Room Escape Artist

Editor’s Note: Puzzle Corp. Escape Rooms was previously called America’s Escape Game.

🎵Its the end of the world as we know it🎵

Location: Orlando, FL

Date Played: April 5, 2025

Team Size: 1-7; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price:  $44.99 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: 1 player must crawl a short distance.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Imagine if Crazy Dave from the Plants vs. Zombies video games came to life and built a bomb shelter/ escape room. Doomsday Disaster was that room, pairing campy irreverence with the complete collapse of society. Everything looked to be a mess at first glance, but when we focused on our surroundings, we found that Pap Pap’s bunker provided logical challenges which we overcame to achieve safety.

Puzzle Corp. Escape Rooms, in partnership with The Escape Ventures, presented us with a delightful set that brought this hidden bunker in the woods to life. The clearing in the woods shared space with a seemingly impenetrable entry, and once inside, the well-stocked bunker held all the answers to reset the defenses and stay safe. We were impressed that Pap Pap used every item in the bunker as part of his elaborate defense system.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing as we navigated the shenanigans and challenges left behind by our Pap Pap. We needed the gamemaster to hard reset an alarm at one point because it wouldn’t stop triggering. Additionally, one puzzle in the game was very hard to read. The challenge of seeing the puzzle clue paired with a “tricky” means to decode it ground our momentum to a halt. This was disappointing because the rest of Doomsday Disaster provided a large variety of puzzles that could be solved in tandem. Our group rarely found ourselves standing around with nothing to do.

Once we got everything operational, one last challenge stood before us. The action packed finale required all hands on deck and communication was key. Our only gripe was that the epic “final boss” soundtrack overpowered the instructions so it was hard to hear what we needed to do to succeed.

Doomsday Disaster was a fun and cheeky room that leaned into its ridiculous premise and would be a great time for any experience level. If you find yourself in Orlando, we highly recommend checking out Doomsday Disaster.

Note: Doomsday Disaster was originally installed at Locksmith Escape Room in Sanford, FL. While we never played the original version of the game, we were told that the new version is bigger and better than the original with a new ending sequence, and seven new puzzles. Therefore, Doomsday Disaster may be worth a replay even for players who have previously visited the Sanford location.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Campy apocalypse fans
• Any experience level

Why play?

• The humorous, playful vibe
• The puzzles
• Collaborative solves

Story

It was 2045 and the world was coming to an end! Thankfully, our Pap Pap had thought ahead and fully stocked a doomsday bunker to ride out the apocalypse. When we arrived, however, there was one small problem: we were locked out! With marauders, psychos, and dudes with bazookas bearing down on us to steal this safe haven, we had one hour to find a way in and get the defenses back online to survive.

Setting

The “signs” of the apocalypse surrounded us from the beginning. In a secluded clearing in the woods we found a rusty garage door, the entrance to Pap Pap’s secret bunker. Once inside, the concrete bunker was filled with supplies to ride out the apocalypse. We truly felt that Pap Pap had prepared everything we would need to ride out the end of the world.

Gameplay

Puzzle Corp. Escape Rooms’ Doomsday Disaster was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Gameplay revolved around a large variety of puzzles. These included visual, searching, logic, communication, and placement puzzles.

Analysis

➕ The set felt authentic and enhanced the expectation that we were racing against time to break into and survive in this bunker.

➕ All props and set dressings were used to help solve puzzles throughout Doomsday Disaster. There were no red herrings in a well populated gamespace.

➖ At one point there was a tech failure where an alarm wouldn’t stop blaring. The gamemaster had to come in to manually stop it, which broke our immersion temporarily.

➕ We enjoyed the large quantity and variety of puzzles throughout the escape room.

➕ The non-linear style of each scene allowed our team to stay busy throughout the experience.

➖ One puzzle relied on blacklight that was faded and hard to read. This was compounded by the fact that it translated into a “tricky” answer, which killed momentum in otherwise smooth gameplay.

➕/➖ The finale was action-packed and required strong team communication, but the instructions were hard to hear over the soundtrack.

Tips For Visiting

• Ample Parking
• Numerous restaurants near by

Book your hour with Puzzle Corp. Escape Rooms’ Doomsday Disaster, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Puzzle Corp. Escape Rooms comped our tickets for this game.