Hong Kong Afterdark

Rating: 2/5 - Really cool set, but the hardest room I've ever done. Unfairly difficult for non-Chinese players. Pros: ➕Set is expansive and looks so good, I've been to Hong Kong and this has all the right vibes. ➕Multiple rooms and good use of vertical space. ➕Just about everything is integrated tech, I don't recall any combo locks. ➕Some puzzles were enjoyable ➕Interesting narrative and murder mystery concept Cons: ➖If you are not familiar with Chinese language or culture, this game is unfairly difficult. The issue is that for some puzzles, you need to learn how to read/write Chinese characters or how to play Chinese games before you can even start solving them. They do have posters telling you how but it takes up so much extra time and mental energy. I am ethnically Chinese but born in the US so I was able to help my team a bit but it was not enough. This room seems like it was imported from China with some translation done but it wasn't modified enough to better suit North American players. Never in my 300+ rooms have I completely given up on a puzzle and just asked for the solution until now, that happened twice in this game. ➖While I like the concept of doing a murder mystery, it was too much on top of an incredibly hard escape room. The escape room part is only 1hr 45 min, the the last 15 min just for the murder mystery part. ➖The GMs watch multiple rooms at once, it seems like a different person responded each time we asked for help and they weren't following our game. I also dislike when rooms use walkie talkies. ➖We got stuck on a puzzle even though we knew the solution because of a poorly designed timing issue. A GM came in the room to help and couldn't even get the puzzle to trigger properly the first time he tried. Another puzzle we got stuck on because the sensor didn't trigger correctly. ➖The puzzle flow is confusing, there were many moments where it was difficult to know what to do next because the set is cluttered with extraneous info (though the clutter fits the theme) or we didn't see/hear something open. ➖The final physical puzzle was actually fun in concept, but ended up being frustrating because of finicky sensors, unforgiving timing, and increasing difficulty. We played as a team of 4 with mixed experience and made it to the 2nd to last puzzle with multiple hints when we ran out of time (they did come in to show us what we missed). If you want to succeed, I'd highly recommend more experienced players, maybe 5-6. I REALLY wanted to like this game, but it ended up being the most disappointing game on my 22 game trip to Toronto. I loved Motel Betty at this location though, so go play that if you enjoy scary games.

Visually stunning game. The set is incredible. The puzzles, however…not so much. I really wanted to love this game because I’m a set snob but I just couldn’t. Some of the puzzles were downright unfair or unreasonable. We solved a beginning puzzle correctly but it didn’t trigger because we had to push the objects down for a few seconds for them to register. Game master had to come in to help us and even they couldn’t get it to work until they realized the input had to be triggered for longer. In the main portion of the game you had to learn multiple Chinese casino games in order to advance. The rules were provided but they were quite complex. There was also a puzzle that rewarded you for being familiar with how Chinese characters are written. An ending puzzle had a timer which was so fast that it was almost impossible to finish unless you knew mandarin and could do the action as you were reading. If you had to translate first, you would lose precious time. The game technically is also only 1 hour and 45 minutes with 15 minutes to debrief and choose who you think committed the crime (there are different endings based on who you choose). For a Chinese audience, which I think this game is more geared towards, it’s a great game. For everyone else, I would stay away unless you want to experience the set.

We really enjoyed this room! Theming and set design were great. The puzzles were well designed and thematic instead of the usual just finding keys for arbitrary locks. As others have mentioned there is a timed puzzle that can be tricky as the inputs don't always work and you wind up starting over and over again. We finished with a decent amount of time left, but even though it's two hours it goes by so quickly!

Room is great, storyline is intriguing and keeps you hooked all game if you choose to follow it. Set is amazing and the puzzles were fun. However there’s 1 game puzzle that’s almost impossible to complete without prior knowledge on how the specific board game works (even the game master couldnt figure it out without a cheat sheet) and one of the last puzzles is time based and the equipment doesn’t register the inputs every time so it’s more luck based then skill. Other that then it was a very enjoyable and challenging room.

My favourite one! Not one of the most favourite ONES, but the best!

🕵️‍♀️ Another great, immersive escape room by Omventure. I really loved this set! There was a detective element to this room that my group didn’t care for, although I do commend Omventure for trying something different narratively. In this case, I think it becomes a bit overdone- you wait around a fair bit of time watching videos when you’d rather be working the room. As a result, my group did largely ignore any “evidence” we collected- until you’re literally forced to review it in the last ten minutes of the game. Can I still complain about a puzzle’s difficulty even though this is an expert level room? There was one puzzle toward the end that drove us bananas and did feel slightlyyy unfair. Very enjoyable, but I can see how people would be split on this one. You can definitely still enjoy this as a “regular” escape room no matter the degree of attention you pay the story, and I would still call it a must-play! I hope Omventure continues to explore outside-the-box storytelling techniques because when they nail it I know it’s gonna be great.

Solved the same logic puzzle over and over. Watched at least four videos made of low quality stock footage. Timed arcade elements with a Rosetta Stone thrown into the mix for no reason. Nothing here was new or interesting.