Author: David Spira

Co-founder of RoomEscapeArtist.com. Creative technologist, guitarist, puzzle junkie, and turner of phrases. I fight for the user.

Excape Games – Abandoned Ship [Review]

by David Spira, posted in Detroit, Reviews

Escape the Kraken

Location:  Livonia, Michigan

Date Played:  August 3, 2019

Team size: up to 8; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $28 per player

Ticketing: Public

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Every once in a while we happen upon a company a few months too early. Seeing what Excape Games has in the works, I am pretty sure that they are in the process of transforming themselves from a solid escape room company into a real force in their region.

Check out Abandoned Ship if you’re in the area because it’s a fun, traditional game with some great elements, but keep an eye out for their new projects. It feels like Excape Games is on the brink of something special.

In-game: An interesting room with octopus tenticles reaching in through porthole windows.

Who is this for?

  • Adventure seekers
  • Puzzle lovers
  • Any experience level
  • Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

  • Strong puzzles
  • It builds up well

Story

Our research expedition had successfully rediscovered the lost submarine, the S.S. Odyssey. As we boarded it and attempted to surface the boat, it sustained damage. We had to work under pressure to bring the submarine back to sea level, saving it and ourselves.

In-game: a large steampunk gun mounted to the wall.

Setting

Abandoned Ship opened in a bland silver and gray room. It wasn’t the greatest first impression. Excape Games made it clear to us that they had near-future plans to greatly improve this space and I believe them.

In-game: A plain, silver walled room, with an interesting riveted door and a large white panel labeled "First Aid"

With each subsequent space, the Abandoned Ship became more beautiful and compelling. The overwhelming majority of the experience took place in these exciting locations.

In-game: a weathered space with tubes and controls.

Gameplay

Excape Games’ Abandoned Ship was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and puzzling.

In-game: crank siren hint system.
This was a great way to call for a hint.

Analysis

➕ Abandoned Ship had an interesting assembly puzzle. This sequence had subtle cluing that worked impeccably. It was brilliant.

➖ In other places, there was opportunity to mind the details: a mount here, consistency in cluing there.

➕ The puzzles generally flowed well and delivered satisfying solves. 

➖ While most of the game was well clued, we found one needlessly unclued search puzzle to be a frustrating time sink. Additionally, there were too many clues written on laminated paper that could have been more fully integrated into the set and the world.

➕ The set design ramped up over the course of the game. With each new space we entered, the gamespace was more intriguing. We always enjoy a good steampunk aesthetic.

➖ The first room looked sparse. While this didn’t detract from the gameplay, the initial scene was jarringly under designed.

➕ We always appreciate an unusual door. This vessel didn’t disappoint.

➕/➖ Abandoned Ship had a really cool final set, but it lacked an impactful finale.

Tips For Visiting

  • There is a parking lot.

Book your hour with Excape Games’ Abandoned Ship, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Book Abandoned Ship

Disclosure: Excape Games comped our tickets for this game.

I’m Speaking in London at ERIC!

by David Spira, posted in News

This has all come about rather suddenly. I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be speaking at the Escape Room Industry Conference in London, October 15 & 16.

This is the conference’s third year and my first time in attendance. I’ve heard nothing but great things.

Escape Room Industy Conference's cross keys banner.

My Talk?

I’ve been asked to speak on the player experience… which is a subject that I’ve delivered many a talk on. This one will be largely new material and comes with a brand new description:

The Player Experience: From Brain Teasers to Brain Trauma

Once upon a time there was a crazy escape room-playing couple from a faraway land. This twosome spent more time writing about each and every game they played than they spent inside of those games.

Half of that duo will journey across the ocean to regale you with wonderful and tragic tales from their puzzling adventures. Like any good cautionary tale, each will have a moral: some will make you laugh, a few will make you cringe, and one or two might make you shed a tear.

Panels!

We’re still working out the details, but I think that I’ll be moderating a couple of panels including:

  • International Escape Room Owners Panel
  • Bloggers Panel

I love moderating panels and have put a lot of work into honing the skill over the past few years. This should be fun.

You Keep Saying “I”

Yeah… it seems like this one is going to just be me. Unless something changes, Lisa won’t be able to attend ERIC. It’s not impossible that she might show up and crash the party. We’ll just have to see.

Get Your Tickets While You Can

I’d love to see you in London. If you don’t have a ticket already, you should buy one while you still can. They have a limited number of tickets remaining.

ERIC – 2019

Exit: The Game – The Catacombs of Horror [Review]

by David Spira, posted in Exit The Game, Products, Reviews, Tabletop Escape Game

Break from tradition

Location:  at home

Date Played: July 9, 2019

Team size: 2-4; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 2-4 hours

Price: $24.95

Publisher: Thames & Kosmos

REA Reaction

Lisa and I are fans of Exit: The Game – fans who have really wanted them to break from their patterns and put a new twist or two on their games. We’re also fans who have wanted them to release fewer games of higher quality… and we got our wish.

Exit: The Game Catacombs of Horror box art featuring a skull, and lit candle.

The Catacombs of Horror was an oversized 2-part game with one long narrative. Within it, Exit: The Game embedded many strong story-driving puzzles and a phenomenal final puzzle sequence. Best of all, they broke away from many of their most notorious clichés without breaking from their tried and true game system.

Of note, they dramatically reduced the focus of an in-game journal, making it far easier for a group of 4 people to comfortably enjoy collaboratively puzzling.

There was still room for improvement, particularly when it came to a few puzzles that yanked us out of the game world.

Overall, The Catacombs of Horror represented a massive quality jump for the series.

If you’re brand new to the series, I still recommend The Sunken Treasure as a strong on-boarding game. If you’re comfortable with Exit: The Game’s system, then The Catacombs of Horror is a must-play.

Who is this for?

  • Story seekers
  • Puzzle lovers
  • Occultists
  • Best for players with at least some experience playing the Exit: The Game series

Why play?

  • This was a noticeably stronger product than previous Exit: The Game installments
  • Many of the puzzles integrated well into the narrative
  • The Catacombs of Horror was a 2-part experience and crammed a ton of value into both halves
  • The final puzzle was 🔥

Story

After a friend had disappeared in the catacombs beneath Paris, we’d ventured into the grim maze to try to find him.

In-game: printed sign reads, "STOP: Do not open this box until you have solved the hourglass riddle."

Setup

The Catacombs of Horror was structurally identical to other Exit: The Game products that we’ve reviewed with one significant exception: scale.

This particular edition was a beefy double-sized game with one cohesive story. There was a midpoint that allowed us to stop. It even justified the break in the narrative.

In-game: An assortment of card decks, paper props, a tea candle, and multicolored skulls.

I did a more through breakdown of how the Exit: The Game system works in my first review from oh so long ago:

Exit: The Game – The Abandoned Cabin, The Secret Lab, & The Pharaoh’s Tomb [Review]

Gameplay

Exit: The Game’s The Catacombs of Horror was a play-at-home escape game with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, and puzzling.

In-game: green, white, and red skulls.

Analysis

➕ With The Catacombs of Horror, Exit: The Game broke their patterns in many ways. The most obvious one was the length of the game. The amount of content felt right for a casual evening puzzle game with friends. It even included a narrative-justified break point. The content also matched the price point.

➕ The journal – a mainstay from Exit: The Game – showed up much later. The result was that the journal was less restrictive. The game felt a lot more accessible.

➕ Exit: The Game introduced many novel puzzle concepts. These were unexpected and enjoyable.

➖ A few of the puzzles removed us from the world of the game. Although we enjoyed these puzzles, we didn’t think they made sense in The Catacombs of Horror, because the game went so far out of its way to keep us in the game world.

➖ One puzzle had this weird preschool aesthetic that didn’t match the rest of the game… it was jarringly different.

➕ The Catacombs of Horror was packed with “aha” moments.

➕ With a longer game, there was time to follow the breadcrumbs as we played and piece things together later. These were satisfying solves.

➕ The final puzzle was climactic and about as immersive as we’ve seen from a play-at-home escape room. It was worth chewing on and we felt we earned our win.

➖ Exit: The Game (and really all of the tabletop escape game market) made a big deal out of the game timer. I think that this time system does the game a disservice. We went way over… mostly because we were enjoying the company of our friends as we played. It just didn’t matter. These games can only be played once. Savor the experience over whatever time you and your group want.

➕ There was an interesting non-time-related lose condition in The Catacombs of Horror. This was way more interesting than watching a clock.

Tips For Playing

  • Space Requirements: a small table
  • Required Gear: pencil, paper, scissors, matches
  • This shouldn’t be your first game from Exit: The Game. Please play one of their shorter episodes first.

Buy your copy of Exit: The Game’s The Catacombs of Horror, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Buy The Catacombs of Horror

Disclosure: Thames & Kosmos provided a sample for review. 

(If you purchase via our Amazon links, you will help support Room Escape Artist as we will receive a very small percentage of the sale. We appreciate the support.)

Lockout Austin – Area 51-2 [Review]

by David Spira, posted in Austin, Lockout Austin, Reviews

Enter through the gift shop

Location:  Austin, Texas

Date Played:  August 9, 2019

Team size: 2-8; we recommend 5-6

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $27.50 per player

Ticketing: Public

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Lockout Austin did a clever thing in Area 51-2. It’s one of those things that’s so smart that once you hear it, it almost feels like it was obvious: the game is a gift shop and you can buy most of the items in it with real money and take them home with you.

In-game: A class display filled with sci fi toys, and a gumball machine with a green inflatable alien hugging it.

If anyone else has done this before, we have neither seen nor heard of it.

Also… we hope that this doesn’t become overdone by too many companies.

Moving onto the actual game.

Lockout Austin took us on a quirky adventure and made us work for our victory.

Area 51-2 was a particularly challenging escape game compared with most everything else we’ve played in the region. (We set the record and still think it was tough.)

The set and effects seemed deliberate.

All in all, this was a strong game, and we absolutely recommend it for more experienced players who are in search of a bit more of a challenge and some creative game design and storytelling.

In-game: An old CRT TV and VCR with VHS tapes sitting on top.

“512” being the area code in Austin, there were layers of things going on in Area 51-2. The game was quirky, puzzley, and challenging.

Who is this for?

  • Story seekers
  • Puzzle lovers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Sci-fi fans
  • Players with at least some experience
  • Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

  • The gift shop
  • Challenging puzzles
  • Strong game design
  • Some cool effects

Story

My uncle had been a conspiracy theorist and the owner of a weird alien museum. With his recent passing, I was left as the sole heir to his business. It was time to see what the man had been up to.

In-game: The Area 51-2 logo painted to the wall of the gift shop.

Setting

Area 51-2 opened in a low-rent gift shop/ museum owned by an alien conspiracy theorist… and it sold that pretty well. It wasn’t fancy, but it wasn’t supposed to be.

Everything in the game was dated, including the technology, merchandise, and pop culture references. It felt like the original owner of this museum/ shop had done most of the work a couple of decades ago. So few escape rooms really nail this kind of detail.

In-game: A shelf of alien socks.
We may have purchased the cow socks for Lisa’s Aunt.

Gameplay

Lockout Austin’s Area 51-2 was a standard escape room with a high level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, puzzling… and shopping (if you’re interested).

In-game: Paintings, alien neon lights, and a strange glowing orb atop a cone within the gift shop.

Analysis

➕ Area 51-2. The name was brilliant.

➕ The gift shop concept was genius and novel. The in-game gift shop had amusing oddities for purchase… and we did purchase. This was a great mechanic that I hope doesn’t become overdone in escape games. It would be easy for too many companies to implement this poorly and murder the concept.

In-game: Area 51-2 t-shirts.

➕ Lockout Austin introduced Area 51-2 by setting the scene. Our in-character gamemaster conveyed our role – and his – through humorous dialogue. His introduction was outstanding and his script was expertly crafted to subtly facilitate gameplay. Well done.

In-game: Closeup of Star Trek and Star Wars action figures.

➕ There was a lot to solve in Area 51-2 . It was a puzzle-driven game with a ton of content, some of it rather involved.

➖ In the later portion of the game, many of the puzzles were rooted in similar concepts. Given how involved these were, we would have liked a bit more variety.

➖ Area 51-2 had a small physical footprint. Most players will probably want to bring a team of 6 to tackle the puzzles. There were, however, bottlenecks both in space and in gameplay that will frustrate larger teams. This makes it tough to recommend an ideal team size for Area 51-2 .

In-game: The front window of the museum, below it is the idol from the opening scenes of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark.

➕ The set was cleverly crafted. In-game, we felt that the set design was uneven… but upon reflection, we think that all of that was deliberate.

➖ In one close-quarters segment of this game, Lockout Austin used a lot of VacuForm. Constantly bumping into it was a regular reminder that the set wasn’t real.

➕ Win or lose, players receive a conclusion to their adventure.

❓Area 51-2 was noticeably harder than the other games in the region.

Tips For Visiting

  • Lockout Austin had many food options nearby.
  • There is a parking lot.
  • The gift shop accepts both cash and credit card.

Book your hour with Lockout Austin’s Area 51-2, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Book Area 51-2

Disclosure: Lockout Austin comped our tickets for this game.

Mystery Oreo – 2019 [Review]

by David Spira, posted in Mystery Flavor, Products, Reviews

Mystery Flavor Oreos II: The Stuffing Strikes Back

Location:  at home

Date Played: September 17, 2019

Price: $10.50 online

Publisher: Nabisco

REA Reaction

They’re back… The flavor mystery that got us into reviewing flavor mysteries has returned! This year’s mystery is more enjoyable.

The bright white Mystery Oreo packaging with a question mark dotted with an oreo.

By more enjoyable, I don’t mean amazing. I mean, they’re edible and we might make it through the entire package… instead of pranking our friends with them like we did back in 2017.

This time around I’m feeling confident that I know what the flavor is – and you can find that hidden behind a spoiler box down in the “Analysis” section.

I’m comfortable recommending these Oreos as a mystery flavor worth exploring. They’re weird. I wouldn’t buy them regularly. But dammit… it’s interesting and baffling that Oreo manages to make the cream white.

We published a hot-taste video for our Patreon supporters last night. Back us on Patreon for more oddities like this one. A little support goes a long way.

Who is this for?

  • Adventurous Oreo lovers
  • Mystery flavor detectives

Why play?

  • The flavor is interesting and kind of good

Story & Setup

The folks at Nabisco have decided once again to sell us a new Oreo flavor mystery.

Back in 2017, they ran a Mystery Flavor Oreo… and, oh boy, did we hate that one. The good news is: this year’s mystery tastes way better.

Closeup of lines of oreos in the packaging.

From now through November 10, 2019, anyone can submit a guess and enter for a chance to win $50,000.

Setup

Once again, the Oreos look just like regular Oreos. The coloration of the white cream gave nothing away (which is kind of a creepy miracle of science in its own right.)

Closeup of a whole oreo on a plate.

The packaging was also elegant and eye-catching. Having bought ours off the shelf at our local grocery store, that packaging jumps right off the shelf.

Gameplay

Things are pretty simple. You eat the cookie and guess the flavor.

If you want to get fancy, twist open the cookie and guess the flavor (which kind of helps because the cream is the mystery.) The chocolate cookie part was traditional.

Closeup of a half eaten oreo on a plate.

Analysis

➕ The cookie didn’t suck and it evoked a strong sense of nostalgia. That nostalgia wasn’t for Oreos, but for a different Nabisco product line.

➖ These Mystery Flavor Oreos were entirely too sweet for us to have more than a cookie or two.

Spoiler: What did it taste like?

Graham cracker and cinnamon. More specifically… I’m betting on Cinnamon Teddy Grahams.

[collapse]

➕ Mystery OREO’s website has started posting hints. The only hint currently visible is super cryptic… but if my flavor guess is correct, then I think that I get it. Kind of. Maybe? I’m still happy to see anything resembling hints.

➕ Once again, the packaging was lovely. The agency and brand managers behind this product line have good aesthetic taste. It’s tough to design bold packaging that doesn’t look like it was designed by a 5-year-old who just got an extra big box of crayons with all of the colors!

Buy your copy of Nabisco’s 2019 Mystery OREO, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Mystery OREO

(If you purchase via our Amazon links, you will help support Room Escape Artist as we will receive a very small percentage of the sale. We appreciate the support.)

The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms – The Houdini Trap [Review]

by David Spira, posted in Detroit, Reviews

A trap Houdini never escaped

Location:  Ferndale, Michigan

Date Played:  August 3, 2019

Team size: up to 10; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $20 per player Sunday – Thursday; $24 per player Friday – Saturday

Ticketing: Public

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

The Houdini Trap told a unique story in an unusual and beautiful space. The puzzles and props were solid and engaging.

In-game: Glowing red lights against an art deco wall about the exit door.

There were a few nooks that felt underdeveloped, and a handful of puzzles that could have benefited from additional refinement.

Nevertheless, this was a truly delightful game. If you’re in the area, check out The Houdini Trap; it was doing some magical things.

Who is this for?

  • Story seekers
  • Puzzle lovers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Any experience level

Why play?

  • An elegant set
  • Good thematic puzzles
  • Fifth Wall is a fully themed escape room establishment
  • An interesting take on the Houdini escape room genre
  • The story pulls from Houdini and Detroit history

Story

We entered a trap designed specifically for Harry Houdini by a mysterious individual. Sadly, history’s most famous escape artist passed away in Detroit’s Grace Hospital before he’d had a chance to take on the seemingly impossible challenge room.

Almost a century later, The Houdini Trap was rediscovered and we were given the opportunity to explore the room that Harry Houdini had never escaped.

In-game: a poster advertising Houdini's "The Grim Game."

Setting

The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms’ facility was fully themed around a secret society. (This made it 1 of 3 fully themed facilities that we found outside of Detroit).

The Houdini Trap was a pretty space. Honestly, I don’t think my photos fully captured it.

The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms built the space with an art deco aesthetic that had a slight otherworldly vibe.

Many of the interactions and props were built from metal and were incredibly solid.

In-game: Closeup of a gearbox.

Gameplay

The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms’ The Houdini Trap was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and puzzling.

In-game: Wide angle shot of the room, a water torture chamber in the middle of it.

Analysis

➕ The Houdini Trap was designed in an art deco style. We were immediately captivated by the details in the design.

In-game: A beautiful and ornate art deco wall.

➕ The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms introduced The Houdini Trap with an entertaining video with great art. It kept our attention despite being a tad lengthy.

➕ The puzzles were solid, but the set-based interactions were phenomenal. As beautiful as the set was to inhabit, it was that much more exciting to manipulate.

In-game: Closeup of a control panel with a few dials.

➕/ ➖ One interaction in particular worked as an in-game metaphor for the larger theme. It was unique, conceptually and physically. That said, the interaction needed additional refinement, in both cluing and mechanism.

➖ We were bogged down by substantial reading in The Houdini Trap. Much of the story was told rather than felt. Reading included printed materials, laminated paper, and a journal that, while not quite a runbook, sometimes behaved a bit like one. We also encountered a handwritten clue that caused confusion.

In-game: A water torture chamber hanging from the ceiling.

➖ The audio could be hard to understand, which was frustrating, as it was crucial to one segment.

➕ Although The Houdini Trap flowed linearly, The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms gated (and labeled) puzzles such that large teams could get a jump on later puzzles early without wasting time or breaking sequence.

➖ One nook of this otherwise impeccable space was left underdesigned, which was disappointing.

➕ We adored the timekeeping mechanism in The Houdini Trap. As time rolled forward, intensity mounted. We appreciated that the game displayed our progress as well as the time.

In-game: A tube that carries balls representing the timer.
The game timer: Every 10 minutes a ball fell through this contraption.

Tips For Visiting

  • They have a parking lot.

Book your hour with The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms’ The Houdini Trap, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Book The Houdini Trap

Disclosure: The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms provided media discounted tickets for this game.

A Quick Thought on VacuForm Panels in Escape Rooms

by David Spira, posted in Room Design

VacuForm panels are plastic wall mountings that can be purchased, painted and hung in theatrical environments. They are a quick and easy way to handle some aspects of set design.

A white vacuform panel that looks like a mistrure of stones and skulls sealed with mortar to make a wall.
Unpainted VacuForm

They are reasonably common in escape rooms. Some of the common textures that escape room players encounter are Egyptian tomb hieroglyphics, steampunk gears, and brick walls.

While I don’t think that VacuForm is the peak of set construction, I also see few issues with it when compared to regular drywall. It’s fairly affordable and quick to set up. If a designer finds the right panels for their set… I’m in favor of anything that raises quality and keeps timelines and budgets under control. It’s way better than seeing drywall in an Egyptian tomb.

That said, I have one suggestion:

When using VacuForm, ask yourself this one question, “Can the players reach this?”

Can I Reach It?

VacuForm has a lot of flex to it because it’s hollow. If you touch it, it will usually give… a lot. The result is a sharp break in immersion because your brain is telling you that the wall is made of stone or metal, but then it’s plastic.

The easy fix is to fill in the back to provide it more rigidity. It might still feel like plastic, but it won’t give way to my touch.

Touching hollow VacuForm is like a kid seeing Santa Claus in the mall parking lot getting into a 2002 Pontiac Aztek and driving away. Where the hell is his sleigh?

Extreme Escape – Trapped Below [Review]

by David Spira, posted in Extreme Escape, Reviews, San Antonio

The game that we won 3 times in 10 minutes

Location:  San Antonio, Texas

Date Played:  August 8, 2019

Team size: up to 8; we recommend 3

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $30.99 per player

Ticketing: Public

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

This is going to be a weird one.

Extreme Escape’s Trapped Below was a mess of contradictions. The near constant clash of high and low quality made this game especially difficult to review.

The set looked beautiful… but it was undermined by confusingly exposed technology and baffling sound design.

In-game: an assortment of mechaical controls mounted to the wall of a mine.
Image via Extreme Escape

The puzzles were well designed and fun to solve… but they were oddly retriggerable. It was a rough game to solve with only one flashlight.

We loved the opening sequence… but the end sequence was botched because multiple gamemasters kept telling us that we hadn’t finished everything when we most certainly had done so (and originally in record time… before we were sent back in to finish the game two more times.) There is truly nothing more confusing in an escape room than standing in a game once you’ve solved every single puzzle, while being told repeatedly that you aren’t finished.

There was a lot to love in Trapped Below… and there were some regrettable oversights (most of which were completely fixable). If you’re looking for a solid adventure and puzzle game, and you’re ok with low lighting and some sloppiness, there’s plenty to enjoy in Trapped Below.

That said, I know that Extreme Escape is capable of making this one great and I hope that they do.

Who is this for?

  • Adventure seekers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Players with at least some experience

Why play?

  • A cool set
  • Fun interactions

Story

We entered an abandoned mine in search of a lost treasure. We had to find the treasure and plot a path out of the mine.

In-game: the approach to a mine shaft, the floor has trunks filled with mining gear.
Image via Extreme Escape

Setting

We entered a mine shaft and stepped into an old elevator to descend into the unknown.

Armed with a single flashlight, we explored a thoroughly designed mine shaft set. Low light frequently hides weak set design. In this case, most of it was beautiful.

The only glaring flaw with the set design was some exposed technology.

In-game: a wood walled mine with a TNT detinator.
Image via Extreme Escape

Gameplay

Extreme Escape’s Trapped Below was a standard escape room with a low level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and puzzling.

In-game: A wood walled mine with assorted mechanical interactions on the walls.
Image via Extreme Escape

Analysis

➕ Trapped Below started off in a pretty convincing elevator. It then opened up into a mine with a detailed set to explore. It was a fun gamespace and it looked great.

➖ The experience would have been far better with a few more flashlights.

➕ The gamespace was beautifully constructed.

➖ The tech wasn’t embedded well enough. There were exposed wires, which looked sloppy and also a little confusing.

➖ One early design decision made us cranky. It was a frustrating mechanic that wasn’t adequate for the puzzle gating at that juncture.

➖ The sounds design was unbalanced. The prop that should have made the loudest noise was quiet compared to other triggers.

➖ It was possible to re-trigger puzzles we’d already solved, which was surprising and confusing.

➖ As noted in the reaction, we won this game 3 times in 10 minutes. In each of the first 2 wins, the hints directed us back into the game upon our exit, telling us we’d left a puzzle unsolved.

When we couldn’t determine what we’d possibly skipped, we solved the game again. After we triggered the ending a third time, we had the opportunity to speak with the staff. At that point, everyone came to understand that after we’d revealed and solved a specific puzzle, we’d moved it back to its starting position because it was in our way. This entire sequence of events deflated the experience.

➕ Although Trapped Below had a rough start, and our playthrough had a less-than-explosive conclusion, the majority of the game played smoothly. The puzzles generally flowed well.

Tips For Visiting

  • There are plenty of food options in Extreme Escape’s plaza.
  • There is a parking lot.

Book your hour with Extreme Escape’s Trapped Below, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Book Trapped Below

Disclosure: Extreme Escape comped our tickets for this game.

Introducing the Escape Immerse Explore 2020: Montreal Logo

by David Spira, posted in Tours

We’re a week into selling tour tickets for Montreal and we’re a little more than half sold out.

Celebrating the milestone, we’re revealing the logo for Escape Immerse Explore 2020: Montreal.

Escape Immerse Explore logo in red and white, abstractly mimicking the Canadian flag.
Thank you Errol & Manda for your Canadian cultural assistance.

Read up on the tour and consider joining us. We have an amazing selection of companies and games lined up.

Past Tour Logos

With each tour we play with the logo. Check out our past tour logos.