Child’s Play
Location: Wilmington, NC
Date Played: September 26, 2021
Team size: up to 8; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $26 per person, minimum 3 tickets
Ticketing: Private
Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock [A]
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
REA Reaction
The Attic was playing with some clever ideas and was built around an interesting and unique mechanic.
The struggle with this game was that Green Light Escape Room took these unusual ideas and made a fairly typical escape room out of them. It was a solid enough escape room, worth playing if you’re in the area… but throughout our time in The Attic, I found myself hoping that they would do something special with the core mechanics, and it never happened.
Who is this for?
- Story seekers
- Puzzle lovers
- Any experience level
Why play?
- Clever game structure
Story
A family needed babysitters for their adorable daughter. She’s just an angel… who keeps losing her toys… and her babysitters.
Setting
The Attic had a slightly grim vibe and a sparse selection of props. It had the right atmosphere, but felt a little empty.
The second act took us to a clever destination.
Gameplay
Green Light Escape Room’s The Attic was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, puzzling, and counting.
Analysis
➕/➖ The set of The Attic gave off a creepy vibe, without being actually scary. It set the right mood… but also felt a little too sparse and empty.
➖ While they fit the story, plushies are uninviting to handle in escape rooms. We didn’t really want to touch these props.
➕ The standout moment of the game was the aha associated with the scene change.
➕ Conceptually, The Attic did something unusual. We appreciated how this carried through the entire second act. We were thrilled each time we discovered a familiar prop in its new form.
➖ There were too many counting puzzles in The Attic. We wanted more variety in the challenges, and also in the solutions. We derived a lot of number answers, and because the game lacked sufficient lock mapping (connecting locks to puzzles), we spent a lot of time counting, and then repeatedly entering a solution into multiple locks.
➖ We wanted more excitement from one large appliance. This was a missed opportunity to maximize the props that were in the game and vary the puzzle structure.
➖ The ending fizzled. The Attic needed to do more with the stakes to give meaning to the core gameplay loop.
Tips For Visiting
- There is metered street parking in Wilmington.
- We enjoyed Beer Barrio for lunch nearby.
Book your hour with Green Light Escape Room’s The Attic, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Green Light Escape Room comped our tickets for this game.
