
vaxis2113
270 escape rooms
First off, ignore the description and title of the room. You’re not under fire: You’re defusing a bomb and foiling a terrorist plot. While I personally was intrigued by the promise of a more intense room that simulated war, Mystery Escape still brought something different to the table. This atypical objective was about finding information about the terrorists and then defusing their bomb. The room has a healthy combo of tech and traditional locks. When the solves are clean and obvious, it’s very fair and satisfying; alas, it can be difficult to know which puzzles go with which locks (and in some cases, it’s nigh impossible).
Gameplay
Fairly non-linear gameplay, which is nice. There were some
Atmosphere
There was a cane we had to use in the game and a cane-shaped hole. However, the hole just contained wires. There were other points with exposed wires, which made sense for a junked cafe, but considering other rooms of theirs suffer from the same problem, I doubt it was intentional. For secret rooms, they are barely finished and sometimes not polished at all on one side.
Customer service
Particularly interesting or different
Yes
Kind of... You have a goal beyond defusing a bomb; you additionally must answer 3 questions about the terrorists. While a cool concept, I wish there were a more satisfying way to input this information. You instead simply right it down and tell the game master, who is not in character.
Story
The story presented on their website is markedly different than the actual story of the game. You are not escaping a war zone. There is never gunfire. Terrorists have instead hacked a puzzle cafe to hide the details of their attack, and you must find out 3 key pieces of information and then defuse a bomb! It’s a thin story, but it works!
Difficulty
Hard
Scary
Not scary
There are no sound effects for the bomb or the warzone. The description makes this sound like a tense experience, but it's anything but.
Was anything broken?
Yes
The bomb itself stopped working at the end when defusing. The timer stopped about 5 minutes into the game. The GM had to come in to help with the bomb and did stop our time.
Live actors
No
Physically active
Not at all
Easy to find location
Yes
Parking
Easy