Room Escape Artist

Fallout is one of the best games in Massachusetts. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms in Massachusetts.

Nuclear winter is coming.

Location: Worcester, MA

Date played: September 21, 2017

Team size: up to 6; we recommend 2-3

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $27 per ticket

Story & setting

The Cold War had turned hot and the bombs had fallen. Now, decades later, we returned to the site to explore an old fallout shelter.

Escape Games Worcester produced a creative and detailed gamespace that wasn’t a shelter so much as it was a foreboding and malevolent site. Fallout wasn’t scary, but it felt like something had… or maybe still could… go wrong.

Puzzles

Fallout followed a linear puzzle structure born of tactile interactions. Nearly everything seemed to belong in the environment.

Standouts

Escape Games Worcester built a top-notch set. Through this, they created an exciting but disquieting atmosphere that instilled an urgency in our exploration.

The puzzles were well integrated into the set interactions. These were fun and flowed well.

We especially enjoyed the culminating puzzle, which engaged us as a team.

Shortcomings

Fallout struggled with unnecessary bottlenecking throughout the escape room. As an entirely linear team game, there were stretches when any given player could only watch and wait to see what would come next.

The first puzzle was not intuitive, which made it hard to find where the game began. Fallout lacked an onramp.

One important late-game puzzle sequence involved penalties in the form of play stoppage. While we like failure to have consequences, the halted gameplay killed the intensity of the moment. For teams with hardly any time on the clock at this point, it would be a discouraging way to lose the game.

Should I play Escape Games Worcester’s Fallout?

Fallout was a series of fun puzzle interactions in an intense and exciting environment. There were interesting creations to look at and explore in the gamespace.

Everything had a purpose, which wasn’t always obvious. Once untangled, everything resolved in a tangible manner.

We recommend Fallout to players of all experience levels. It was a neat gamespace. Newer players might struggle to get their bearings, but once you get moving, the room escape flows well.

There’s plenty of room for friends, but Fallout engages only 1-3 people at any given moment with an active and solvable puzzle. Be patient.

Book your hour with Escape Games Worcester’s Fallout, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Full disclosure: Escape Games Worcester provided media discounted tickets for this game.