Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 11:14 am
Escape the Dark Castle – Board Game Review
Escape the Dark Castle is a Board/Entertainment/Adventure game from Themeborne Ltd, first launched in 22nd April 2021.
It’s rated 9+ and currently has 26+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Escape the Dark Castle Stand Out
Track your prisoners’ stats in style with the Escape the Dark Castle companion app, featuring atmospheric sound and animation that blend with and enhance the tabletop experience.
Sitting alongside your character card, the companion app offers the following features:
• Track your Prisoner HP
Brutal heavyweight shackles represent your prisoners current HP. Press and drag to see the chain-links glow and rattle as you adjust your HP, while a tension building heartbeat increases in speed as you draw closer to death!
• Record your Plague Level
The Plague menu allows you to keep track of your plague level using tally marks as directed by the game rules. When you pass a Plague Threshold an animation is triggered – automatically adjusting your HP on the shackles.
• Manage Companions
When Companions enter the game, select them via the Companions drop-down menu, where you can adjust their HP and trigger their special abilities to mirror their in-game actions.
• Access Digital Rules and FAQ
Via the Settings menu you can access browser-based searchable digital rules and FAQ to help you get quick clarifications during play without hunting through the physical rule book.
• Connected Soundtrack
The settings menu also has links to the atmospheric ETDC soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp – meaning you can easily play it in the background, combining with the SFX from this app for full immersion into your dark adventure.
• Solo or Local Multiplayer
You can play a 2-prisoner solo game on one smartphone, or Host a game which up to three other players can Join using their own devices. During hosted games, all player’s prisoner names and HP levels are displayed in real time on each device, and you will phase in and out of game states together as a group for maximum atmospheric connectivity.
• Pass the virtual ‘YOU’ token
Tap on the YOU icon and a list of your fellow prisoners will be displayed. Choose who to pass the token to and you’ll hear a heavy metallic sound on that players' device as the token lands with them!
• Free Integrated Death Book!
When your prisoner dies, enter the code of the card which finished you off and the app will display your doom – a contextual death scene to read aloud and bring full narrative closure to the story. The Death Book is normally sold separately for £9.99 but is included and integrated here for free!
Please note:
-A copy of the Escape the Dark Castle board game is required to use this application.
-This application is compatible with iOS 11 onwards.
-An internet connection is required to use the network features of this application.
-This application is limited to one user per device.
Escape the Dark Castle © Copyright 2017-2021 Themeborne Ltd. Escape the Dark,
Escape the Dark Castle, the Escape the Dark Castle logo, Themeborne and the
Themeborne logo are either ® or ™, and/or © Themeborne Ltd, registered in the UK. All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission. Actual components may vary from those shown. Themeborne Ltd is located at Kirkham. House, Norwich, NR3 2AG, UK. www.themeborne.com
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Escape the Dark Castle is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 19th May 2021
Recent improvements include:
Audio bug fixed.
Download & Availability
Escape the Dark Castle is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Escape the Dark Castle on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
This app is really fun and adds to the overall vibe. We love the graphics and design. The music and sound effects are top notch and really add to the atmosphere. We also dont mind the $0.99 charge. A really simple addition that would bring huge value would be a soundboard. We really loved the text on the chapter cards, and having a soundboard of simple creepy sounds that make sense (gurgling, swinging axes, shield bashes, screeches, etc.) would be so fun and be even more functional.
Kinda lame you have to have your friends all buy the app too instead of one person buying the game and hosting it. Like jackbox or something. Otherwise its cool.
The board game is great fun. However, this app is really not worth the money. As a previous poster said, this really needs to be used with all players using the app. And even the. We are unsure what that experience would be. Also, you cant use it in solo mode or just as a digital way to track your characters progress alone. Also, the rules are not available in the app nor is the FAQ, it basically sends you the website. Which is dumb because then why have the app? It does have a really well designed user interface and a beautiful sound ambiance. Still, you could use Spotify for your aural experience and their website for content you might need. We really wanted love this app. But it just doesnt have anything we need to play the game that isnt already online.
The board game is great, and we bought this mostly because it had the death book. But am we really to expect all of our friends to buy it too? What if we have someone new? Do we require them to buy it as well? This app is great for single player, but there really needs to be free version that allows friends to only join games. Hosting can still be behind a paywall.
The app does not seem to be worth the 2 dollars. Not very intuitive design and buggy overall.
We love Escape the Dark Castle and the idea of an app to keep track of HP and have a virtual death book is great. Unfortunately, even though you have to pay $1.99 there are so many bugs and issues that makes the experience frustrating. Themeborne really needs to overhaul this app or at least make it free. We also dont like how every person in the party needs to pay for the app in order to use it. If theres a paywall, it should only be there if you want to host a game or play solo, but not everyone playing should have to pay 1.99 for this.
A lot of app add little except a distraction to a game, ending up as little more than cumbersome single use calculators. Not the case here. Clearly carefully designed to fit the mood of the game and to work with rather than against you this app adds a great deal to the standard play experience. A pleasure to have purchased.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.1
- Size: 48.42 MB
- iOS: 11.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
- Developer: Themeborne Ltd
Last updated: 19th May 2021 | Genre: Board, Entertainment | Developer: Themeborne Ltd