Milwaukee Archives - Room Escape Artist

60 to Escape – Merlin’s Legacy [Review]

15 June 202215 June 2022 by Theresa, posted in 60 to Escape, Milwaukee, Reviews

The heat, the chill, the unknown

Location: Greendale, WI

Date Played: March 11, 2022

Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $30 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: At least one player must be able to fit in a tight passage. There are also strobe lights and fog.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

60 to Escape’s strong suit is capturing players in an engaging story from beginning to end, and they achieved this magically in Merlin’s Legacy. Filled to the brim with personality and charm, the game was truly an adventure concealed within a shopping mall.

Merlin’s Legacy was able to create memorable characters using sounds, lights, and effects. They have forever burned into our memories an incredible end game interaction, and continue to design larger-than-life props and interactions. We loved how tactile these interactions and the set felt; they had the right amount of heft to them without being cumbersome.

While the aesthetic fit in the time period and story, the first area of the game felt a little too loved, like it had been glued down one too many times. This never took away from the solid gameplay, puzzle flow, and seamless tech, but we wished it had been a bit more polished .

A wizard's library with a desk covered in books. In the middle of the desk is a very tall stack of books.

60 to Escape is designing such joyful rooms bursting with crazy stories, creative puzzles, and awesome scenery. If we had to choose one game to play, we’d recommend enthusiasts play INVASION! If time permits, be sure to check out all of their offerings at this location in Greendale, WI.

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60 to Escape – Pirate’s Curse [Review]

13 June 202212 June 2022 by Matthew Stein, posted in 60 to Escape, Milwaukee, Reviews

I smell a rat

Location: Greendale, WI

Date Played: March 11, 2022

Team Size: 1-8; we recommend 3-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $90 for up to 3 players, $30 for each additional player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: Walking over an uneven surface (there is a way around)

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Pirate’s Curse took a puzzle-forward approach to a classic pirate theme. A primary puzzle path guided us into an eerie pirate’s cove… and a set of bonus puzzles offered up the chance to earn some real treasure.

The set was beautiful. The puzzles were consistently fun.

But what I’ll remember most about Pirate’s Curse is a particular pun it made. It made me laugh, I loved how it was presented, and it provided narrative framing for our primary objectives. Yet it left me wanting more, as this delightful moment of whimsy didn’t really extend into the rest of the game, which skewed more serious in tone.

A dungeon with a pirate skeleton hung against it.

If you are visiting 60 to Escape, we found INVASION! to be the clear stand-out. It took the sort of whimsy that I enjoyed in Pirate’s Curse and really ran with it. But if you have the time, Pirate’s Curse packs a ton of puzzling into an alluring environment and is well worth a play.

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City 13 – Save the City [Review]

29 April 20224 May 2022 by Matthew Stein, posted in 2022 Golden Lock, Milwaukee, Reviews

Not all superheroes wear (es)capes

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Date Played: March 11, 2022

Team Size: 4-10; we recommend 4-6

Duration: 4 hours (5 hours with cutscenes, breaks, etc.)

Price: $75 per player for full 4 hours, $45 per player for 1 hour, $60 per player for 2 hours

Ticketing: Private

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

2022 Golden Lock Award Ribbon — 2022 Golden Lock Award Winner

REA Reaction

Save the City was monumentally greater than the sum of its parts. With up to 4 hours of continuous gameplay in a warehouse-scale facility, we emerged truly feeling like superheroes.

During lockdown, City 13 undertook an ambitious project: designing a mega escape game that would combine their 4 individual hour-long rooms into a single uninterrupted experience, targeted especially at escape room enthusiasts. To accomplish this, they designed the wide hallways between rooms to look like graffiti-covered cyberpunk streets, built out an entire track of bonus puzzles throughout these alleyways, and created an additional fifth room. They also wrote a story that tied all the gameplay together, seamlessly interweaving the individual chapters into the overarching narrative.

Of City 13’s four original rooms, Neon Light Diner was the standout, both in originality of set design and creative puzzle flow. The other three rooms all contained some fun moments though overall felt a bit more dated and showed wear. But the real standout of Save the City was all the new puzzle content added in the streets, and the ways in which it managed to recontextualize and elevate the content of the individual rooms. We especially enjoyed a multi-stage puzzle sequence that progressively granted us superpowers, and audio-based cutscenes that provided a clear narrative trajectory and introduced us to a cast of memorable characters. If this is reflective of City 13’s current design sensibilities, they are truly a company to keep an eye on.

A factory-like building with brick walls, storage crates, and unusual machines.

I first heard about Save the City in November 2020 from fellow REA writer Richard Burns’ interview with City 13’s owner Nick Timber, and I was instantly intrigued. I can now strongly attest that Save the City is an epic adventure worth traveling to.

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60 to Escape – INVASION! [Review]

23 April 202230 April 2022 by Theresa, posted in 2022 Golden Lock, 60 to Escape, Milwaukee, Reviews

You’re killing me, Smalls!

Location: Greendale, WI

Date Played: March 11, 2022

Team Size: 1-8; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $30 per player with a $90 minimum

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: Players are required to duck through a low doorway

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

I have been yearning for an outrageous theme to be brought to fruition in an escape room for a very long time, and 60 to Escape accomplished this mind-boggling feat in INVASION!. In the game, we were sent on a quest to retrieve our prized baseball and find our friend Brian who had gone missing looking for said baseball.

We were blown away by the set, reveals, puzzle variety, and full-circle story, halting only at a key decision point. The range of emotions our team encountered was a rollercoaster full of pure joy, fright, sorrow, and everything in-between in a mere hour. Furthermore, 60 to Escape designed a protagonist for the experience who guided this endearing story arc, further elevating the immersion and narrative.

A front door beside a garage, the door has warning signs. The garage door and exterior walls have strange writing on them.

60 to Escape designed something special when they created INVASION!. If you’re anywhere within driving distance of Milwaukee, it is absolutely worth going on a journey to find your friend Brian in your weird neighbor’s house.

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