Room Escape Artist

Happiness is mandatory.

2084 is one of the best escape rooms in Philadelphia, PA. Here are our recommendations for great escape rooms in Philadelphia.

Location:  Philadelphia, PA

Date Played: March 31, 2024

Team size: 2-6; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $35 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  There is a large step inside the game. At least one person will need to crawl.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

2084 was a really cool game. It played well with the dystopian fiction setting.

It was not a large space, but it was packed with content and detail. It offered crafty puzzles and interactions.

2084 struggled with some jankiness in the build, which detracted from some of the puzzles.

The challenge in this game was the narrative. It had a beginning, middle, and end, which most escape rooms do not. There was a real depth to 2084… when we stopped long enough to think critically and appreciate it. While the game offered many subtle hints and opportunities to absorb story, players need to be paying close attention. It was far too easy to breeze through this experience, win the game, and miss out on a large part of the intrigue.

Overall, 2084 was the strongest escape room we’ve played in Philadelphia, and it isn’t close. This is the game to book for any players traveling to Philadelphia, regardless of experience level. Go in with a keen eye for detail.

Who is this for?

• Story seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Sci-fi fans
• Any experience level

Why play?

• A dark and funny dystopian future
• Contextually thought-provoking puzzles and interactions
• The prop sitting in the middle of the game

Story

It’s the year 2084 and Invisicom, an artificial intelligence agency, is in charge of the world. This is great. We love this. We are so happy. We have to be; there isn’t another choice. However, we had the opportunity to outsmart the Mother Computer and save ourselves.

Setting

We stepped into a gray room. Our eyes were immediately drawn to posters, which decorated most of the wall space. There were a large props along each wall. One wall looked like a colorful contraption of some sort.

Gameplay

Olde City Escape Games’ 2084 was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

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

Analysis

➕ 2084 had a dark but humorous tone. The weird posters accentuated this. The set was minimal, but it created the right vibe.

➖ While the build was serviceable, it lacked fit and finish around some props, the doors, and the ceiling. There was opportunity to make it a more realized world.

➕ The main interactions in the first room sent a serious (and seriously dark!) message in a playful way. In one case, the props read amusingly. In another case, the aha came from understanding the truth of the world of 2084.

➕ We enjoyed the variety of puzzles and interactions. They required many different skill sets, and it was easy to get 2-3 teammates involved in most solves.

➕ The game flowed well. Old City Escape Games used lighting to give feedback whenever we’d solved a puzzle and the game had progressed. (However, upon reflection, there was one instance that would have benefited from more feedback for a solve and associated reveal.)

➖ One prop suffered from lack of maintenance. With some gentle coaxing, we got it to trigger.

➖ A couple of late-game puzzles had been simplified, leaving ghost puzzles behind.

➕ Olde City Escape Games spun an exciting interaction around, with a clever design that felt genuine, while not being load-bearing. It never felt cheap. The lighting design made this interaction immediately intriguing, and the payoff was worth it. We commend them on a smart build.

➕ One later scene was a big hit. We appreciated the reasoning required to complete what at first glance appeared to be a simple (but high energy) challenge.

➕ Near the end of 2084, the game seemingly threw a monkey wrench into the works. This narrative twist delivered.

➖ 2084 was emotionally flat. The second act didn’t amp up the excitement or intensity. While the twist was amusing after we considered its meaning, it wasn’t immediately clear in the moment, and didn’t raise the stakes within the experience.

Tips For Visiting

• Look for metered street parking or a parking garage.

Book your hour with Olde City Escape Games’ 2084, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Olde City Escape Games provided media discounted tickets for this game.