Nevermore?
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Date played: April 26, 2017
Team size: 2-8; we recommend 3-5
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $29 per ticket
Story & setting
It was 1849 and Edgar Allan Poe, the famed poet and cryptographer, had just died under dubious circumstances. We had been granted the opportunity to search his home to solve the mystery surrounding his death.
The Edgar Allan Poe Room had a decidedly old-school escape room look and feel about it. The set was reasonably cohesive, but neither eye-catching nor immersive.
Puzzles
Puzzles were the focus of the Edgar Allan Poe Room. They were largely based on ciphers, which was appropriate for the subject matter.
Standouts
There were some good cipher-based puzzles.
One particular puzzle component was lovingly handmade; realizing its purpose was delightful.
I enjoy when escape room companies pull from local history and culture. In this case, I also liked the way that Charm City Clue Room presented a hypothesis as to the cause of Poe’s death.
Shortcomings
The game flow was a little jittery. We were easily able to solve puzzles out of order because we were picking up pieces as we progressed. We had a search fail and missed critical items, but still managed to make it through the game using reason and a little bit of brute-force guessing.
The set was not inspiring.
One inviting late game interaction was available from the start of the room escape. At three different points we approached it and each time we were warned by the gamemaster that it wasn’t in play yet. If this interaction had been unavailable until the appropriate moment, it would have simplified gamemastering and removed a recurring moment of annoyance. The regular wrist slapping, while polite and useful, should not have been necessary.
Should I play Charm City Clue Room’s Edgar Allan Poe Room?
The Edgar Allan Poe Room was a touch too dreary for my taste. The puzzling was fine, but the gameflow needed work.
The space was a dozen shades of brown both literally and metaphorically. I kept waiting for the excitement to show up, but it never did.
Our team had a good enough time together in this room, but as I look back on it, I simply cannot tell whom it was designed for. Beginners will likely find themselves getting caught up in a mixture of gameflow hiccups as they battle to understand how an escape room functions. Experienced players should know that there are far more interesting room escapes out there.
Poe is great subject for an escape room, but this room didn’t deliver on the potential. Nothing was terrible in the Edgar Allan Poe Room, but nothing was fantastic either. In the end, the game felt weak, and upon leaving, I was a bit weary.
Book your hour with Charm City Clue Room’s Edgar Allan Poe Room, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
