Room Escape Artist

Hexing or Vexing

Location: Orlando, FL

Date Played: February 17, 2026

Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 2-3

Duration: 60 minutes

Price:  $44.99 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  One player needs to duck or crawl. One player needs to go into an enclosed space.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Escapeology is the largest escape room company in the world. By virtue of scale, each game that they produce has more impact because it gets replicated across dozens of regions.

Haunted House is a notable step up in quality for Escapology. Within Haunted House, Escapology incorporated more dynamic puzzles and technology, while adding a bit of additional drama and atmosphere to the style that they have become known for. It was great to see them taking creative risks and leveling up their production.

The most significant opportunities for improvement within Haunted House were quality of life design elements. Handheld flashlights and blacklights have been finicky and fickle for as long as escape rooms have been around, and they remain annoying to hold and failure-prone to this day. The addition of spotlighting would go a long way towards maintaining the atmosphere while upgrading usability and reliability.

Similarly, the technology within the game worked, but was a bit too opinionated about the precise placement of props for us to feel confident that correct answers would always work as intended.

Overall, Escapology has made plenty of competent escape rooms, but this is the first Escapology game I’ve played that is making me pay attention to what they make next… and that is significant.

Who is this for?

• Light horror fans
• Any experience level

Why play?

• A creepy atmosphere
• Solid puzzling

Story

Way long ago the family of Mulberry Manor had all been murdered inside their estate. Since then, anyone who had entered the manor had perished within it. We’d just inherited it, however, and we were ready to risk this fate to gain our inheritance. We entered.

Setting

We began in a study-like room with a bookshelf on one wall, portraits on another, and small furniture up against the walls. The dark wood trim felt right. The walls looked aged and marked from past horrors.

That said, while the set was designed enough to give sense of place, it did feel like we’d stepped into a manor. It didn’t have the stateliness to feel genuine and the props lacked heft. It lacked the furniture that would have made the room feel like a real place.

Gameplay

Escapology’s Haunted House was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

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

Light management was also a substantial component of the gameplay. The room was dark and we had to share handheld light sources.

Analysis

➕ Escapology builds games according to a mold, which helps them scale rapidly. With Haunted House, they deviated from their standard layout just enough to make the game feel different, without compromising on scalability. This opened up new opportunities for how players move through the space. It made the space feel bigger and more cohesive.

➕ The ambiance was spooky without ever being scary. Escapology added a well-timed jump scare (but not too scary!) through excellent use of effects.

➖ Haunted House was dark and required the use of handheld light sources. This was annoying. We had to share the one strong flashlight, making flashlight management a big part of the experience. There were dimmer light sources as well, and we each spent the entire game holding a light source to facilitate solving just about anything. With selective spotlighting, Escapology could improve the gameplay without sacrificing atmosphere. Spotlighting would also make the finale more dramatic and exciting.

➕ The gameplay was well-clued. We moved smoothly from puzzle to puzzle. The puzzles were fun to solve and made sense.

➖ In a few instances, the tolerances on technology-triggered puzzles were too tight. We completed the action correctly, but the puzzle didn’t accept the solution because we were just a few degrees off. We recommend a little more leniency, or if not, than a remote trigger when players take the correct action but aren’t precise enough. While we were able to self-correct, this type of issue could easily disrupt a team who was flowing well through the game.

➕ The first scene concluded dramatically with an electrifying aha.

➕ We enjoyed one 3D printed input. It was large, tactile, and fun to use.

➖ Escapology wasn’t printing on high enough quality material for the throughput this game sees. Printing was low resolution, and a lot of it was heavily worn, making some it extremely challenging to read, especially in the low light.

➖ For a 60-minute experience, the soundtrack was too short. It looped, but the loop was not perfect. We noticed every time it restarted.

➖ There was an opportunity for the characters in Haunted House to be a larger, more meaningful part of the experience. The game started with an overly long intro video made from AI art. For a more compelling scene setting, we suggest voiceovers from the characters at the beginning, and then again at the end, to anchor our adventure.

➕ The finale was the high point of Haunted House. With a little behind the scenes magic, Escapology smashed it. They’d upgraded the level of effects from what we’d seen in their earlier experiences.

Tips For Visiting

• There is a parking lot.
• This game is located at Escapology’s I-Drive location in Orlando, as well as many of their other locations across the US, and internationally.

Book your hour with Escapology’s Haunted House, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Escapology provided a complimentary game.