Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

I love Agatha Christie. The Murder on the Orient Express is obviously her most famous work, which does the room a disservice. I am glad that they tried to do a storyline that takes place after the events of the novel, but it just wasn’t that interesting. Now if someone wants to do a room based on And Then There Were None, sign me up!

There was an entire puzzle that was not solvable. The room had clearly had some update work done and a label had been replaced on an important prop. Our group knew that we were trying to solve the puzzle in the correct manner, but it simply wasn’t working. The game host finally just gave us the solution and we moved on. We were convinced something was wrong, so after we beat the room we told the game master to show us how we were supposed to solve it. He looked at it and realized that he couldn’t solve it either. Long story made short, the label that had been placed on the prop was the wrong one. I am sure the issue has since been fixed, but it obviously impacted our experience.

It was an average storyline but we liked it a great deal

The rooms were big enough for one wheelchair but they would get tight for that chair to easily turn around

The first area was tough, we wasted too much time there. One of the puzzles did not work correctly on the first attempt, so we lost a few minutes that might have made the difference between us failing and succeeding.

Some original puzzles, enjoyable room with the theme and environment. We are not familiar with the novels, but now want to read them (another review mentioned this escape room does not follow the novels well).

Welcoming, yes. Attentive throughout our experience, not as much. There were a couple puzzles that should have worked (one malfunctioned, "must be done faster"; the other was user error).

3-4, the areas are rather small. More than that would likely be too much.

We don't think there is anything inappropriate, and plenty to get others involved in the puzzles.

One puzzle did not trigger correctly on the first attempt. The GM said sometimes it doesn't work if the buttons are not pushed fast enough in sequence.

International Drive, one of two escape room venues. It even has dedicated parking spots.

Dedicated parking spots.

Some puzzles didn’t work correctly which impacted gameplay. Some were too complicated or multi-tiered for the 60 minute timeframe.

Set and props looked amazing but were relatively unchanged form the previous game, Budapest Express.

Staff was nice.

Some puzzles didn’t work properly and some were too complicated for a 60 minute game.

2-4

The pacing of the room is poor. The first puzzle is mind-shatteringly difficult, and we spent over 10 minutes on it (with hints). It gets easier as it goes, which is nice, but I wish it was paced better. There were some really fun puzzles once you got past the first one and the whodunit kicked in.

Props all felt worn. Window screens felt dated. Each subsequent room is less impressive than the last. It feels like they blew the budget on the first room and had to make compromises as it went on. Additionally, tech-based puzzles were implemented in places that didn't make sense at all, and broke the immersion.

Our GM was kind and attentive, and gave us hints when requested. However, at the end of the game, before we had even done the final thing to stop the train, she walked into the room and began asking us questions about how we liked it and such. We couldn't even hear the congratulatory story conclusion spiel because she was rushing us out of the room. I get it, we were the last group of the night, and walk-ins, but it really put a sour note on an otherwise enjoyable experience. Combined with how my Scooby game played the wrong ending with no consolation, Escapology really needs to work on ensuring their games deliver a strong finish.

Solely for the licensed IP. Other than that, there are better executions of everything this game does elsewhere.

I feel like the stress of a 10/10 room with the extensive reading to appreciate the whodunit aspects aren't the best match.

You'd need to be a pro to complete this with no hints.

Mostly mechanical. Tech was implemented in places that didn't make sense.

More than 4 would be very crowded I think.

One jump scare-ish

Puzzles are way hard.