Sweet victory
Location: at home
Date Played: April 29, 2018
Team size: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯; we recommend 2-4
Duration: as long as it takes to solve the puzzles
Price: $24.99 per month for a monthly subscription
REA Reaction
On the Run Box 7 wrapped up the On the Run series. It had some solid puzzles and a satisfying conclusion. Yet again, we were thwarted by a website form inconsistency that soured our experience. Given a bit of distance, we’re pleased with the variety in the series and the story we unraveled through the boxes.
Who is this for?
- Story seekers
- Armchair detectives
- Players who have completed the previous On The Run boxes
Why play?
- You can play at home
- Because you’re already invested in the story
- The conclusion of the saga
- Chocolate
Story
Dispatch by Breakout concluded in Box 7 with a visit to the land of chocolate and dubious banking: Switzerland. This final chapter closed out the On The Run story arc and resolved all of the major storylines that we had explored over the past seven months.
While this was the end of the line for On The Run, it was not the conclusion of Dispatch by Breakout. A new standalone two-box story follows it.
Setup
Our Swiss conclusion to On The Run was loaded similarly to the previous boxes, with a collection of documents and one unusual item: a bar of chocolate.
Gameplay
Dispatch by Breakout’s On the Run Box 7 played similarly to the previous box, opening with a run of puzzles that gave way to a series of game-concluding deductions.
Analysis
+ The puzzles played well.
+ The deductions felt justified, even if some of them seemed like they came crashing back into the story from the setup seven months ago.
– Like the first box, there was yet another Instagram account that felt phoned in.
+ The story of On the Run resolved cleanly.
– I hit yet another snag inputting a name into a web form. This false negative left me spinning for an hour and reevaluating my read on the case, until I gave up and asked a friend who had already finished the box. He pointed out that I had it right all along. The frustration and lost momentum that this caused was unnecessary and killed the otherwise positive mood.
+ The chocolate was a lovely prize for having completed the On The Run gauntlet. The escape room community often debates about what makes for a good prize for winning teams. While I don’t think that a prize is necessary in escape rooms… I wouldn’t mind an industry standard based around chocolate.
A final thought: Overall, On The Run has been a shaky, but generally improving, series of boxes. I’m looking forward to seeing where Breakout takes this series. I hope that they clean up their digital inputs and add a structured self-service hint system. Slack just isn’t cutting it. If they can continue to tell a compelling story and figure out how to make sure that their games don’t needlessly dead-end, then I will keep coming back for more.
Tips for Playing
- Items from the previous boxes were required for solving On the Run, Box 7.
- If you get stuck playing Dispatch, try the following resources:
- Email Bailey Detectives for help (help@baileydetectives.com)
- Sign into the Dispatch Slack
- Visit the Breakout Dispatch’s Members Facebook Group
Subscribe to Dispatch by Breakout’sOn the Run, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Full disclosure: Dispatch by Breakout provided a complimentary subscription.
(If you purchase via our link, you will help support Room Escape Artist as we will receive a very small percentage of the sale.)
