Arizona Steampunk Railway

Before the game, the GM asked if any of us got motion sick. We answered no, and the GM said they'd run the game with full motion effects, and that they could be turned down if we felt uncomfortable. It turns out I did feel uncomfortable, but I foolishly decided to power through instead of alerting the GM. That's my fault, but it did color my perception of the game in a negative way, since I was somewhat nauseous by the end. Another thing that needs to be called out is that one interaction required significant force - we were clearly doing the right thing, so didn't feel bad about doing it, but it was way way more than the normal "two fingers force" rule. Trying to think of things from an objective lens, the set was (mostly) nice and the puzzles fine. The caveat about the set is that there were some places that were curiously unfinished, which got in the way of immersion - it's as if the designers ran out of time to finish the set. Some places might have taken a bit of work to complete, but others could easily be made better by a simple fix like hanging up a black curtain to block being able to see out of the set. Another issue was that apparently there should have been air effects at various points (which would have been very cool and immersive), but none of them were working - in fact, we got fairly confused by one vent because at the time, we didn't realize it was a vent and considered dropping things into it or trying to fish things out of it. If I hadn't been motion sick, I think I would have rated this either my favorite of the 5 games I played at North Valley (Fall Mountain, Steampunk Railway, Big Top, Shafted, Alcatraz). With the motion sickness, it's probably 2nd.

Great room! Good use of space. The puzzles were creative and utilized the theme very well. One puzzle is finicky but we got through it.

This room is super unique in that it physically simulates the feeling of riding on a moving train. I loved this idea and was really expecting to love this room for that novelty alone! Overall I definitely enjoyed the experience, however, I did not think the flow of the game was very well done. It felt like we spent too much time walking around looking over and over again at the same things, trying to figure out what we were even supposed to be working on. I think it’s better game design for players to always know what puzzle they’re working on. The challenge should come from the puzzle and the thinking, not from wandering around aimlessly hoping to notice something new to figure out where the next puzzle is. Their lobby rated this room as 3/5 difficulty. For the above reasons I would say it felt Hard, but was actually only Medium difficulty in terms of the actual puzzles.

Super cool train set and a couple really cool puzzles. Play this game to check out the set. it’s impressive.

Did not enjoy this room. There was almost no clear story, the room needs to be refreshed (colors/paints/mechanisms were worn), and the clues felt disparate at times. We’ve done a lot of rooms and this is near the bottom of our list.

We were super excited to try this room - the train idea is so cool and immersive! We really felt like we were on a train. I did feel like the storyline was not as immersive or easy to understand as it could be, and the ending felt abrupt, but we enjoyed the experience overall.

It was very cool, the train felt like it was actually moving and the props and puzzles fit the theme perfectly.

Had a lot of fun on this immersive set!

Strong set with some fun surprises.

SET: the set is impressive. It feels like you’re on a moving train and the addition of forced air in a few areas really add to the immersion. STORY/PLOT: this is the one area where the room lacks a bit, but it’s the part of an escape game that I care the least about. PUZZLES: there is a nice mix of mechanical and technical puzzles, and a couple that really stand out. STAFF: we played 6 rooms in a day, and Steve at the front desk was great coordinating our day, making sure that each GM knew our hint preferences, etc. Each GM was also amazing and you can tell that the entire staff are enthusiast and really enjoy their jobs. This is a great experience and one that you should play if you’re in Phoenix.