There have been growing calls for inquiry, a practice-oriented way of engaging students in authentic scientific work, yet research has shown some challenges that might impede inquiry practices in educational settings. In this study, we proposed an approach that blends educational gaming with physical experiments. We developed an educational game, "Scialience," with its narrative designed to bridge the virtual and the real in a way that requires players to switch between gameplay and real experiments in the physical laboratory by applying inquiry practices. We examined whether this blended learning approach was effective in engaging students in science learning. A quasi-experimental approach with a single-group pre-test-post-test design was employed and 39 Taiwanese 11th graders (aged 16-17 years) took part. The results showed that "Scialience" was effective in improving subject-matter understanding and its positive effect on long-term retention was evident. The use of "Scialience" also increased students' inquiry experiences and cognitive and social engagement.