Heresy: 1897

My god what a treat First let me give compliments to the staff we met on our journey through time. Alexandra, David, Annmarie and Paul were phenomenal. I cannot rave enough about what experiences they brought to the game but just to the weekend overall. They were gracious enough to spend time after our games this weekend and it was just a treat to get to chat for a bit. The room; my favorite of the two but both were must-play games Superb immersion and story telling. This is a narrative first experience which I love. The puzzles were great but the story really pushed the game play and I finished the room immediately wanting to replay to see other story outcomes (different outcomes are possible) If you want to see what live actors can truly do for a room; this is a pinnacle of the art. Tidbits: Park towards the “center”. None of the doors open into a business so just walk in any of them. The doors to the “mall” bring you to common hallways and you can just walk to the signs to bring you to Doors It’s near the public bathroom Easy parking Amazing staff

There were 6 experienced players in our group and we had a lot of fun. I personally enjoyed 1917 more but this room was also very good. I believe most of the others in my group liked this room more. The character actors in both rooms were amazing. Set designs and story lines were very good. Puzzles were good but these rooms are more about the overall experience and interaction with the character actors than it is about the quantity of puzzles. I love that you can replay the rooms and have multiple different story arcs. As several others have mentioned, my only two complaints would be the noise coming from other rooms kills the vibe of the room and finding the door to the place was very difficult. Give yourself a few extra minutes to locate the proper entrance. I would love to see them fix both these issues.

While nothing really stuck me as unique or innovative in individual puzzles within the room, but the idea of multiple possible arcs strikes me as pretty cool. I’ve done other rooms where there’s some light story arc interconnecting other rooms, but none that stuck me with the idea of multiple pathways for each room providing a chance for true replay ability and it has been, and my team mates looking forward to continuing the current pathway with Madness:1917, but also seeing how replay-able the rooms can be. Few small annoyances, better notes on finding the rooms once at the complex’s street address would have been useful. Eventually found the main entrance although didn’t help the front desk was empty when we arrived. Once started in the game room, there were also a small mechanical problems with one puzzle but easily resolved by the game op/character actor without breaking the mood or flow of the game Overall, awesome use of live actors to be the game master, giving subtle clues when needed, and great responses when the team surprised them. Couple of my team mates are involved with community theatre and enjoy trying to break actors when they can, and the two characters we had for our time slot stayed in character flawlessly.

The experience was interesting, and the actor did a great job, but it wasn’t as interactive as I expected. The environment looked good, but it’s in a warehouse and you can hear the other game happening, which made following the storyline difficult. The puzzles were good, but nothing super unique (and sometimes lacked guidance) It was confusing regarding the “choices” elements. Lots of potential. We liked our introduction character at the bar a lot!

We did this room twice, and it was an inconsistent experience. Our first bartender was great; our second was not into it and seemed unprepared. The first time, it was a pretty smooth experience. The second time, we had two main puzzles have tech issues. The actor was great both times. I also wish it was easier to make sure that the path is different for the second play through.

The puzzles and atmosphere were awesome. My only reservation is the warehouse space. As someone with “neurospice” it did make it challenging to focus on the audio in the room and there was a struggle to focus. The actors were amazing and everyone was welcoming. Overall amazing experience.

Room was great but needs to be seasoned. Looking forward to continuing the story. Props are amazing and actors are great. Everyone needs training in the operations of the room.

I am sure this room will be fantastic once seasoned, but would not recommend going anytime close to this review date; there were a number of issues with our experience that really ruined our time here, including a technical glitch that prevented something from opening. We toggled the correct switch immediately at the start of the game, and yet the GMs let us get frustrated for 10 minutes before they finally came in and wrenched the thing open (with force we were warned not to use). It took them several minutes to get it working again, too. There was also a puzzle you could solve out of order, so it made the completion noises, but nothing else happened because it was too early. That confused us and we wasted too much time trying to figure it out. Another two puzzles didn’t work because the rfid chips didn’t take, and we had to redo them. Also, one of the doors was not locked and we ended up in an area of the experience we weren’t supposed to enter yet, plus the GM door was open so we ended up behind the scenes as well. The sound on the videos and VOs were difficult to hear due to the warehouse environment, and the choose your own adventure aspect of the game was mostly relegated to chance rather than informed choice. This resulted in part of the room having clues you weren’t supposed to use, resulting in feeling like we had paid double to play half of an escape room. On the plus side, the puzzles, environment, actors, and concept are all excellent. We expect this will be a phenomenal experience once everything is functioning correctly.