The Ladder

I liked it and I greatly respect the ambition, effort, and level of craft that went into making it. We played it twice on the same day and I am glad we did. But I would not be interested in playing it a third time and I didn’t really enjoy the first playthrough all that much either (just too rushed and stressful). So I am not sure how I feel about a room that you have to play twice to get good enough at it and to basically be able to reuse certain information that you picked up the first time. Recommended, but for me Lab Rat is better. Nevertheless, I think that The Ladder is a must-play for any escape room or interactive storytelling enthusiast. There are some genuinely astonishing moments.

Hatch escapes never disappoints. When you have done so many rooms, it’s hard to be impressed but I’d say this room is in my top 5. This was the shortest 90 mins of my life! The Ladder is wayyyy too advanced for its time. It’s not really your traditional lock and key escape room. Rooms will follow in their footsteps. HIGHLY recommend for all enthusiast. I would not recommend this for a first time escape roomer. The mechanics were incredible, the puzzles were novel, and the sheer # of games/puzzles were crazy. It’s worth the $85 pp.

SO much fun! This game is wonderfully designed to be many things: interesting, deeply replayable, endlessly hilarious, crazily ambitious, but most of all it is just so much FUN! A game so nice I -in the same week- played it twice and will return for thrice.

one of the most ambitious games i’ve ever played. it’s hard to imagine you can get an ideal experience the first time playing, but if you go in with the intention of replaying and going for a higher score, this game could be really revolutionary for the community as a whole. lots to do and i didn’t even get over 60% of what can be experienced.

I wanted to like this. I REALLY wanted to like this, but after numerous mechanical breakdowns (including an entire room that did not work) our experience was quite the let down. Granted this is a fun concept and it is not a traditional escape room, I just felt that there was way too much involved, a-lot of repetitive tasks, and for the price point it's kinda hard to see this as a room that I would like to come back and play just to see the other options.

This room can get tedious and feels very rushed. I know it’s to make it replayable but it got frustrating at times and left us feeling unsatisfied. It’s lots of non-puzzle tasks to complete so it’s fun for a group that isn’t too into puzzling. I prefer more interesting puzzles but I can see that this kind of room has an audience who would love the structure.

I waited for them to be done with this room (and work out the kinks). It was so fantastic. It is non traditional and it is sort of video game adjacent but it was great. I will say, it is DIFFICULT with a small number of players. We had 7 (including a first timer) and we struggled to complete everything and did not finish all objectives. We will be going back to try again! It was so much fun! Highly recommend

The amount of work and care that went into this experience is borderline overwhelming. It’s a real achievement of what is possible in this medium. The tech involved is Disney level impressive. Can’t say enough nice things about this, I can’t wait to come back with my family.

A must play game. This is the escape room that really and truly feels like a video game. It’s an absolute blast to play and an absolutely insane creation. I kept marveling at how Extra the whole thing was. For the skeptics out there, yes, it’s non traditional, but it absolutely works.

Absolutely ambitious and audacious. There is absolutely something for everyone in this carnival of elevated escape room puzzles, arcade games, sideshow amusements, communication challenges, and dynamic storytelling. My first play left me laughing, scratching my head, and picking my jaw up off the floor. An ill-advised back-to-back playthrough revealed many of the seams and limitations. The puzzle track is rather simple to knock out on a second playthrough, but if you are in mixed company, you will be encouraged to let the new players try their hand at the puzzles. This can lead to frustration when a fraction of time separates you from completing all the puzzles. That said, the puzzle track is rarely as interesting as the surrounding activities, as those are dynamic in a way the puzzle track shockingly isn't. Also, while the final room of The Ladder promises a new experience for six playthroughs, many other rooms in The Ladder will force players into repeating content on play #2, let alone #6. Hatch made a wonderful experience that is replayable, though not in the ways many enthusiasts may hope for. Still, The Ladder shows a way for escape rooms to ascend to a higher level, while also emphasizing that there's still much room for improvement.