The GM initially introduces us to the room’s reputation as being one of the hardest in the OC, and yes, we had seen reviews stating that there were a lot of puzzles (all gen 1). However, the room began more than 20 minutes late and the axe throwing noises from the other room was very prevalent throughout the experience.
Now here comes the specific cons we had with the room. There was one specific puzzle that was more of an extreme nuisance rather than there being anything to figure out. It involved something very flimsy and mechanical. What made things even worse is that the GM was not responding to us despite us spending at least 10 if not 20 minutes asking if they could just hand us the item because we couldn’t reach it. I repeat, there was nothing to solve and it wasn’t a puzzle. We just could not reach the item with such a flimsy tool provided.
In the end stages of the room’s puzzles, we were completely stumped on a puzzle as the key and objects were already on the table. The room was not reset fully, so it was very confusing on what we were supposed to do because it was already done. The GM (when they finally responded to our question) excuse was that the cameras did not enable him to see the whole room due to its angle. He even apologized stating he needed to monitor the axe throwing party more closely. They ended up giving us extra time because of all the issues, but at that point it just felt like a given win with all the time wasted just standing and waiting for someone to respond to our issues with the room.
None of the puzzles were hard, so I can’t say this is even close to being expert difficulty. When they do pay attention to you, they ask what you are doing and give unsolicited hints and guidance. Many times I had to state that we were already doing it or that we already did it. Our party was very unpleased with the overall experience.
Not enjoyable. Not even remotely close to being difficult. More detail below.
Atmosphere
Not much to complain or rave about overall. The atmosphere was decent and matched the theme. There was one unexpected jump scare with a live actor, but that was it. There wasn’t much to write home about. Props, however, were quite flimsy and cheap (specifically one).
Very poor attention and constant unsolicited advice on things we had already completed or were already on the right track for.