" of other types of this game which feels unnatural, but rather they responded very realistically, and when we were told the correct answer we realised it was our fault and not a puzzle failing. We really enjoyed this game and it took us about an hour and a half to complete, all of which was enjoyable and we were never on any one part for too long. We certainly hope to see more in this format from the creators!

We played this last night with some friends. It was fun and somehow we managed to complete it. However its quite confusing and Im not sure any of knew what was really going on. It would be really helpful to have an explanation of how the game mechanics work. There are loads of documents included and Im sure we didnt look at several of them. Without realising it we alocated agents to ourselves and suddenly the game was starting. I ended up being the Bot and my role seemed to be giving clues the whole way through ? Its a very interesting concept though and the use of telegram worked well.

Looking at the other reviews for this game, I wonder if we got lucky when we played? My wife and I played this game as a team of two and found it worked perfectly and we didn't need any hints at all. Ok, when you start the game there is a bit of 'information overload' but once you get started with the 'team' via Telegram it all comes together nicely and it's easy to see where to go next.We had one minor tech issue where I think our stupidity broke the bot, but this was fixed quickly and we were able to continue with the game (I gather this bug has been fixed now too).It's a shame the game can only be played once as nothing in the game is destroyed when playing, but for the price, I imagine it could keep most teams busy for a while and offer decent value.I'd probably say this game steps away from the escape room genre a bit, as, yes there are puzzles to solve but really it plays out in a fast paced way that keeps you on your toes as you try and go through the information in front of you.We enjoyed the game and found it different to a lot of other games available (and we've played a number of them). It's worth a try if you want something different

Amazing. Just finished playing with my wife and we had the best time. We took all the materials from the box and studied, came up with plans, and hunted clues. At one point we were having so much fun we were concerned we were going too in-depth and the running of the heist would let us down. Boy were we wrong.We had some technical issues getting connected but once running all our work paid off. We felt like we were interacting with real people and had some tense moments when we didn't immediately know answers on how to proceed, but I literally punched the air when we worked it out after looking at our wall of investigation (yes we pinned everything up like a cop show).I finished and immediately looked for another game by the same guys. Unfortunately not another Live mission game at present (Ill definitely keep my eye out).ID Venture, you've got anew big fan and look forward to trying some of your other products. TAKE MY MONEY

Having played some of Idventures previous games I had a level of expectation for The Heist, I can happily say that the game exceeded these expectations. Well thought thru and well produced. My only critcicism goes hand in hand with one of my favourite features. The live "Real time" action requires The App Telegram with whom the user (Possibly all 4 players) must share their data, that may be a problem for some potential players. All in all a very enjoyable couple of hours. EDIT: It is now possible to choose between WhatsApp and Telegram which will make the game accessible to more people.