Plight of the Margo: Part 2 is one of the best games in Fort Collins, CO. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms in Fort Collins.
The 3 Hour Escape Game: Part 2
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Date Played: September 6, 2019
Team size: 4-10; we recommend 5-6
Duration: 90 minutes
Price: $38 per player
Ticketing: Public
Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
REA Reaction
In Plight of the Margo Part 2, the real challenges emerged.
At this point we knew the setting, we were immersed within the story, we understood how the ship worked, and we had learned how to play the game. It was time for some cerebral heroics.
Over this second 90-minute segment, the value of depth became clear. ConTRAPtions Escape Rooms was able to explore their world and add complexity and challenge that no escape room can create in 60 minutes. It left me with the realization that the value of extended game length isn’t simply that you get more.
The magic of the 3-hour game was that it could demand far more of us as players, adventurers, teammates, and thinkers.
As I said in the reaction to Plight of the Margo Part 1, this is a must-play game for experienced players. Looking back on it, I feel like it was a gift created for me and people like me.
Who is this for?
- Adventure seekers
- Story seekers
- Puzzle lovers
- Scenery snobs
- Sci-fi fans
- Technophiles
- Experienced players in search of a challenging game
- Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
- The set was unique and badass
- Challenging puzzles
- The tech was impressively engineered
- The story had depth
- It was essentially a 3-hour escape game
Story
Plight of the Margo Part 2 picked up exactly where Part 1 had left off. I won’t spoil it beyond saying the obvious: something was wrong with the Margo and we had to resolve a Star Trek-style paradox to save the day.
Setting
The setting was identical to Plight of the Margo Part 1, except that during our break the gamemaster had added a few key props that enabled us to solve new puzzles.
Gameplay
ConTRAPtions Escape Rooms’ Plight of the Margo Part 2 was a standard escape room with a high level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, and puzzling.
In Part 2, we picked up exactly where we’d left at the end of Part 1. The game saved our team’s previous state. (You can play these chapters in completely different visits to ConTRAPtions Escape Rooms, but I recommend doing it in 1 session if you have the stamina.)
From this point forward, we were playing for the win.
Analysis
➕ All of the positives from Part 1 still applied in Part 2. The set, puzzles, technology, effects, and atmosphere were all epic.
➖ Going into Part 2, we received a lot of pre-game instruction. It felt like the instruction was an attempt to compensate for concepts that didn’t come across clearly enough in-game.
➕ The interaction design in Part 2 was killer.
➖/➕ It was too easy to make a grave mistake within the narrative. (Luckily, there was a re-do for this and it didn’t detonate our game.) This happened because we were never entirely sure what we were doing, but in an escape room the gut instinct is to just advance and keep doing things. In escape rooms, forward momentum is always good… except in this one instance. While playing, it was difficult to truly comprehend this distinction.
❓ ConTRAPtions Escape Rooms cast us in the roles of people with years of advanced training, but we had to figure out absolutely everything about our vessel while solving the missions. This is a typical escape room narrative paradox and a hard one to overcome.
➕ The hint system was really smart. It was embedded in a computer system. It was difficult to tell the hints from the regular game prompts. This allowed our gamemaster to normalize the difficulty through hinting without making it feel like we were underperforming.
➖ The final challenge was confounding. It felt too complicated. We followed that instinct and overthought it. In the end, we solved it, but we weren’t sure that we had won. There was opportunity to tighten up this conclusion and make it feel more definitive and triumphant.
➕ The overall experience of Plight of the Margo was breathtaking. I haven’t stopped thinking about it.
Tips For Visiting
- There is a parking lot.
- At least 1 player needs to crawl.
- Play both parts back to back if you can.
Book your hour with ConTRAPtions Escape Rooms’ Plight of the Margo Part 2, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: ConTRAPtions Escape Rooms comped our tickets for this game.
Disclosure: Our trip to Denver was sponsored by the Denver escape room community. Contributions were anonymous.
I think about this game often and still have a love/hate relationship with it. My experience was great and I would probably consider it both one of my favorites and also the most difficult escape room I’ve ever done. For the right group, it can be an epic experience and likely one of the best games they have ever played. Whereas, for the wrong group, I could see it being a miserable, frustrating 3 hour experience. My fear is that a lot of groups could fall into the second category.
I agree that the longer rooms are not just more content, they provide a deeper immersion. I really hope there will be more long-form rooms available in the U.S.