Goodbye to the Hivemind Stars, Hello Live Games

When we started the REA Hivemind in April of 2020, our approach was a response to an industry in crisis. As so many online games emerged, we considered each one in the context of our lives without in-person escape rooms. As such, we built the following scale, represented by stars:

The hivemind review stars have specific meanings, tied to a time of quarantine. As each reviewer has slowly emerged into the world outside their homes again, some more than others, the stars have remained indicative of thoughts on a game during a period of quarantine.

Now, 18 months later, the REA Hivemind is still going strong, but we’re leaving the stars behind… and honestly, it’s about time.

Today’s online escape room products are much more akin to tabletop escape rooms in that they are their own genre, intentionally designed for their medium and not as a substitute for something else. We’ll continue to review them in the more classic REA way, relying entirely on prose to help a discerning audience decide if this is the game for them.

Upcoming In-Person Reviews

In addition to continued online and tabletop escape game coverage, in-person escape room coverage will be back in full swing this fall.

Provided all traveling goes according to plan, you can expect reviews from:

• South Carolina
• North Carolina
• Virginia
• Maryland
• Maine
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Montreal

We’re excited to be visiting friends, family, and escape rooms again!

Thank you

Thank you to our Patreon backers, who continue to support us as we shift how we cover escape rooms and strive to provide the best content we can for this industry.

To those of you reading who have the means, we hope you’ll consider joining this wonderful group of supporters.

Support Room Escape Artist’s Mission

There are lots of ways to support Room Escape Artist, like buying from Amazon, Etsy, or Art of Play after clicking into the links included in this post or backing us on Patreon.

The money that we make from these helps us to grow the site and continue to add more value to the community that we love so much.