Pack your Pip-Boy for the apocalypse.
Location: New York, NY
Date Played: April 16, 2018
Team size: 2-6; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $40 per ticket on weekdays; $50 per ticket on weekends
Ticketing: Private
REA Reaction
In The Vault, Komnata Quest blended action and comedy in their Fallout themed experience. This was an easy, straightforward, linear adventure-based game that felt like the escape room world’s equivalent of the summer action flick. A little more depth in puzzle design would have been an improvement, but we had a good time traversing its large set and playing with all sorts of interesting toys.
If you’re in Manhattan and looking for an approachable, beginner friendly adventure, give The Vault a shot.
Who is this for?
- Adventure seekers
- Story seekers
- Scenery snobs
- Sci-fi fans
- Any experience level
- Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
- A fun exploration of the Fallout world
- A humorous artificial intelligence overseer
- Some great tangible interactions
Story
Nuclear Armageddon had rendered the surface of the Earth uninhabitable. To avoid the radiation, diseases, and mutant monsters, humanity had retreated to the safety of underground vaults. Unfortunately, the vaults were no longer the safe haven that humanity had relied on. Our squad was dispatched to investigate and neutralize the threat.
Setting
Leaning heavily into the mythology of the Fallout video game series, The Vault dropped us into a subterranean ark of sorts, designed to protect and preserve humanity after the Earth’s surface was rendered insufficient for civilization. The Vault was loaded with Fallout references and had a sterile, military-meets-laboratory feel.
The gamespace was surprisingly large for a Downtown Manhattan escape room. There were many spaces to explore.
Gameplay
Komnata Quest Manhattan’s The Vault was a standard escape room with a lower level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around searching, puzzling, communicating, and making connections.
Analysis
+ The Vault was based on the Fallout series. The interactions that pulled on the source material were fun and memorable.
+/- A lot of the escape room was informed by a critical prop. This thing was awesome, but also failed to provide key feedback to let us know that it was working.
+ The lock nerd in me was incredibly pleased with one of the puzzles in Vault.
+/- The in-game “artificial intelligence” was funny.
– However, in-game audio was challenging to hear. Consequently, it was also difficult to tell the difference between audio clues and AI taunts. This was frustrating.
+/- The set was large, especially by Manhattan standards. For all of the space that Komnata Quest had for Vault, it felt light on content and challenge.
+ I have a personal love of nixie tubes. Discovering them in an escape room makes me happy.
Tips for Visiting
- For upscale dining nearby, we recommend sushi at Haru.
- For casual dining nearby, City Acres Market offers Vanessa’s dumplings.
- There are not a lot of dining options open late in this neighborhood.
- Parking is a challenge; consider a subway or ferry for transportation.
Book your hour with Komnata Quest’s The Vault, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you using the coupon code escapeartist to receive 10% off.
Disclosure: Komnata Quest comped our tickets for this game.
I love Fallout! since the 1990s! It is however copyright. Do you know if it was licensed by Bethesda or anyone else?
I don’t know, but I wasn’t told that it was licensed.