Room Escape Artist

[At the time of this review, Escape Room Madness was called Exodus Escape Room.]

Behold the service elevator of Anubis.

Location: New York, NY

Date played: November 28, 2017

Team size: up to 10; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $30 per ticket

REA Reaction

Exodus was a beginner’s puzzle game.

It was cute and family friendly. Exodus Escape Room creatively optimized a downright horrible space into a solid escape room, which was impressive.

Who is this for?

• Beginners

Why play?

• Puzzles
• Humor

Story

Trapped within the ancient Egyptian exhibit at the New York History Museum, we had to explore the artifacts and determine how to appease an angry Pharaoh or suffer his curse.

Whereas most Pharaoh’s curse games lean towards intense adventure, Exodus was more playful.

Setting

Set within the oddly shaped room that formerly housed 59:59 Room Escape NYC’s Chamber of Dreams, Exodus Escape Rooms created a small museum exhibit displaying assorted artifacts from ancient Egypt. Therein were the puzzles.

Gameplay

Exodus was a beginner game built around searching and learning the basics of escape room puzzling. It was straightforward and flowed well.

Standouts

The introduction video was unexpected and kind of adorable.

The puzzles and gameplay worked well.

One puzzle involved manipulating some strange material that we had never encountered before. It was certainly memorable.

Given the small and unchangeable space that Exodus Escape Rooms had to work with, the Egyptian museum exhibit theme was a smart choice. They never would have been able to produce a believable pyramid set in their location.

Shortcomings

The space was rough. It was awkwardly shaped. They lost a lot of wall space to immovable plumbing and a service elevator. While the museum set up covered this as well as possible, it’s still a tough space.

The adorable intro video was a little too long.

A critical late-game interaction that required player precision could benefit from additional visual cluing.

Tips for Visiting

• There are 2 other escape room companies in this building. Go to the correct one.
• Exodus Escape Room is located in Koreatown. On this block, we recommend Mandoo Bar for dumplings and Spot Dessert Bar for crazy and incredible desserts.

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

Full disclosure: Exodus Escape Room comped our tickets for this game.