Room Escape Artist

DTF: Drag Task Force is an escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar, created by Mystery Mansion Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Format

Style of Play: escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar, designed exclusively for remote play

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: CAD 25.00 per person plus tax ($5 from every ticket sale is donated to a local non-profit)

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

DTF: Drag Task Force has standard remote avatar gameplay, where players instruct the avatar what operations to perform and what objects to inspect. It takes place over Zoom with Telescape for the inventory. Note that the content of this game is NSFW; expect sassy adult humor.

Hivemind Review Scale

Matthew Stein’s Reaction

DTF: Drag Task Force’s titular pun sets the tone for the sassy adult humor that permeates the entire game. With a ridiculous narrative premise supported by constant punny banter, DTF is just plain fun, and I enjoyed seeing common escape room puzzle tropes cutely reinterpreted through an adult lens. The game materials and the actor drive all the dirty humor, and while there is some space for players to improvisationally reciprocate, there’s no pressure to do so. It’s exciting to see another game designed exclusively for remote play and most puzzles flowed well for the medium, though a few elements still seemed to reflect in-person design sensibilities: dim room lighting with colorful twinkle lights somewhat degraded video quality, and one searching puzzle didn’t translate well.

Fro’s Reaction

This game was one hour chock full of glitter-covered joy and twinkly lights. The premise was delightfully bonkers, the acting was superb, the props were pretty and colorful, and the puzzles were fun and not too difficult. The inventory system had just the right amount of content to not take our focus away from the immersion and hilarious performance of our avatar. I loved the progression of the storyline and I always appreciate some NSFW humor. Our team acknowledged that we had a slow start that could have benefited from some clearer cluing, but once we got going, the momentum built quickly.

As if I needed any more reasons to love this game, Mystery Mansion Regina donates a portion of all ticket sales to Lulu’s Lodge, a home for LGBTQI+ youth in Regina.

Cara Mandel’s Reaction

DTF: Drag Task Force was a bawdy, fabulous time! The game was co-created in collaboration with real-life Canadian drag queen Flo Mingo, who appears in video form to set players on their mission. Players must aid the “Flo Bot” (a “robot of mass seduction”) in thwarting the evil Ruby Hymen’s dastardly plans. The game contains many fun (and very NSFW) comedic moments and several clever puzzle mechanics. Largely, the game design is a bit standard with many padlocks to solve for, but the real charm of this game is in the interactions with its delightfully quick-witted and sharp-tongued sassy robot avatar. The game also makes delightful reference to other local drag queens: Sandy Beaches, Ivana Diamonds, and Jenna Talia. Most endearingly, we learned that $5 from every ticket sale for this room is donated to a local non-profit called “Lulu’s Lodge,” a supportive transitional home for LGBTQ2S+ youth aged 16-21 facing homelessness in Regina. All this is to say that I recommend this game for a group of friends who love a good drag show and some naughty humor for a good cause.

Theresa W’s Reaction

DTF: Drag Task Force was such a wonderfully raunchy game that really took the unique theme in a great direction. The avatar brought the story to life, playing into our crazy requests and improvising flawlessly. The company showed so much versatility, as their other game Night Terrors is a complete 180 – their ability to pull off such vastly different games that are both so unique really stands out. The puzzles were very cute and on theme the entire time.

Brett Kuehner’s Reaction

• + Avatar is in-character, funny, and witty
• +/- Many puzzles don’t have clear connections to the locks they open, but the avatar smooths over that disconnect
• – A few objects in the room were a bit of a red herring
• + The “upgrade” mechanic is clever, and allows re-exploration of previous objects in a way that makes sense in the story
• – Some puzzles and interactions are not well suited for remote play
• + The backstory for the game is appropriately over-the-top, and presented in compact form (in other words, it doesn’t drag out the storytelling…)
• + Has a sense of fun that is found too rarely in games