Let’s dance.
Location: Anaheim, California
Date played: June 4, 2017
Team size: 4-8; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $30 per ticket
Story & setting
We had infiltrated a masquerade ball to find a stolen object.
Masquerade Manor looked like a puzzle room, loosely themed on a masquerade ball. The set pieces and props were mostly musical.
Puzzles
Exodus Escape Rooms designed standard, escape room-style puzzles. We searched for oddities within the set pieces and props and followed the clues to the correct connection. Once we made the right link between puzzles pieces, we usually had to reason our way to completion.
Masquerade Manor was a puzzle-driven room escape.
Standouts
Exodus Escape Rooms hid information well and clued it fairly. This created a solid puzzle flow in Masquerade Manor, which was, at its core, a puzzle game.
A few of the puzzles in Masquerade Manor were gems. We really enjoyed one puzzle that made excellent use of the escape room’s theme.
Shortcomings
The series of puzzle rooms did little to build a fiction or make us feel like we’d entered a masquerade ball. While we appreciated the thematic nods, we never really left a puzzle room.
Two puzzles in Masquerade Manor relied on a piece of technology that didn’t seem to belong.
Masquerade Manor never built to a climax.
Should I play Exodus Escape Room’s Masquerade Manor?
Masquerade Manor was a well-designed and executed basic escape room. It was first and foremost about the puzzling and had a few standout puzzle moments.
Exodus Escape Rooms is targeting new players, introducing them to the concept of a themed puzzle room. For that audience, I think Masquerade Manor delivered. It will be challenging, but fair.
For more experienced players, this isn’t an adventure at a masquerade ball; it’s an escape room. Don’t go in expecting set design, narrative, or any suspension of disbelief. For those primarily interested in puzzles, however, you might enjoy a quick twirl through Masquerade Manor.
Book your hour with Exodus Escape Room’s Masquerade Manor, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
