Pirates

One of the better old rooms at the Escape. Still, that doesn't say much. It is marked as the hardest of the old rooms, but we found it comparatively easier as the difficulty does not feel unfair like in TimeSet or Prison (there is less reliance here on red herrings, impossible observations or random asscoiations). The puzzles are fun and married well enough with the setting that they woukd warrant a like on their own, although nothing was particularly memorable except for the metal cans puzzle. The game can be very bad at directing your attention to what you have unlocked/need to do after solving a puzzle. Most of the hints we needed were in situations like that, and it made the game flow worse than it could have. The other prominent problem with the room is that it is very old and in need of renovation. It is sprinkled with stickers spelling out how to operate different puzzles, probably out of fear that players would damage them through fiddling (the GM even explicitly told us in advance how to operate an "expensive" puzzle). Needless to say, these things don't do wonders for immersion on the pirate ship. Still, it probably reflects the fact that the business took some risks to install more mechanical devices in an attempt to make more interesting puzzles.

Probably the best game at The Escape at time of playing, but still nothing too memorable. The room looks pretty, and is definitely a step up from the other games, but the space is very small. The puzzles were just okay, with one or two standout moments, but don’t expect anything too out of the ordinary in this game. Unfortunately the story wasn’t too engaging, and was more of a pirate theme than anything. I can see families and newer players having a great time in the game, but I’d recommend to skip it for more experienced players, especially when you’ve played a few other Pirate games.