# Escape the Dark Castle — user reviews > 21 indexed App Store user reviews of Escape the Dark Castle by Themeborne, rated 3.20/5 from 28 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/escape-the-dark-castle/id1536894316/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/escape-the-dark-castle/id1536894316.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 10 · 4★ 4 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 8 ## Newest reviews (2 of 21) ### 2/5 — Needs Work *2023-05-08, version 1.1* I 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. I also don’t like how every person in the party needs to pay for the app in order to use it. If there’s 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. ### 2/5 — Wouldn’t recommend *2021-09-18, version 1.1* Wouldn’t recommend buying this if you are not planning to play with multiple expansions. Only includes a sliding chain that helps you to keep track of hit points. Needs internet connection for soundtrack and other features. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Cool in theory… *2026-05-26, version 1.1* The fact that each player needs to pay is insane, and feels a bit scammy. Micro-transactions in a physical game is crazy. ### 1/5 — Pointless *2025-03-29, version 1.1* Not intuitive. Doesn’t work. Waste of money. ### 1/5 — App simply doesn’t work DO NOT BUY *2024-09-07, version 1.1* Downloaded for our first game, no music or sound. Select prisoner screen worked, clicked escape and next screen is frozen. Can’t track health or anything. App just doesn’t work. Do not buy ### 1/5 — Terrible *2024-01-02, version 1.1* A waste of money. The links to the FAQs and rules don’t work. The animation is minimal. The music is on another website. Hopeless. ### 1/5 — False advertising *2023-12-05, version 1.1* The app in the description clearly calls out that the death book is included a €9.99 value. That’s just plain bollocks. That does not include that and honestly barely works quite badly put together save your money, even though it is just two dollars. ### 1/5 — Garbage *2023-10-18, version 1.1* This is a half baked app that was not fully developed. Hot point tracking is basically not functional. Special effects do not exist but are an option. What functionality does exist is not very intuitive. It's as though app was an afterthought and attempt at a cash grab. The fact that every player has to buy the app to play on it together is the first clue the developer wants more money from you. Before you waste your money, understand that the app is not needed to play the game and it only makes play more cumbersome and detracts from the experience... ### 1/5 — Rubbish!!! *2023-05-29, version 1.1* The rules don’t appear nor do the faq’s - just get error codes and Page not available message. I thought it’d be a companion app to assist with keeping track of HP whilst playing the actual game but it only wants to assist in solo mode. Waste of £1.99!!! I’m deleting it ### 1/5 — Just use paper instead. *2021-11-01, version 1.1* The only app I’ve seen that isn’t actually as good as pen and paper. Only good if you play by yourself. Got the app to track health. Can’t pick multiple characters for a local game. Waste of money just use paper. ### 2/5 — Nice idea but *2026-04-23, version 1.1* I thought this would be a true companion app for playing with friends locally, in person. But it seems each person needs to own the app. That is a no go. I was hoping I could use this one (paid) app instance on a single ipad to track all of our hp and add a soundtrack. Does not seem to work that way. I regret the $1 purchase since I don’t see us using this app at all while playing. ### 2/5 — Would not recommend *2023-12-31, version 1.1* The app does not seem to be worth the 2 dollars. Not very intuitive design and buggy overall ## Most praised reviews (9 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Wonderful App for an Incredible Game *2026-08-09, version 1.1* I played the Dark Castle… ONE GAME… with my sons. Instantly fell in love with it. I purchased the Kickstarter collectible kit and discovered there was a companion app. The app is great - simple to use and it’s never let me down. I love that - if you lose - you can put the card code in the app and it will provide you the end of life narrative that an extremely rare book (I couldn’t acquire one) would have provided. My only wish is that the app allowed for more than 4 players. For a family of 5, this is regrettable. ### 5/5 — Death book *2024-02-08, version 1.1* I only bought this for the Death book that’s included..You get to see this at the end of your game when your dead! ### 5/5 — Good Fun *2023-02-18, version 1.1* Fun little addition to the game, really enjoyed having the “deaths” book built into the app ( if you die you can put the card info in and it’ll give you a little paragraph about how you die). Definitely not essential but for £2 pounds you can’t go far wrong. ### 5/5 — Fantastic *2021-05-20* The game is fantastic, I love the graphics and the easy play ### 5/5 — Fantastic companion app! *2021-04-22, version 1.0* 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. ### 4/5 — Very neat, could be more functional *2025-12-26, version 1.1* This app is really fun and adds to the overall vibe. I love the graphics and design. The music and sound effects are top notch and really add to the atmosphere. I also don’t 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. ### 4/5 — More than one purchase is wack. *2021-09-18, version 1.1* 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 it’s cool! ### 3/5 — Not that great….don’t bother with ot. *2023-11-05, version 1.1* 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. I am unsure what that experience would be. Also, you can’t use it in solo mode or just as a digital way to track your character’s 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. I really wanted love this app. But it just doesn’t have anything I need to play the game that isn’t already online. ### 3/5 — Love the game, but app cost is weird *2023-05-08, version 1.1* The board game is great, and I bought this mostly because it had the death book. But am I really to expect all of my friends to buy it too? What if we have someone new? Do I 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. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-28.*