UndercoverBlobfish

Reviews

Reviews

The Nest [Immersive Theatre]

The Nest [Immersive Theatre]

Hatch Escapes

  • Escape room
  • Other
I read a lot of reviews of this experience before I did it, so I felt adequately prepared to go into this not with an escape room mentality, but with more of an open mind to just experiencing this place. Pros: - Several novel ways of telling a story, incorporating a few light puzzles to figure out, and progressing you through the experience. - Amazing set design full of great objects. It certainly immersed you in the idea that you are exploring an old storage locker. - Our GM was very in character and did a great job playing her part. Cons: - The story felt a little lackluster. I wish there had been more depth to it or a deeper message to turn over in my mind afterwards. If this single aspect had been improved, this would have easily taken this to a “Love” rating for me. As it is, I felt a little let down by the boringness of the story. Perhaps if there had been a mystery to unravel or more interesting life events or some more reflection on how the person felt about her life events, I could have derived more enjoyment from the experience. It just needed a little bit more meat to it. - We went on a very hot day and it was too warm in the room. They had some light A/C in there, but I still sweated the whole time, which made it a little uncomfortable. - I wish there was a bit more to the story/experience that made it longer, as it felt a little too quickly progressed between the different story points. Right when it starts to get a bit interesting, you abruptly jump from one life event to another and then it’s over and there’s not much to feel about it. Just a little too straightforward. I wanted to feel conflicted or shocked or saddened or empathetic or something, but it was just a little bit too simplistic and straightforward of a story for any strong feelings to form.
The 49 Boxes [Immersive Experience]

The 49 Boxes [Immersive Experience]

Cloud Escape

  • Escape room
  • Other
I appreciated this experience for the effort it took to put together and for how unique it is. This would be a great night out for a group of friends or even a date night, as just something unique that none of you has ever done before. This would be particularly appreciated by magic lovers, as all the puzzles are tied to old, historical magic tricks or objects that are ~100 years old. You won’t walk away with your mind blown, wondering how they even did that magic trick. But if you can appreciate how magic is done, à la Penn & Teller, then you should appreciate this. If you are going into this expecting an escape room experience, know that it is not that. This is a group experience where you are put together with a table of 6 people for the entire evening to solve all the puzzles at your table together. So if you’d like to avoid working with strangers, book as a group of 6 and sit at the same table together. You can even let them know in advance and they’ll reserve a table for your group to ensure you get to sit together. That being said, we came as just 2 and worked with 3 other strangers and still had a perfectly enjoyable experience. The other thing to know is that this experience is meant to be replayable. Your table is given 2 “threads” (series of puzzles to work through). So if you plan to come back, just remember which table number you sat at before (or the letters associated with your two threads from before) and you can plan to sit at a different table. I’d wager you can even request in advance to be seated at a different table and the organizers can arrange to make sure that happens.
The Dorm

The Dorm

Cloud Escape

  • Escape room
  • Other
We heard that this business is under new ownership and all their rooms will soon be closed or modified, so we came in to play them before that happens and while they are discounted 40% off for the month of September! As noted by others, only do these rooms if you are ok with it being an immersive storytelling experience, rather than a traditional escape room. There are puzzles and things to figure out, but it is closer to a guided experience. With that framing in mind, I was able to enjoy these rooms. The Dorm was a unique story, and not one I have seen in any other escape room before, so that always gets bonus points for me! It was well told and clear to understand. There were a couple puzzles to figure out in here too. I was really glad that the GM told me in advance to use the whiteboard to write things like dates down, as it prompted me to take lots of notes, which saved us time when it came time to solve some of the puzzles. If I hadn’t, we would have had to spend a bunch of time rereading notes and trying to remember where we had seen that info before, etc. Overall I would definitely recommend doing this room when you come here!