Battleship is one of the best escape rooms in Northern New Jersey/New York area. Here are our recommendations for other great escape rooms around Northern New Jersey and other great games around New York City.
Hit!
Location: Staten Island, NY
Date Played: August 3, 2018
Team size: up to 9; we recommend 4-6
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $30 per ticket
Ticketing: Public
REA Reaction
Battleship had one of the most beautiful sets that you can currently find in the Northeastern United States in 2018. It was detailed, tactile, and largely authentic. The interactions felt weighty and satisfying.
Unreal Escape faltered in the puzzle design and game flow of Battleship. We were intended to experience a clear narrative, but the puzzles were presented largely in a non-linear structure. This meant that we solved everything out of sync because the most enticing interactions were largely tied to the narrative endgame.
Although these flaws made Battleship chaotic, and at times unnecessarily frustrating, they didn’t detract from the fun of the set, props, effects, and overall playground of this Battleship.
Who is this for?
- Adventure seekers
- Scenery snobs
- Any experience level
- Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
- A gorgeous set detailed from floor to ceiling
- Fantastic interactions
- Some incredible effects
- A handful of strong, narrative-based puzzles
Story
World War III had broken out and the entirety of the US Navy had been destroyed in an attack by an unknown power. Our crew had been assigned to recommission a World War II era battleship-turned-museum and fight back.
Setting
Battleship was beautiful. There was an intense level of detail from the floor to the ceiling.
Additionally, it felt phenomenally solid. Many of the props, set pieces, and even door hinges were made from beefy metal. Things had weight.
This was, without a doubt, one of the most aesthetically pleasing games that we’ve encountered in the New York metropolitan area to date.
Gameplay
Unreal Escapes’ Battleship was an atypical escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.
Battleship was heavily rooted in the narrative of reactivating an old ship and destroying a series of enemy vessels.
Core gameplay revolved around searching, making connections, puzzling, and following the narrative arc of the game.
Analysis
+ From the weight of the set pieces and props to detailed weathering, we felt like we were on a battleship. The set was phenomenal.
+ The interactions felt incredibly satisfying. They were solid, tangible, and scaled up.
+ We loved how the set changed gears.
– Battleship was heavy on exposition and instruction.
– Battleship was an opinionated game. Gameplay was technically non-linear; we had multiple puzzles open at any given moment. There was, however, a “correct” order in which to solve the puzzles, for narrative continuity. We didn’t need to play linearly, but Battleship really wanted us to follow its sequencing. I wish that the gameplay did a better job of keeping us on the narrative’s rails.
– We played a large potion of this game in the dark, with flashlights. We had no idea that this darkness was part of the story and if we’d just solved a particular puzzle, we would have restored light much earlier on. This was frustrating.
+ Unreal Escapes built an incredible effect that punctuated an onboard event. It was captivating and exciting.
– Battleship lacked gating. With so much of the game open to us at any given point, we always had something to work on and didn’t feel the urgency we should have from the events taking place aboard the ship. Instead of stressing that our vessel was malfunctioning, we calmly solved our way through battle tactics.
+ Battleship incorporated a lot puzzle variety into one escape room.
– A couple of puzzle felt incomplete, in one instance it was missing proper cluing.
+ Unreal Escapes committed to narrative, set, and period authenticity. We respect the lengths they went to to mirror reality.
+ One central, layered puzzle combined props with technology across different gamespaces to facilitate coordinated teamwork. It was a ton of fun scoping out this sequence.
– We struggled with one prop that had us spinning our wheels for far too long. It didn’t function or respond intuitively.
+ The culminating series of interactions delivered an explosive ending.
Tips for Visiting
- Unreal Escapes has a parking lot.
- There’s a lot of great Italian food on Staten Island.
Book your hour with Unreal Escapes’ Battleship, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Unreal Escapes comped our tickets for this game.
