Out in 60 – The Pyramid [Review]

“Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.” – Indiana Jones

Location: Hoboken, NJ

Date played: September 27, 2016

Team size: up to 8; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $29 per ticket

Story & setting

Our team of Indiana Jones-ian archaeologists were exploring an 8,000 year-old pyramid with dark secrets.

The Pyramid, an entirely lockless game, was almost completely handcrafted. The game’s creators built nearly every prop and piece of decor. This included many 3D printed items and a ton of hidden technology.

As a result of the hand construction, this was a room that looked like no other. Not every component was refined or polished, but it was original, unusual, and clearly built with love.

Puzzles

The Pyramid was unapologetically inspired by the Indiana Jones trilogy (and that travesty from 2008 with the same cast and director). From the story to the interactions, The Pyramid was clearly designed to make us feel like Indy and his crew. Consequently, the puzzles were physically interactive and linear.

Additionally, The Pyramid rewarded players with keen observational skills more that most escape rooms do (and that’s saying something). Generally, once we found everything and determined which components went together, deriving the solutions wasn’t too challenging.

The hinting was almost entirely automated. Over the course of a puzzle, hints would automagically trigger based on timing and what we had accomplished. The net effect was that as time wore on, each puzzle became easier. Our team was impressed by this feature, but torn on whether we liked or disliked it.

Standout

The unique construction of The Pyramid was an unexpected breath of fresh air from a brand new company.

The level of love, care, and inventiveness was superb.

The lockless design was thematic and surprising.

There were a number of brilliant physically interactive puzzles. In the middle of The Pyramid, there was a run of about five puzzles that truly impressed me . One interaction after another put big smiles on the faces of our entire team.

Shortcomings

While the handcrafted and 3D printed construction was a welcome addition to the game, it would have benefited from additional refinement. All of the 3D prints would have been more compelling with some post processing. While the exteriors of major set pieces generally looked good, their interiors would have been improved by the same love and care.

There was a lot of clue doubling. Most puzzles could be solved through different sets of clues. This over-cluing led to either confusion or oversimplification.

Audio cues were critical, but the speaker system didn’t have enough clarity. We occasionally struggled to hear what was going on.

We accidentally circumvented a major late puzzle due to a bug. It was a shame because the puzzle was really cool and I wanted to solve it.

The ending kind of fizzled out, especially in comparison to some of The Pyramid’s best parts.

Should I play Out in 60’s The Pyramid?

The Pyramid was an unusual game in a number of ways. It was completely lockless, automated, and more handmade than most escape rooms. It was also Out in 60’s first game, which makes its achievements all the more impressive.

That said, it had its bumps, some of which came from the simple fact that the design was more complex than the norm. None of these faults came anywhere close to experience breaking, and many of them could be improved through iteration should Out in 60 choose to do so.

Improvements or not, this is one of the more interesting games in New Jersey and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I think that players who have experienced at least one or two games will get more out of it because they will better grasp what makes it special.

Book your hour with Out in 60’s , and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Full disclosure: Out in 60 comped our tickets for this game.