New Jersey Necronomicon.
Location: Madison, New Jersey
Date played: June 12, 2017
Team size: 4-18; we recommend 5-7
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $30 per ticket
Story & setting
After finding refuge in a cabin in the woods, we learned that we needed protecting from our shelter. The only way out was to find the Book of Souls and use it to break an enchantment.
From the walls to the ceiling, Escape Room NJ designed a compelling and spacious cabin. The dim lighting, coupled with the enchantment, made it feel just a little bit haunted (but certainly not scary).
Puzzles
The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls combined traditional locks with tech-driven interactions.
The puzzles wound their way through every set piece and prop in the gamespace.
Standouts
With The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls, Escape Room NJ vastly improved their set design. They built an intriguing, compelling cabin set, complete with the exterior details, visible in the lobby.
Escape Room NJ embedded a lot of tech in this cabin. The room’s response to our actions contributed to the eerie atmosphere and worked well with the theme.
The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls contained many excellent puzzles with satisfying solutions. There was a lot to explore. Furthermore, the puzzles lent themselves to teamwork.
Shortcomings
There were, however, a few far-fetched connections. One puzzle in particular seemed unsolvable without a hint… or in our case, an outside knowledge bypass.
There was a moment in this escape room that deviated completely from the otherwise thematically cohesive experience. If Escape Room NJ wants to use that type of interaction, they should rework how this setting produces it. In this room escape it felt silly.
While Escape Room NJ built an excellent set, it didn’t feel quite to scale. It felt too big for the story and the props within it, which in turn made the otherwise nifty interactions feel small.
Should I play Escape Room NJ’s The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls?
When we entered Escape Room NJ’s newer Madison location (we’d previously visited them in Hackensack), we were immediately impressed with their commitment to the theming. They had designed the outer walls of each escape room, which were visible in the lobby. When we entered The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls, we entered an enchanted forest-cabin puzzle adventure.
The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls was a puzzle-centric room escape in a fun environment.
Note that the environment was a tad eerie, but certainly not scary. In that sense, it’s fit for all audiences, except for little kids who are afraid of the concept of ghosts.
The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls would be a challenging escape room for beginners, but approachable. Experienced players will move faster, but will still find The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls a worthy puzzle opponent.
Book your hour with Escape Room NJ’s The Lost Cabin: Book of Souls, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Full disclosure: Escape Room NJ provided media discounted tickets for this game.
Hey Lisa, great review! I LOVE when rooms are well decorated, never seen it on the outside too. That’s fantastic to get you in the mood as you hear the backstory and walk in. Thanks for the writeup.
Interestingly enough, I had just been thinking of the recent trend of outside the room decoration. I have seen more and more companies begin to decorate the doorways into games with exterior components. I think it may be to draw players into a game by giving them a taste of the scenic quality, and most of the time, it is an accurate representation of the general flavor of the room. The furthest this has been taken is by Liveminds Adventure Escape, who themed a great majority of their lobby and hallway space to a level of detail not seen in most escape rooms. It is truly something to behold.
I completely agree with your take on this. I also agree that LiveMinds’s space was incredibly impressive. https://roomescapeartist.com/2018/04/04/liveminds-adventure-escape-treasure-pacari-review/
You’re welcome. We’re finally starting to see Northern NJ step it up in set design and we’re really excited about it!