Update 11/22/22: If you enjoy The Escape Game Unlocked, we hope you’ll check out our interview with The Escape Game CEO and Co-Founder Mark Flint on The Reality Escape Pod.
Where in the World is Hahn?
Location: at home
Date Played: June 27, 2019
Team size: 1-4; we recommend 2-3
Duration: about an hour
Price: $25
REA Reaction
The Escape Game is an escape room chain headquartered in Nashville, TN, with locations across the United States. They are one of the few chains that we regularly recommend.
The Escape Game Unlocked is their play-at-home line of games of which The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn was the first episode. This is not to be confused with The Escape Game’s Monthly Mysteries, part online scavenger hunt and part mystery game, which we have yet to play and review. This review covers only The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn, the initial game from The Escape Game Unlocked.
The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn was a solid starting place for a new series that has a lot of potential, but needs to figure out what makes it special.
From a production standpoint, there was a lot to love. The components looked great and the digital interface was fairly refined.
From a puzzling and gameplay standpoint, most everything was solid, with a few puzzles that felt bogged down in interface oddities. The puzzles were good… with a little too much counting. The hint system was adequate, but could use a lot more granularity.
If you’re a tabletop escape game player, I’d suggest giving this one a try. While the Escape Game has not produced a must-play game in The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn, for fans of play-at-home puzzle games this is absolutely worth exploring. We’re curious to see where they take the series.
Who is this for?
- Puzzle lovers
- Mystery solvers
- Any experience level
Why play?
- Solid puzzles
- Fun computer interface
Story
Our handler had tasked us with tracking down the identity and crimes of an infamous art thief who went by the name Vincent Hahn.
The entire game had a Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego-meets-art-theft vibe.
Setup
To get started, we opened up a black sealed envelope of documents and puzzle components. Then we logged into a website where our mission was introduced to us.
The game bounced back and forth between the physical and digital.
Gameplay
The Escape Game Unlocked’s The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn was a standard play-at-home escape game with a moderate level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, puzzling, and interacting with the computer interface.
Analysis
➕ The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn looked professional. The printed materials were nicely designed and used varied paper of high quality. The computer interface also looked good.
❓ The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn relied heavily on the computer interface. It was nifty, but it also focused the group around a screen for the most of the experience. One person had to drive, taking the group from screen to screen. An acceptable ratio of screen time to printed material time in tabletop escape gameplay is personal; read this however you choose.
➕ The Escape Game Unlocked didn’t fall into many of traps that hamper digital interfaces. For example, inputs were not case sensitive.
➖ The computer interface wasn’t entirely intuitive. Although we figured out most oddities without too much hassle, one interface that was supposed to emulate a DOS-like terminal fell very short. We struggled to even figure out what we were looking at.
➖/➕ We were confused by still images that appeared to be videos. As still images, they eliminated red herrings, which we appreciated, but we were left confounded by the whole interaction.
➕/➖ The puzzle types varied pretty well. The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn leaned a bit too heavily on counting puzzles, where the challenge was parsing which information went together.
➕We especially enjoyed when the game asked us to use deductive reasoning to solve the puzzles.
➕/➖ The hint system got us where we need to be. That said, we would have preferred a little more granularity and redirection in the form of questions as opposed to straight instructions.
➖ We know there are more episodes coming, but don’t know when. We didn’t get any closure from this episode.
Tips For Player
- Space Requirements: a small table
- Required Gear: a computer with an internet connection (a laptop will be superior to a mobile phone)
Buy your copy of The Escape Game Unlocked’s The Heist Vol. 1 Chasing Hahn , and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: The Escape Game Unlocked provided a sample for review.
(If you purchase via our Amazon links, you will help support Room Escape Artist as we will receive a very small percentage of the sale. We appreciate the support.)
Melissa and I played this a while back. Although overall fun, I remember their computer interface was very glitchy and unforgiving. It lacked a “replay video” option for their intro and some transitional moments, which is a problem if the video didn’t display properly the first time due to browser settings or what not (we missed a couple of the videos because of this).
On the plus side, if I recall correctly, you can log in with the same credentials from multiple devices, so everybody (with a device) can be exploring the interface separately without having to crowd around a single screen. (This was especially helpful for one of the puzzles that required correlating information between two different parts of the site.)
We didn’t think to try logging in on multiple devices. Thanks for the tip! I know just the puzzle you’re talking about there.
What is the activation code for the rouge scientist 1990
I’m fairly certain that you have to purchase a copy to play it. If you’re having trouble, I’d recommend reaching out to The Escape Game directly. They have very responsive customer service.