Room Escape Artist

Update 12/12/23: If you enjoyed this article, we hope you’ll check out our interview with Locurio co-owner Summer Herrick on The Reality Escape Pod.

A real page turner

Location:  Seattle, WA

Date Played: October 15, 2023

Team size: 4-6; we recommend 3-5

Duration: 70 minutes

Price: From $45 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  There are stairs to enter the game.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Since it opened in 2018, Locurio’s The Storykeeper has been the single most demanded review on Room Escape Artist. Everyone can finally stop asking us when we’re going to play it.

We’re always a little nervous when we play a beloved game years after its release. We walked in grappling with questions like:

• Was it maintained?
• Will it conceptually hold up?
• Has it been eclipsed by other similar games with more modern game mechanics and technology?

I am thrilled to report that in the case of The Storykeeper, the answers are:

• Yes, it has been maintained.
• Yes, it conceptually holds up.
• No, it hasn’t been eclipsed.

I fully understand why The Storykeeper has such passionate fans stretching back more than half a decade. It’s a magnificently crafted game and world. From the performative onboarding to the way we were pulled deeper and deeper into the environment and narrative of The Storykeeper, this game was playing in space that few escape rooms were exploring back in 2018… and all of that was topped with a collection of challenging yet fair puzzles.

With all of that being said, there were elements that could benefit from updates. One or two puzzles could have provided cleaner feedback, especially in their fail states. There were a couple of times where I found myself begging for spotlighting.

Overall, Locurio is one of those rare escape room companies whose small body of work has had an outsized impact on the escape room community. There’s a part of me that wishes that I could have played The Storykeeper when it was new, but there is a different kind of delight in visiting a game that has some mileage on it and still feels mighty.

If you’re in Seattle, The Storykeeper is a must play game. And while you’re there, be sure to check out The Vanishing Act. Locurio games have staying power.

Who is this for?

• Story seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• Wonderful and challenging puzzles
• Great set-based interactions
• Strong performer moments
• Well thought out hint system

Story

We’d answered the summons of a mysterious book collector named Jak. They needed us to retrieve a valuable item that they’d lost in a seemingly unfathomable way. Now we were in a mysterious and unusual library, ready to find it.

Setting

Our story began in a magical library where we met the keeper of that space. The library was beautiful and intriguing.

Gameplay

Locurio’s The Storykeeper was a standard escape room with a high level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and solving puzzles.

Analysis

➕ The Storykeeper combined elements of different escape rooms themes into an unusual new whole. Furthermore, our adventure took us on a full story arc. It was well structured, with a beginning, middle, climactic ending, and denouement.

➕ We enjoyed the thematic hint system. It made hints into a natural part of the storytelling.

➕ The Storykeeper was a strong, puzzley escape room. Everything was clued, but we had to work for our solves.

➖ One set was beautiful, but too dark. It added difficulty in the wrong places. Additional spotlighting would refocus the difficulty on the puzzles.

➖ This same set lacked feedback. In one instance we overcomplicated a mechanic, in part because the prop involved wasn’t giving clear feedback. Feedback was also missing for our own actions. We couldn’t always tell when something was reset or resolved.

➕ The performers added to our experience. They weren’t with us the entire time, but they brought more weight to our mission, and more excitement to its conclusion.

Tips For Visiting

• Parking: There is street parking.

Book your hour with Locurio’s The Storykeeper, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Locurio comped our tickets for this game.