1930s Gangster HouseXscapeWorksEscape roomIRLThe theming, atmosphere, and props were all genuinely well done and set a great tone from the start. The puzzles themselves were creative and we had a lot of fun working through them as a group. That said, the experience was held back by some frustrating technical issues. On multiple occasions we had the correct solution to a puzzle but it simply would not register. It was only after calling for help that it would suddenly accept our input, which made it feel more like a technical failure than a skill issue. When we did call for assistance, we were often pointed back to exactly what we were already doing, which didn't help much. The communication device used to reach staff was also a real pain point. The audio quality was so broken and static-heavy that you had to piece together fragments of what was being said, which added stress to an already frustrating situation. One puzzle in particular, involving a classical mechanical device, was a significant time drain. We understood the concept quickly enough but the mechanism itself behaved differently from how these devices actually work in real life. We were told to just do it faster, but there is only so fast you can go, and we tried every variation of speed with no luck. It is hard to understand what speed they were looking for, or how speed even factors in given that is not how these devices actually function in real life. Overall this room has a lot going for it. The design and creativity are solid and worth experiencing. But the bugginess of several puzzles ended up overshadowing what should have been a great time. With some technical fixes this would easily be a "heart" experience.
