On Replaying The Hex Room at Cross Roads Escape Games [Reaction]

It was 2016 when we last visited hex room. It feels like a life time ago.

Our review holds up. Years removed, we’d forgotten the details of the review, but 6.5 years later we still stand by every word. Moreover, with this much distance, revisiting The Hex Room was great… even though we remembered a lot of the mechanics and object relationships.

Still Unique

Not only does our review hold up, but The Hex Room holds up. It’s been well maintained.

This remains a unique game, all these years later. It’s still really special. No one has done anything like it.

It’s structurally bold from both a game design standpoint and a business standpoint. 5-6 players have to agree to isolated roles in a creepy environment. Cross Roads Escape Games chose to take a risk with this design. It’s incredible that they made this work.

Defining Moment

Looking back The Hex Room was an important moment in my evolution as an escape room player.

I respected this game in 2016, but I didn’t love it. David did.

As we’ve traveled the world since then, playing escape rooms across The Netherlands and in Athens, Greece, I’ve often reflected on one particular moment I encountered as my original character in The Hex Room and reminded myself that I can play these horror games because The Hex Room forced me to step out of my comfort zone. It was the first time I couldn’t hide behind David or another teammate. I proved something to myself that day in 2016 that I’ve leaned on ever since.

This year, we brought a team with more project managers than… not project managers. I chose to play the Detective (even though someone else could easily have been cast as that character) so that my friends could have the experience I had in 2016. And one of them truly did (as another character… not the one I played in 2016.)

Cross Roads Escape Games is planning on closing this version of The Hex Room at some point in the next year or so. If you haven’t had a chance to play this classic or you’ve been considering revisiting it… go now. Or wait to see how the concept morphs in the next iteration.

Yes, you need exactly 5 or 6 players, and you need to get all of them to Anaheim, California, all of which can be a hassle. But I promise, whether you love horror or not, The Hex Room is worth it.