60out – Miss Jezebel Online [Hivemind Review]

Update 9/14/21: If you enjoy Miss Jezebel, we hope you’ll check out our interview with creator Brian Corbitt on The Reality Escape Pod.

Miss Jezebel (Online) is a real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar, created by 60out in Los Angeles, CA.

Room Escape Artist writer Sarah Willson reviewed the real-life version of this game in August of 2019. This is a review of the online adaptation.

Format

Style of Play: real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar, with a large immersive theater component

Required Equipment: computer with an internet connection, mobile device

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: $45 per person

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

This is an 18+ game played with 2 actors. Some of the props in the room will be sex toys and fetish gear. Many of the jokes are sexual innuendos. Miss Jezebel is usually played by a man in drag.

One actor is Miss Jezebel, the other is the detective, who is also the cameraman and your avatar. This is an interaction-heavy game; part of the experience is bantering with Miss Jezebel. The detective will interact with her himself, but he will also ask you what to say, or you can direct him to say or do anything (within reason). Part of the game is “social engineering” Miss Jezebel to either get information from her, distract her, or accomplish some other goal. Get into character and get really involved to get the most out of this experience.

Hivemind Review Scale

Fro’s Reaction

Epically raunchy and uproariously funny, this experience catapulted itself to the top of my quarantine playlist. It was the real deal – outstanding acting and comedic timing, just the right amount of puzzling and a level of immersion that was impressive given the remote format. 60out managed to build a world and a storyline that made sense in its own bizarre way in a limited amount of space and with a remarkably simple set. We had a certain amount of control over how we handled situations, which only added to the creativity and hilarity. The whole thing just worked.

I rarely encounter escape rooms with adult subject matter, so it took me a while to comfortably assess where The Line was and what would be ok to say or suggest. I held back a bit at the beginning, but warmed up quickly as the world continued to reveal itself.

I liked this one so much that I recommended it to a few friends and can’t wait to sit in and watch them play. Book your session and let the guffawing ensue.

Joel Smileypeacefun Reaction

We had lots of laughter meeting Miss Jezebel and flirting our way through a digital but deadly tinder date.

At its best, this game feeds off the amazing actors and their ability to adapt to what you do or say. Since this is an escape room / immersive theater hybrid, I was afraid the puzzles would come up short, but it turned out to be a great mix.

At its worst, the available time slots didn’t work at all with the European timezone I’m living in. I ended up playing at 1:30 am, so my energy level was rather low. The character we were controlling always gave some pushback to our ideas. Unfortunately, this made us think that our ideas were wrong when, in fact, if we just would have pushed harder the character would have done it.

Your experience heavily depends on how comfortable you are with adult humor (sex and fetishes). I was able to loosen up and have fun since there was nothing too disturbing for my personal limits.

Matthew Stein’s Reaction

Miss Jezebel is undoubtedly a must-play quarantine experience for any adult audience comfortable with raunchy improv. While Miss Jezebel originated as an in-person game in Los Angeles, it’s been cleverly adapted for remote play and transformed into something new that even folks who’ve played in person will likely enjoy playing again. It has a similar setup and overall vibe to Omescape’s remote-exclusive Pursuit of Assassin Artist – a newer game likely influenced by Miss Jezebel. While Miss Jezebel isn’t a puzzle-heavy game, both the puzzles and the extensive interactions with the two actors were solidly designed and effectively helped deliver punchy comedic climaxes.

Peih Gee Law’s Reaction

What happens when an escape room and immersive theatre meet up for a date at the fetish ball? Find out at Miss Jezebel’s Tea Party! ⁣This is campy, witty, raunchy, and bizarre — in the best way possible — and by far the most fun I’ve ever had with a virtual escape experience.

Immersion: Richly decorated set that really sold the world of Miss Jezebel to me. I loved all the kooky props and little humorous touches sprinkled around the room.

Puzzles: This is not a puzzle-heavy room, but I think it was just enough, and left a little more time for the fun interactions with Miss Jezebel (and other characters). The puzzles were fun though and fit the theme of the room.

Avatar/ Gamemaster: This is where Miss Jezebel really shines. This is an interaction-heavy experience. The actors are fantastic — witty with great chemistry. I found it really enjoyable to “play” with the actor by feeding funny lines to the gamemaster. The banter was very entertaining, as were the gamemaster’s reactions to our sometimes bizarre directions. They were both really good at improvising and playing along with our suggestions without ever breaking character.

Functionality: This game doesn’t have an inventory system, and frankly, it didn’t need one. I like that I didn’t have to mess with another tool that took me out of the immersion of this room. Occasionally, they would suggest that we just take a photo or screenshot of the puzzle or clue, and I think that worked well enough.

David Spira’s Reaction

Miss Jezebel was nuts. This edgy and immersive blend of theatrics with traditional escape room played brilliantly in the avatar format. Now, I want to be very clear: Miss Jezebel is adult, not mature. It’s glibly sexual and the characters were willing to take the conversation and actions in whatever crazy direction we suggested. And crazy it got.

Miss Jezebel was about over-the-top character interactions. Strip away the character magic, and it’s an unremarkable escape game with a single puzzle that truly stood out. But that’s the point. This game was immensely entertaining and my face hurt from how much time I spent smiling.

We were supposed to play Miss Jezebel in real life back in March… and that didn’t happen. When we heard that it was well adapted online, we were reluctant to play because we were holding out hope for the “true” experience. When the fall rolled around… we decided to abandon said hope and see what this game was all about. Honestly, we were wrong to have waited this long.

Disclosure: 60out provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.