Room Escape Artist

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Connecticut, New England, Puzzle Theory, Reviews

Puzzle Theory – The Missing Doctor [Review]

Lisa Spira

10 February 2017

2 minutes

I see you’ve constructed a new lightsaber.

Location: South Windsor, CT

Date played: December 12, 2016

Team size: 3-8; we recommend 4-6

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $30 per ticket

Story & setting

We were in the office of mad scientist Dr. X solving the mystery of his disappearance.

The Missing Doctor was composed of standard office furniture with a hint of laboratory. It wasn’t a particularly interesting space, but it was appropriately decorated, with just a bit of character, and inviting enough.

In game: A large wood desk with a light, and rotary phone.

Puzzles

The puzzles were the essence of The Missing Doctor. The room escape included extensive searching, as well as a large assortment of paper-based and fully interactive puzzling.

While the puzzles didn’t convey narrative, they were fun.

Standouts

We appreciated the humorous introductory and post-game videos.

Puzzle Theory thoughtfully designed the puzzle and game flow such that key late game puzzles couldn’t be easily bypassed or brute-forced.

The Missing Doctor surprised us with one particular simple, tech-driven interaction.

Shortcomings

Much as we loved the tech behind this particular puzzle, we recommend that Puzzle Theory subtly refine its implementation to avoid a potential safety risk.

Just a few too many interesting items proved unimportant. It can be disappointing when the best decor is nothing but a red herring.

The Missing Doctor fell into older escape room tropes such as too many locks of the same digital structure and broad searching.

Should I play Puzzle Theory’s The Missing Doctor?

The Missing Doctor was a well-designed introductory game. It relied heavily on common escape room tactics, but added a little bit of pizzazz.

The meat of the game was in the puzzles. There was just enough scenery and story to hold those together, but the gameplay carried this room escape.

If you are just starting to explore room escapes, this would be a good on-ramp with challenging puzzles. For more experienced players who prefer puzzling over set and story, give this one a go.

Book your hour with Puzzle Theory’s The Missing Doctor, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Full disclosure: Puzzle Theory provided media discounted tickets for this game.

2 responses to “Puzzle Theory – The Missing Doctor [Review]”

Hiterus

February 11, 2017 at 10:44 pm

Oh does the room include physical interaction beside searching? It seems more like a search and found game if it largely depends on searching items and hidden objects.

Reply
1. David Spira
  
  February 11, 2017 at 11:38 pm
  
  There was a wide variety here. There was a lot of searching, but there were also quite a few tangible puzzles that involved other physical interactions.
  
  I don’t want to spoil the game by describing them in more detail.
  
  Reply

🖋️ Author

Written by

Lisa Spira

Editor-In-Chief at Room Escape Artist: Whether she is editing REA’s content, leading the Hivemind, or wrangling the logistics for RECON or the Escape, Immerse, Explore Tours, Lisa is the reason that everything runs like clockwork. As a linguist and data expert, Lisa also leads our Industry Data efforts and is responsible for our annual Industry Reports. Lisa is the heart of REA and also bakes all of our escakes.

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