The Gate

Rating: 3.5/5 - Solid theming and puzzles, inspired by Stargate Pros: ➕Fairly immersive set, it was decorated floor to ceiling and looked pretty good ➕More than a single room to explore ➕Lots of lighting and sound effects, ambient audio ➕Puzzles were mostly enjoyable with a good variety ➕Mostly tech (RFID, maglocks, buttons/switches, screens), only a couple of padlocks. The padlocks were used appropriately where they made sense to the theme. ➕Some tactile/physical interactions ➕Inspired by the Stargate movie and TV series, though the storyline is different ➕Room is a bit dark but they do provide some handheld lighting and there are motion activated lights too. Phone flashlights are allowed in the first room. ➕GM was friendly and helpful when needed Room for improvement: ➖Sound effects weren't always working and sometimes sounded jumbled ➖One puzzle wasn't very intuitive for our team due to having different ways to interpret it and multiple locks of the same time on a single box. It would've been more clear if there was just a single lock. ➖Ending could've been more climactic ➖Nothing was provided to write on I'd recommend teams of 2-3 enthusiasts. No crawling or climbing. Mostly non-scary with some very mild spookiness. My ranking of the rooms at this company so far, starting with my favorite: 1. Blackwater Harbor (Novi) 2. The Gate (Novi) 3. Black Cat Fortune Teller (Brighton) 4. The Butcher (Mini room at Novi) 5. The Elevator (Mini room at Novi)

Overall this was a very solid room. The set design was interesting due to a mix of a couple different vibes. Overall it wasn't my favorite at this location, but was still very solid. Gameplay generally flowed well, though there was 1 part that I don't think my group would have gotten without a clue. There was also a section that had to be reused a few times, of which I am generally not a huge fan. Solid room though, I enjoyed it.

Good atmosphere. I enjoyed most of the puzzles. The room wasn't set up correctly, and the last two locks were so faded you couldn't read the numbers. Otherwise it was fun.

The room was very well produced and plays on a pop culture theme that isn't done everywhere (Stargate). The puzzles largely made sense / worked as expected, though there were a few hard to find places where you struggle to figure out what to do with a tool or clue. We used 4 hints and 2 of those probably saved use from just looking around for "the spot" for many minutes so if you start to get stuck, don't be a hero and ask for the clue so you can continue with actual puzzle solved verse a scavenger hunt. Our game master was very clear with the hints, almost to the point of they could be slightly more cryptic, but over all I think it kept us moving along and in one of those cases, we had overlooked something that we would have cursed ourselves for later. There is one puzzle that seems a little more disconnected that we would have liked, but I suppose that's subjective. All in all, we had a good time and felt clever at the end, so ... good stuff.

One of our favorite rooms here, and we’ve done them all except the emporium. A few fairly original puzzles. Hate that so many things have to be labeled “Do not touch”. Ruins the immersion a bit. There is also quite a lecture about all the things you shouldn’t touch or how to interact with certain things (ie) twist don’t push. Takes away from the fun of figuring things out.

Super cool!!! Great puzzles but some were a bit confusing. They make it seem super scary but not very scary at all.

We really enjoyed this room. Really cool set design and fun puzzles. The room was covered in “Do not touch labels” which ruins the immersion, but I would suggest it to anyone.

Cool and unique game!! We were told to do a lot of other rooms to practice to build up to this room because it was so hard. It was tough, but nowhere near as hard as it was made out to be lol. Lots of fun though!

I really enjoyed this one! Puzzles were interesting and not typical which added to the experience. This room wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be since it was supposed to be the hardest room at this location.

We liked this room a lot. Good puzzles and atmosphere. Minimal lock/key which is always fun. This was labeled as hard by the location, but we struggled more on their medium rooms than this one lol.