Room Escape Artist

Be cool.

Location:  Albuquerque, New Mexico

Date Played: June 1st, 2024

Team Size: 2-10; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $25 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  None, as far as we could tell, but the website mentions to contact them with questions about accessibility.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Martian Meltdown was the newest installment at Albuquerque Escape Room. After experiencing their other offerings, this was their strongest game to date.

We started in an office space with an abandoned bunker motif and were tasked with getting the cryogenic systems back up and running to avoid the danger posed by the preserved aliens. We found the introduction video humorous with an 80s video game vibe; however, we thought that the designers intended for the video to have a more serious tone.

Our team split up to reset systems. As we progressed through puzzles and pushed further into Martian Meltdown we noticed a distinct lack of gore compared to the carnage described in the introductory video. We enjoyed the alien set pieces, but wished they had been a larger part in the finale after we powered on the cryogenic system.

Including the ending, the game felt emotionally flat. Martian Meltdown was an escape room game with a lot of puzzles that were well-designed, logical, and flowed well, but wasn’t an immersive experience. I felt that this game could have benefited by leaning into the campiness of aliens escaping their cryogenic chambers rather than focusing on a self-serious and dire situation that felt unrealized by the scenery.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Best for players with at least some experience
• Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

• If you have enjoyed playing other games at Albuquerque Escape Room, this was a step up from their previous installments.
• You enjoy escape rooms that focus on a logical puzzle flow.

Story

Your team has been dropped off at a top secret government facility where aliens are being studied. Contact has been lost with the group of scientists there and the systems have been shut down. You have one hour to find out how to restart the cryogenic systems to stop the aliens from waking up and escaping.

Setting

The set of Martian Meltdown was in line with Albuquerque Escape Room’s other offerings. The walls were painted and there were props and ornamentation that fit with the theme. The gamespace was themed as an office in an underground bunker, but didn’t seem high tech enough for a top secret government facility.

Gameplay

Albuquerque Escape Room’s Martian Meltdown was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Martian Meltdown had a variety of puzzles including decoding, visual, and physical puzzle types. This escape room was not search heavy.

Analysis

➕ Martian Meltdown was well clued, logical, and all of the technology worked.

➖ There were a LOT of clipboards in the escape room. They were the primary mechanism for providing puzzle clues. We felt this was a missed opportunity to incorporate clues and puzzle information into the set and props in Martian Meltdown.

➖ Some of the clipboards teased at a cryptography puzzle with different alien languages, but turned out to be a visual matching puzzle, which was a letdown.

➕/➖ Martian Meltdown had too many locks with the same digit structure, which slowed momentum as we solved puzzles. They lacked clear lockmapping, but the correct lock was usually the one closest to the puzzle.

➕ Some puzzles required teamwork to complete, which was satisfying.

➕ When we found the alien specimens, they looked realistic, which added to the set and theme.

➖ The ending of Martian Meltdown was anticlimactic. The story indicated the original scientists were dead or missing. We were disappointed that there wasn’t a twist or reveal for what had happened to the scientists once we got the system reset.

Tips For Visiting

• Easy parking
• Bosque Brewing Co, and several other restaurants nearby

Book your hour with Albuquerque Escape Room’s Martian Meltdown, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Albuquerque Escape Room provided a complimentary game.