I always forget that The Escape Game groups strangers together, and once again, we got paired with strangers 😫. Our group of 3 ended up in a room full of 10, which honestly felt overcrowded (even if we had known everyone). At best, it was chaotic, and at worst, it was frustrating - with so many people, we barely got to participate in a lot of the puzzles and left feeling like we missed half the game.
That being said, the set design is solid. The room is immersive and aesthetically pleasing to look at.
Lots of cool puzzles, some lame ones. One puzzle, which is supposed to trigger a mag lock to open after solved, did not work, and after staring at it for several minutes, the answer pops up on the screen, but when cross checking with our solution, we confirmed we already had it right. Another few minutes of standing there went by as we watched the game master’s mouse travel aimlessly across the screen in confusion… and then, the mag lock was manually triggered. As someone who works at an escape room, I get that sometimes tech doesn’t work perfectly, but as a game master, you should be watching/listening closely, so that if the team has a correct answer, you can ensure it triggers the next thing properly. In the grand scheme of things this was a minor issue, but frustrating as the whole ordeal wasted about ten minutes.
Another thing about this one is that there are FAR too many useless props in this room. Cabinets full of items with detailed labels… that aren’t used at all for the game. I’m all for decor, but this just felt like too much.
The final puzzle is also very strangely designed. Without spoiling anything, it’s basically designed to intentionally construe your perception of how much left you have to solve. That makes for a very underwhelming ending.
Despite the negativity in this review 🤣, I actually still recommend this game. I like the mix of logic and physical puzzles, and it’d be a great intro to escape rooms for newbies. On a spectrum of all escape rooms, this is high up there, but on a spectrum of Escape Game rooms, this is low.