Room Escape Artist

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Mafia Heist is one of the best games in the Chicago area. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms around Chicago.

Location:  Naperville, IL

Date Played: October 26, 2024

Team size: 4-10; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 75 minutes

Price: $36.99 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  The room features motion simulators, mild strobe lights, fog, intense sound effects, and steps up and down

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Mafia Heist had three defining features:

First, it had a massive set that wasn’t just space for the sake of space. We experienced a lot of scene changes. And that brings me to the second point… the set looked pretty great. Each space that we visited had a unique aesthetic, but it was all tied together in a fairly cohesive style; it felt like one big world.

This brings me to the third defining feature. The gameplay felt flimsy and underbaked, especially when compared to the size, skill, and effort that was clearly put into the construction of the world.

The one puzzle in this game that I really wanted to explore, was tucked away in a hard to reach, dark corner, and it made a silly amount of noise. To make matters worse, by the time we had a sense of what the thing wanted us to do, it bypassed us. The gameplay wasn’t horrible. Things worked and they were more or less solvable… they just felt thin… so thin that at times we almost had to do nothing and realizing that was the trick.

Thin gameplay could haven been forgiven if it felt like we were experiencing something epic… but for all of the scale and beauty, the adventure wasn’t the stuff of legends. We jumped from scene to scene and very little happened other than things looking cool along the way.

Mafia Heist is a reasonably beloved game that has been recommended to me by a number of people. I can see the appeal of the world itself… but not the game. And that’s the problem: escape rooms are games. They aren’t environmental installations; they have to play well. When a company reaches for epic – and it felt like that’s what Mind Trap was going for – the gameplay needs to rise to the occasion.

I had to drive pretty far to get to Mafia Heist, and I’m not sure that I can wholeheartedly recommend it unless you’re already nearby, or you know that a great set is enough to leave you feeling content. It’s a good looking set, and sometimes that’s enough.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Scenery snobs
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• The extensive set design
• Some well-executed interactions

Story

It was the 1980s and the mob had committed a massive heist. In the midst of this crime, they were also looking for new recruits and we had to prove ourselves.

Setting

Mafia Heist had a massive, beautiful set. The build-out of this game was truly a standout, both on a regional and a national level. All of this was coupled with compelling set-based effects. The weathering and detailing was extensive.

As we traversed this game, we shifted between a wide variety of spaces, each one of which could have been its own 60 minute escape room.

Mind Trap clearly has a very talented set-build team, because the world that they built was impressive, and even the weakest link in the game build was still very strong.

Gameplay

Mind Trap’s Mafia Heist was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

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

Analysis

➕ The set was a gigantic work of art and it had a variety of cool interactions.

➖ The story lacked any kind of narrative cohesion, and felt more like a series of excuses to visit a wide variety of different settings.

➕ The voice-over work was strong and added a good sense of character to Mafia Heist.

➕ Our gamemaster was skilled and attentive.

➖ It was helpful to have an attentive gamemaster because hints and support were delivered via a walkie-talkie, which is always clunky… and this game required a ton of adjustments and direction from the gamemaster.

➖ As great as the set was, the puzzles felt lacking. Far too many puzzles were positioned in such a way that only 1 or 2 players could engage at a time, and we found an irritating lack of puzzle flow, largely driven by missing clue structure. These issues were regularly patched by the aforementioned stage direction from our gamemaster.

➖ One puzzle had a lot of potential, but was difficult to see, and bypassed itself so quickly that by the time we had a grasp on what was required, it was taken away from us.

➕ While I wasn’t a fan of the puzzles in Mafia Heist, after sitting on the question for a while, there was one late-game puzzle that stood out.

Tips For Visiting

• Mind Trap had a parking lot.
• There were food options within a reasonable drive

Book your session with Mind Trap’s Mafia Heist, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Mind Trap comped our tickets for this game.