Hiding from zombies under your old multiplication table.
Location: at home
Date Played: December 20, 2020
Team size: 1-4; we recommend 1-2
Duration: 45 minutes
Price: about $13
REA Reaction
From our vantage point, Escape from Dead Town was easily the weakest of the 3 original Quick-Fire Escape Rooms from Professor Puzzle.
Setting aside how tired I was of zombie virus stuff pre-pandemic – and how extra exhausted I am by the theme now – this thematic implementation felt especially shallow. I think it’s hard to convey the urgency, messiness, and chaos of an apocalyptic disaster in neatly packaged tabletop puzzles.
Beyond the thematic disconnect, the puzzles in Escape from Dead Town were neither as fun nor as polished as those in Escape from the Casino of Chaos and Escape from the Mall.
This game wasn’t a disaster, but I can’t really recommend it either. Play Escape from the Casino of Chaos or Escape from the Mall before you play Escape from Dead Town. If you can’t find them and want to try out this format, or you loved those and crave more games in this style, give Dead Town a shot. Otherwise, you can spend $13 elsewhere.
Series Overview
This review only covers details specific to this individual Professor Puzzle Quick-Fire Escape Room.
For a detailed explanation of the concept and mechanics, and a general analysis of the entire product line, check out our Professor Puzzle Quick-Fire Escape Room Overview.
Story
The zombie virus had spread quickly and the few survivors who remained needed to figure out the military’s survivor extraction point before we got bit and became mindless brain munching zombies.
Analysis
➖ None of the puzzles in this installment did it for us; the solutions didn’t always feel clean or satisfying. For example, a shredded document as a jigsaw puzzle has never excited me.
➖ The zombie apocalypse theme felt half-hearted. I can’t imagine being a fan of the genre and feeling narratively satisfied with this game.
➕ The components were well produced, and this game included a few tangible components that improved the solving experience.
Buy your copy of Professor Puzzle’s Escape from Dead Town, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Professor Puzzle provided a sample for review.
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