Mad Experiments: Escape Room is a puzzle video game.
Format
Style of Play:
- Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
- Play on demand
- Video game
Required Equipment: computer with internet connection
Your computer needs to be sufficiently powerful to handle a moderately graphics-intensive video game.
Recommended Team Size: 2-4
Play Time: 60 minutes for each chapter
Price: $14.99 per player for all 3 chapters
Booking: purchase and play at your leisure
Description
Mad Experiments: Escape Room is a first-person puzzle video game set in three chapters, each with a unique theme.
Note, if you get motion sick playing first-person games, this game will make you motion sick.
Hivemind Review Scale
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Matthew Stein’s Reaction
Mad Experiments left me feeling polarized. On one hand, this multiplayer, episodic escape game was full of creative environments and nonstandard interactions only possible within the video game medium. On the other hand, the graphics were sometimes glitchy, the narrative thread was difficult to follow, and while I liked most of the actual puzzle answers, the game’s cluing and signposting was messily implemented overall.
After playing chapter 1, I wouldn’t have recommended this game. But as we continued onto chapters 2 and 3, the gameplay matured and the theming became increasingly more interesting. I especially found chapter 3 to be visually delightful, enough so to counterbalance the fun but still somewhat flawed gameplay. Though the price is a bit steep for just a couple hours of gameplay (each player must purchase their own copy of the game), the developers state that future content will be offered at no additional cost, and given the upward trajectory demonstrated so far, I look forward to checking out any new installments.
Brett Kuehner’s Reaction
This will be a brief review, for reasons that will become obvious. I played Chapter 1, and thought it had attractive graphics and responsive controls, with a variety of settings to control viewing angles and graphic performance. The multiplayer video game puzzle-solving with friends is fun, and allows each player to explore on their own. In some ways it simulates in-person escape rooms better than the more common Zoom-based avatar-led games where all the players control a single avatar/ set of hands.
However, despite trying different settings for the graphics, I got very queasy, to the point where I had to essentially remain stationary. If you are susceptible to motion sickness in video games, this might not be the game for you. However, my teammates seemed to have a good time, and I could watch them from the corner of the room for the second half of the chapter, occasionally moving a little to see something happen (and often regretting moving afterward.) If you have no problems with first-person video games, you’ll probably be fine, but unfortunately I don’t handle that kind of game very well.
Theresa W’s Reaction
Mad Experiments started out quite rocky. You could tell that the first chapter was designed first. While the puzzles were fine, the low lighting, very hidden clues, and non-intuitive controls for non-gamers made us want to stop playing. I’m so glad that we pushed through, and with each chapter came more interesting puzzles and interactions. They also ditched the low-lighting mechanics. We really loved the final chapter of the game. It was unique in design and fun in execution. The achievements were fun little bonuses to achieve after the game, and there were some cute hidden Easter eggs that made the StarCraft player in me very happy. I’m really glad we played this and gave it another shot after the first chapter!