Room Escape Artist

Pirates, and treasure, and mummies oh my!

Location:  Ocala, FL

Date Played: July 14, 2024

Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $38 per player

Ticketing: Private

Game Breakage: Yes; there was a significant technical failure that impacted our experience.

Accessibility Consideration:  A few stairs up and down

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Tomb of Tales was an interesting mash-up of two common themes often seen in escape rooms: Pirates and Egypt.

The initial gamespace had pirate paraphernalia littering the walls. We started the game on a bridge above a snake pit, with skeletal remnants of the previous set of pirate tomb raiders scattered about. The initial room was completely linear, but the puzzles and inputs were spread out to keep multiple people involved. The puzzles were logical, but relied heavily on making visual connections.

The shift between pirates and Egypt was abrupt. It was obvious that the same company had crafted and decorated both gamespaces; however I would have preferred if the two themes had been more intertwined. There was also a shift in the puzzle flow after entering the pharaoh’s tomb; a majority of the puzzles in the Egypt-themed spaces could be solved in parallel.

As we puzzled further into the pharaoh’s tomb we made it into the treasure chamber, solved a few more puzzles and were done. No pomp and circumstance, just done. The underwhelming ending took the air out of all the adventuring and excitement we had had up until then.

Overall, Tomb of Tales was a fun escape room with plenty of puzzles. The set and the props were the real standout here. This escape room had two themes that each had their own time in the spotlight, but weren’t ever able to share it. I feel like Tomb of Tales wanted a venn diagram with pirates and Egypt, but ended up with just two circles, which fell short of what could have been a more cohesive team up. We enjoyed the adventure and challenges, but felt let down by the ending.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Pirate AND Egypt fans
• Any experience level

Why play?

• You LOVE visual puzzles
• Cool set design
• Excellent props

Story

An archeological gold mine! We’d discovered the famous final battleground of Bone King Cedric. As we sifted through the remains we found that he had been defending the entrance to a secret Egyptian tomb filled with treasure. It was our job to unravel the clues left behind by these pirates to uncover the treasure hidden within the pharaoh’s crypt.

Setting

We set foot on the rope bridge and were immediately greeted by the rictus grin of a green-eyed skeletal pirate. As our eyes swept over the room, our gaze settled on the surprising, but welcome presence of a sandstone door emblazoned with the relief of an Egyptian noble. We just needed to navigate over the dangerous snake pit first…and figure out how to get that door opened.

Gameplay

Tomb of Tales at Huddys Escape was a standard escape room with an easy level of difficulty.

The gameplay was logical. The initial gamespace was completely linear; however, there were several points later in the room where the team could work in parallel. Almost every puzzle was based on making visual connections. There was one dexterity puzzle and one logic puzzle.

Analysis

➕ The set design for Tomb of Tales was very well done. It felt as if you had stumbled upon the aftermath of an ancient pirate camp. Once in the tomb, the scenery continued to be high quality with a new Egyptian theme.

➖ There was at least one ghost puzzle that distracted our team from moving forward on the current puzzle path and led to confusion on what information was useful.

➕ We did not run into any issues with lockmapping. Available locks were of a diverse variety for the number of puzzles available to solve.

➕ /➖ Tomb of Tales contained a lot of puzzles; however, many of these were visual puzzles. We would have preferred to see a greater variety of puzzle types.

➖ A few days before we played this room, the control system for the electronic puzzles and sound cues at the Ocala Huddys Escape location failed. The magnetic locks and other non-lock puzzles worked in the first half of the game. However, several electronic puzzles had been replaced with physical locks once entering the Egyptian tomb. We were unsure whether the current fixes were temporary or permanent, but the failures did detract from the experience. When our team played, none of the sound effects were functional. As a result we were unsure about several of our solutions, including the completion of our mission at the end of the escape room.

➕ Our group was impressed with the quality of several props that also functioned as puzzle components. We thought the props significantly added to the immersion of the room.

➖ The ending to Tomb of Tales was anticlimactic. After completing the final puzzle nothing happened until we were collected by our gamemaster and led back to the lobby.

➕ /➖ The premise that pirates were fighting to obtain access to an Egyptian tomb was an interesting thematic mashup with the potential for novelty. Both themes were visually executed well with thematic puzzles; however, the room felt more like two separate short escape rooms. There was opportunity for more thematic overlap and integration within the game.

Tips For Visiting

• There is ample public parking at this location

Book your hour with Huddys Escape Game, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.