I thought my neighbors were difficult.
Location: San Diego, CA
Date played: December 4, 2017
Team size: 3-6; we recommend 3-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $32 per ticket, minimum purchase of 3 tickets
REA Reaction
Mysterious Stranger was an intimate escape room.
Steal and Escape lovingly crafted Mysterious Stranger to surprise and delight players of all experience levels. It drew on well-established, successful gameplay tactics and combined these with original concepts. While it was search-heavy, search solves were unusually rewarding.
Who is this for?
- Puzzle lovers
- Any experience level
Why play?
- Inventive puzzles
- Surprises
- Great execution
- An amazing lobby puzzle (not kidding)
Story
Our quiet night was disrupted when we received a phone call from Government agents. They had detained our neighbor and believed that he was in possession of a device that would destroy America before they got there to stop it. They demanded that we break into his home and steal the weapon before it could turn the Cold War hot.
Setting
Mysterious Stranger was a break-in game. We began outside of our neighbor’s home, and had to find our way inside.
Once within, we found ourselves exploring a home from roughly the 1970s, complete with the color pallet that has been the butt of many a joke.
Gameplay
Mysterious Stranger was a puzzle-driven escape room with a lot of interactions built into the set. One key difference: instead of escaping a room, we were breaking into one.
Mysterious Stranger also involved a lot of searching, but it was a lot more clever than in most escape rooms. When we found things we felt accomplished.
Standouts
The unexpected opening set up a sense of adventure. This was complemented by exceptional voiceovers.
Steal and Escape hid secrets well. Much of the intrigue was in uncovering oddities. While this may be an older, search-heavy style of gameplay, it was executed in a such a way that it was interesting and entertaining even for seasoned players.
The puzzling also relied substantially on mechanical and physical interactions. When Steal and Escape needed paper-style cluing, they found tangible ways to connect them to the environment.
Our favorite puzzle sequence traversed set pieces that had initially seemed unrelated, and resulted in an unexpected open.
Mysterious Stranger required us to make a choice with consequences.
The lobby puzzle that is available before this game was fantastic.
Shortcomings
Mysterious Stranger could feel cramped. While there was a lot to puzzle through, the layout of the space made it hard to involve too many people.
Mysterious Stranger looked aged. While this was stylistic and deliberated, at times the game also showed signs of wear.
We didn’t internalize enough context from playing through the story to make an informed decision. Thus the choice wasn’t as impactful as it should have been.
Tips for Visiting
- Steal and Escape had a fantastic mini game in a room off lobby. Get there early and play it.
- Steal and Escape had ample free parking and plenty of dining options in the area.
Book your hour with Steal and Escape’s Mysterious Stranger, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Steal and Escape comped our tickets for this game.
