Room Escape Artist

Some escape rooms include a dramatic choice to be made by the players as they enter the game’s finale. On paper, this sounds like a great plan, but in practice I’ve found a few issues that make me wish that some games had just cut out the big player choice bit and carried on with a solid, impactful finale that the story’s writer intended.

The Choice

Certain escape games conclude with the players being forced to decide on a course of action that affects the final scene.

Should they go through with their given mission now that story circumstances have changed, or should they choose to take a more noble path and destroy all that they have worked so hard to create over the last 59 minutes?

Should they embrace their inner villain and complete the work of the mysterious scientist, whom they now realize is a dangerous dude set on world domination? Yes or No? Should one player sacrifice themselves so that the others may go free, or should they all go down together?

These big decisions that often take place at the story’s climax are designed to add a sense of drama, and most of all, the feeling of player agency to an escape room experience. They are also occasionally used to help back up the claim that the room has “multiple endings,” but this design has a few drawbacks.

Story Ambiguity

I find that sometimes these types of choices fall flat in their dramatic impact when the players have questions about the game’s story. If every player isn’t up-to-speed and on the same page with what is happening in the story, (as is often the case in escape rooms) it can be hard to make a group decision that feels satisfying. 

End game choices often rely on the players having digested some kind of twist in the story. If that twist isn’t understood or doesn’t feel earned, the resulting choice can become confusing.

Immersion Breaker

Many times I find these make-a-choice moments to be immersion breakers. They break up the flow of the game and often feel forced and fake. Shoe-horned into the experience, just because. Players must now stop and have a discussion, and if they haven’t understood the story fully, connected with the characters, or if the game hasn’t earned this moment of gravitas, things can turn comically cringy.

Why does the evil villain who has trapped us or tricked us into building their doomsday machine suddenly give us the choice to destroy it? As someone who values player agency, I have found myself frustrated at times when I try to follow the story and act as I would in that fictional situation, only to be confused about details or even worse, have a game host explain in the debrief that, “It doesn’t really matter; either choice is fine”. Come on, it has to matter!

FOMO

I’ll admit that most of the times when my group is presented with a choice at the end of a game, we try to meta-game the answer by guessing which choice will result in the more spectacular finale. We forget about the story and the characters and simply choose based on a guess that hopefully gives us the better audio, visual, or performance scene.

Inevitably, immediately following the scene (or even worse, sometimes while making our choice) we plan on asking our game host if they can show us the other ending. Sometimes this is possible and sometimes it isn’t, but it very commonly derails our ability to fully appreciate the game as a whole as we battle the FOMO of a finale we might have missed. 

Do It Right

I am still a fan of player choice and player agency. Allowing players to feel like they are helping to shape the narrative is a great goal for designers to have. I urge creators to put serious thought into the mechanics they implement. 

• The choices must be easy to understand. Players must understand what they are choosing. The story and the motivational twists can’t be too complex. 

• Know the trade-offs for presenting a choice that is difficult to make. Consider the emotional arc of a group that stalls for a long debate, or of one player just choosing on behalf of everyone.

• Make the choices matter. Try to design the experience so players feel that their story is happening. We should avoid that feeling of, “either choice is fine”. Our choices should have some consequences. 

• Make it inevitable, and make it ingrained into the game. It’s the sudden appearance of a surprise, important choice that can sometimes kill the vibe. Foreshadow what might be coming so that players can, even subconsciously, prepare to make a decision.

Choose The Right Kind Of Choice

Including choices into the narrative design of escape rooms can make for fun and interesting experiences. I’d love to see more games iterate and improve their designs to avoid some of the issues I see with many of the late-game, finale inducing, A/B style choices that sometimes result in games ending on less than a high note.