“Game over, man. Game over!” -Private Hudson, Aliens
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date Played: August 22, 2018
Team size: 2-6; we recommend 3-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: from $36 per ticket
Ticketing: Private
REA Reaction
Starship Desolation was an Alien-inspired adventure aboard a spaceship.
The set looked lovely and we enjoyed the progressive discovery aboard the ship. From a puzzle and gameplay standpoint, it felt light on content and needed a few tweaks to clue structure.
If you’re nearby and seeking a solid space adventure, board Starship Desolation .
Who is this for?
- Adventure seekers
- Scenery snobs
- Sci-fi fans
- Any experience level
Why play?
- Sci-fi spaceship set
- Feeling of adventure and discovery
Story
As members of the crew of Starship Desolation, we were exploring outer space, looking for new alien life forms… when things turned bad.
Setting
Starship Desolation looked compelling. The wall detailing, door shapes, and panel-driven design gave it a strong sci-fi, spaceship vibe.
Gameplay
Cyph3r Escape Experience’s Starship Desolation was a standard escape room with a lower level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, and puzzling.
Analysis
+ Starship Desolation opened dramatically. Its design walked a fine line between exciting and irritating and Cyph3r Escape Experience pulled it off.
-While the sets were generally high quality, a few places in the set felt unfinished and messy. Additionally, props didn’t always fit properly into their mountings.
+ The transitions worked especially well.
+ We enjoyed one clue structure delivery mechanism that added more depth to the experience and plugged us into the story.
– It was easy to miss important clue structure if you weren’t paying attention when it triggered or weren’t in the right part of the ship at the appropriate moment. There was no do-over.
– We would have liked more of the clue structure to have been worked into the gamespace rather than delivered through paper or other media.
– Starship Desolation was light on puzzle content.
– Although the final set was nifty, the culminating sequence felt anticlimactic. Throughout the experience we never felt the presence of important stakes.
+ Starship Desolation looked convincingly starship-y. It was a fun environment to explore through puzzles.
Tips for Visiting
- There is parking to the back of the lot next to their building.
Book your hour with Cyph3r Escape Experience’s Starship Desolation, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Cyph3r Escape Experience comped our tickets for this game.
