Box Two Presented By Neil Patrick Harris Game

Worse than Box One. Talking to a bot really killed it. The lid with no lights sucked too. QR code puzzle was pretty bad too.

Way too physical for a board game. Spent more time running up and down the stairs for tools out of my toolkit than playing the game. Most of the puzzles are about physically manipulating the complex box than brain teasers.

Very disappointing. We kept waiting for a surprise or twist -none. In the game you text with an Ai bot and it kept giving us the answers. It was not fun.

I was really looking forward to this game since I enjoyed Box One so much. The quality of this game is top notch and you can tell they put a lot of effort and time into creating it. That said, I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as Box One. Not to spoil things, but there’s a lot of involvement on the website which I didn’t love. One of the tasks was frustratingly difficult for the sake of being difficult. But overall it’s a good game and can be put back together to be replayed.

Box One was a lot of fun--it had a great story, the interaction was lively and the puzzles were not too hard or too easy. I walked away from the experience feeling like I had gotten my money's worth. However, I can't say the same about Box Two. The story is thin or non-existent, the puzzles rely on technology conceits that do not work well, and the entire experience left me feeling disappointed. The interaction seemed forced, and the chatbot component was poorly written and hard to interact with. NPH, who I usually love, came across as too frenetic, too cheesy, too...much. His mugging was over the top and did not serve the storyline. The puzzle props were cheap and did not often function the way they were supposed to. The major component (the "second box") was hard to use and frustratingly difficult to see/read. (They should have just included small, cheap LED flashlights to help.) If and when there is a Box Three, I will wait to read more about it before buying. I really feel like this one was a waste of time and money.

Had an absolute blast playing BoxTwo. NPH took BoxOne, and turned it up to 11! The gameplay was smooth, and thoroughly enjoyable. Great gift for game enthusiasts, or for someone wanting to enhance their thinking skills.

Whole game is chatting with a bot that feeds you the answers. It gives you step by step, there is no way to solve the puzzles on your own, which is the joy of this type of game. Very disappointed. The quality of the game pieces and box is very nice though.

I vaguely remember box one but I do know it was much better than box two. This one lost me on the back and forth where I was supposedly teaming up with someone on the web(ai). If you've completed box one then yes box two is a must. However if you've never done box one then pass on box two.

**This review contains spoilers** I am such a huge supporter of Neil Patrick Harris and Theory 11’s work on Box One. I recommended it to all my friends and proudly lent my box out to others once I had finished and reset it. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Box Two. Box Two felt like a hodgepodge of different ideas that had no narrative through-line. Despite some beautiful props, this game was more frustrating than it was fun, not due to any sort of puzzle difficulty, but because most of the game is someone telling you exactly what to do, and because certain props like the stopwatch were jam shut and required dangerous levels of extreme force to open. Not to mention the QR code puzzle without edge pieces which is an exercise in patience. From reading Reddit and talking to my friends, it seems like many people opt out of completing this puzzle entirely and find the solution online. This design choice really hurts the player’s momentum early in the game. The box itself has the tagline, “Your first choice will change everything.” After finishing the game, I realized I didn’t even have a choice and was disappointed that the game would tee up some sort of big “decision” that never even existed. If they had tied the illusion of choice into the narrative somehow I would be okay with this, but it was just a false promise. Ultimately, it’s disappointing to have to give Box Two a negative review because there’s so much potential here and I have seen what the team is capable of with their prior work. Specifically, the craftsmanship of the box itself is very clever, but it felt like it was never really integrated into the rest of the story. Even the final meta puzzle has no tie to the overall game itself. I really wonder what went wrong here.

Great game! Well thought out and put together.

What a fun game! I loved box 2 and was so excited for this game. Definitely a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Super fun and interesting—very high quality. Loved Neil Patrick Harris’ energy!

Fun and challenging game! Definitely worth buying!

Amazing product. Had a wonderful time completing this. Any fan of challenging riddles and puzzles would love this. Great designs!

This was a fun game , but it wasn’t nearly as good as Box One.. Box One was amazing! This one relies too much on an online “partner”. It has fun and clever tricks/game elements.. but make sure you have a a good flashlight on hand and your vision up close is good.. trying to see things can be awkward and challenging.. I’m glad I bought it and played with it.. but I wasn’t in awe like box one!

Love the creative and physical problem solving

Let me preface by saying I absolutely LOVED box one. Box two left a lot to be desired. It was frustrating, the puzzles didn’t flow. Why was there a mechanical room at all? There was no real story line, just a bunch of random stuff. The chat interface was horrible. I got stuck on one puzzle and just wanted the answer, I had to go to Reddit to get it. They need a better help system. That being said, I love NPH and enjoyed his videos and involvement. I liked the puzzles that didn’t involve the mechanical room. It wasn’t horrible, it just didn’t live up to box one.

NPH did it again. It is hard to capture that escape room feel in a single player experience, but this might be the closest I've ever seen. Definitely worth the price of admission.

This is by far the best game I have ever played! It's exciting and gets you to use your brain and it's perfect for those that love solving puzzles!

Love love loved it! Just as much as the first. Such a great family night activity!