Nightfall: Creature At Camp DeadwoodThe Escape Ventures - Port CharlotteEscape roomIRLAbsolutely excellent! Our GM Jacob was hilarious and completely in character throughout the story, and we were fully immersed. The buildouts were very impressive and showed true vision and seemed to reflect real life experience. Space was also used in a really clever way. Everything from sights, textures, sound, dramatic pacing, and even scent was considered and added to the immersion. Definitely ask for hints if you’re stuck, as the puzzles are challenging and it is worth it to keep the drama going and make it through. We were thrilled and loving it the whole time, the story was spooky, exciting, and humorous, and our GM was professional and passionate. We were only passing through Port Charolette on a larger trip, but we will be back!
The CaretakerAmerica's Escape Game - TampaEscape roomIRLWe were blown away by this room. It’s immersive and atmospheric from beginning to end. Props, lighting, sounds, and materials were well chosen and really elevated the feeling of this experience. The room has some cool surprises, and is a little more physically demanding than it initially lets on, which I always find exciting, but can also be treacherous if you are unsteady and in a hurry. I love dark, spooky forest and cabin themes, and this room delivers all that and then some. We did need some hints, as some puzzles require slight leaps in reasoning (the kind of reasoning that would normally be helped along via a written letter or riddle, but instead we eventually had to ask for a hint), but this wasn’t a problem. Some puzzles were somewhat obscurely relevant to the story, but nothing pulled us out of the mysterious mood and dark rustic theme, so that’s a big plus. Overall a very atmospheric, immersive, surprising, and challenging fun room. I appreciate everything that went into making it and I really recommend it!
AsylumAmerica's Escape Game - TampaEscape roomIRLThis room begins very dim and dark, and my bat-blind eyes couldn’t figure out how to change that, so we were off to a slow fumbling start. But after finding a light source, things progressed relatively smoothly. Admittedly, themes about asylums and implications of human suffering aren’t my jam, but putting my lame personal sensitivities aside, the room was very well done and effective. Props were well chosen/well made, and each space was different from the next, and had some kind of story to tell, tying the whole experience together. There was a good scare which really got me off guard, but I actually loved how they did it and it was the perfect time for a little thrill to get the blood pumping and get us laughing. I really appreciated the commitment to the vision. Most puzzles progressed smoothly, with a few exceptions. Namely, it was one of the final puzzles that involved multiple layers of information, indicating an order of another string of numbers, indicating another set of other numbers, indicating ANOTHER set of numbers, all in hard-to-see areas…! As you can imagine, the limited visibility made communication difficult and resulted in a bit of scrabbling and redoing. But, when we’re toward the end of a timer, we do tend to get a little panicked! Just be ready to make connections, stay organized, and keep similar props together. I’m still more partial to their other room “The Caretaker”, which did a better job at keeping the mood fun-spooky (and away from sad-spooky), but overall “Asylum” was a well done room with great atmosphere.
FramedLockbox Escape RoomEscape roomIRLOof. It was an effort to make this one feel like fun. As soon as we were let into the room I thought “Is this it? This is seriously the room? Oh no.” Just a tiny plain white room, brightly lit, with some cabinets, and very sparse, dinky items. There was a cheap sign on the wall from a home decor store labeling what this room was supposed to even represent. “GARAGE”. Not even close. There was barely anything in the room. No set distressing, no atmospheric lighting, just white walls and bright overhead office lighting with a few cabinets and pictures. The intro video started, and the sound mixing was so imbalanced, that the bored narrator’s voice was at times completely drowned out by background sound. I’m glad I read the description online because the video alone was unintelligible. Regardless, the story is kind of silly and unrealistic, but less in an over the top ridiculous way (which is what I hoped for) and more in a muddy, half-baked-idea way. It’s unclear why we’re even in a garage and how we got locked in and what kind of evidence we’re even looking for, and why there are even clues among this guys random stuff to diffuse the villains bomb. The story really feels like the result of a gathering of friends shouting out conflicting ideas and stringing them together without realizing it’s nonsensical and unfulfilling. Almost all the puzzles are lock and key. It’s tedious, and there were some embarrassing and nonsensical baby-level puzzles, like “square peg goes in square hole, star peg in star hole”. There were other toy-like puzzles and such, but no explanation as to why they were in this otherwise serious setting. It just felt like lazy, artless, outdated puzzle design. Props were all either toys, laminated papers that looked like they’d been walked all over for 10+ years, or sensors covered in duct tape. The final puzzle items were most disappointing of all. When you’re expected to pretend a black and white printed out picture of an object IS the real object, one can only suspend disbelief for so long before feeling foolish. I love escape rooms, and have enjoyed many on my travels, even local homegrown ones… but this one needs to be reworked.
The Return of White House DownTime TrapEscape roomIRLRoom was arduous and unintuitive, but had potential. Lots of “NO” signs. Lobby was unmanned, no signage, no greeting. Another family walked in and was equally confused. Our Briefing was given to the wrong group. No apologies for such clumsiness. Host turned to us and finished the briefing, assuming we were listening to the first part that was directed at the other team. Host very gruff and seems a bit over it all. Afterward, Host talked to us in the room about the final puzzles with the door open, and next group seeing and hearing everything they were about to do. Use hints. The room has a LOT more puzzles than you think.
