Plight of the Margo Part 1

A very challenging game with a modest story and very interesting, complicated set. Mixed feelings about this one as we played both Part 1 and 2 the same evening, so I’m writing one review to cover both, but giving different ratings to the two parts. Both parts contained challenging puzzles with limited signposting. Part 1 was more story driven and manageable. Our team of three experienced players finished Part 1 with five minutes to spare. The end of Part 1 felt abrupt, being mid-story, which worked but lacked an a-ha moment. Could have been more like a cliffhanger, but wasn’t. There were some cool mechanical special effects in Part 1 that have to be experienced! The expectations for Part 2 were HUGE. We didn’t come close to finishing and left very dis-spirited and somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things to do, even after the GM had suggested which challenges to focus upon first, we couldn’t get near the win state. Can’t fault the game, our team of 3 should have been 5-6 players! On the negative side, there were some puzzle parts that were extremely repetitive, especially some input mechanics. Signposting was limited—we had too much info, too many things in hand, to know which to use next or how to use it. At times we had to search for things that were not readily available, and once we found them, we didn’t know how to use them or even why to use them. Especially in Part 1, we had access to things we would not need until late in Part 2! Even with so much to do there were bottlenecks in linear fashion that caused big delays in progress, which really added to the frustration in Part 2, Plight of the Margo is an ambitious escape room that deserves kudos for attempting something big. It is a unique game in that sense, but ultimately I must say that it needs a revamp of puzzle structure, some updating of the flow in the set, or maybe consider being broken into a trilogy of standalone games using the same set.

Loved the beginning half of this two part escape room. Half of the fun was exploring and discovering our environment on the space ship. We had fun dividing and conquering all the puzzles since they were not linear. The first half of the room being an hour and half, boy it flew so fast since we were so immersed. The second half, unfortunately, was not as fun and more frustrating. It came down to poor directions given on written clues, lack of clue giving when requested from the GM and interactive props not functioning properly. These two rooms are not ones I recommend for newbies to take on, but only veterans. Be delighted when playing the first room but keep expectations at bay with the second room.

Great v room, great atmosphere, does have some crawling bits so bad knees look out. Also you will start playing into the part two once you have finished part one so don’t worry to much if your time is running low

Very high tech room. Fun but difficult. Because this is part one of two it was a bit anticlimactic, but was still an enjoyable experience.