Room Escape Artist

Escape. Anywhere: Before Moonrise is included in our recommendation guide for Remote Horror Games. For more of the best online escape games in this style, check out the recommendation guide.

Escape.Anywhere: Before Moonrise is a real-life escape room livestreamed through an avatar, created by Escape New Haven in New Haven, CT.

Format

Style of Play: real-life escape room livestreamed through an avatar

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-5

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: $89 for the entire group (online playthrough)

Booking: Book online for a specific time slot. Note, Escape New Haven is now offering both in-person and online playthroughs of this game.

This escape room has the option for a “regular” mode or a “hard” mode, which adds a couple of additional puzzles.

Description

This is played over Zoom. The gamemaster shows you around the room via a camera. Photos of things you notice in the room appear in your web inventory for reference.

Hivemind Review Scale

Tammy McLeod’s Reaction

This was a game with neat tech effects that were effective even over Zoom, and a storyline that tied in very nicely with the puzzles. It has been adapted quite well for online play, and our gamemaster Mike played a very convincing character, never got in the way of the solving experience, and even provided hints when we needed them, but ever so subtly. I came away feeling almost like I had just played the actual physical room!

Cara Mandel’s Reaction

Before Moonrise was a charming and delightfully constructed room. The storyline was engaging and the premise lent a natural sense of urgency that felt in-world and logical. The room employed a lot of interesting use of RFID technologies to great effect. This was a fun room to play via avatar and I’d venture to guess an even more enjoyable one in person.

Kathryn Yu’s Reaction

A delightful avatar-driven game, the werewolf-themed Before Moonrise from Escape.Anywhere is full of surprises. I was impressed at the extent to which the special effects came across via Zoom, particularly some of the lighting and sound wizardry. There were some genuinely beautiful reveals. And thankfully the bodycam (a GoPro) was not super shaky. Our avatar/ gamemaster Mike (aka “Player One”) was very deliberate in the way that he moved about the space and the web-based inventory system was easy to use and fairly detailed. With well-designed puzzles and a little bit of storytelling and acting from the avatar, our team was able to both finish in time and use our collective agency to trigger one of multiple endings. It’s clear how much work this team has put into making this experience remote-friendly.

Disclosure: Escape New Haven provided the Hivemind reviewers with a discounted play.