The Collector

Rating: 3.5/5 - Awesome set, creepy vibe Pros: ➕ Great use of vertical space and elevation change ➕ Set is fully immersive, custom decorated floor to ceiling, nothing left unfinished ➕ Props and textures all look and feel realistic, everything looked appropriately grimy and gross. ➕ Mix of padlocks and tech with some fun physical/tactile interactions ➕ Hidden doorways with some nice surprises, many rooms to explore ➕ Audio and lighting effects added to the immersion ➕ Each player gets their own flashlight which helps counter some darker areas ➕ Hints are delivered via a character (pre-recorded) via a handheld radio ➕ GM was friendly and helpful Room for improvement: ➖ Some of the puzzles weren't that fun or intuitive to me ➖ Not as many big "wow" moments like some of their other rooms ➖ Lacking an interesting storyline, some puzzles felt a bit random and didn't make narrative sense ➖ Ending could've been a bit more exciting like some of their other rooms Some creepiness, but no jumpscares. We played as a team of 5 enthusiasts and finished with time to spare, make sure you are not afraid to ask for hints, also tell the game master to nudge you when you get behind. Puzzles are on the more difficult side so not recommended for beginners. My ranking of all 8 rooms here: 1. Cutthroat Cavern ❤️ 2. Tomb of Anubis ❤️ 3. Spellbound ❤️ 4. Disappearance of Flight 13 ❤️ 5. The Asylum ❤️ 6. The Collector 👍 7. Agent 13 👍 8. Death Row👍

If 13th Gate were a hidden door design company, they’d be the ones to hire. The Collector’s design was incredible use of space, and the gameplay was a lot of fun.

Wouldn't say it was my favorite from 13th, but still great.

So begins the review of the 2025 New Orleans tour! This was the first (of six) game we played at 13th Gate. The Collector was interesting. It's an older game both in concept and puzzles. The "kidnapped by a serial killer & escape from his lair in sixty minutes before he returns to kill you" is probably the most overused escape room theme ever. However, few companies have ever done a room to this size and scope. You start out thrown into a deep well. And it looks REAL!! Compared to any other company, I would’ve said that this set was amazing. It was a nightmare of a killer’s house straight out of a horror movie. However, I was spoiled by the sets of all the other games that we played, so I can't gush about this one as much. The Collector has one big issue that ALL of 13th Gate's games have. These are 60 minute rooms that really need to be 75 minute rooms. There's a LOT of puzzling to be done. The flow was a little off. We spent a lot of time in the beginning trying to find things. Once we got going, there were great puzzles and things moved right along in a linear fashion. Then closer to the end, there was something that drove me nuts: a mechanical puzzle that takes a physical act to accomplish. You can't move forward until it's done. Only one or two people can engage with it and all the clues in the world won't help. You just have to "do" it. That killed the momentum and ate up our remaining time and as it turns out, we still had a number of puzzles to go. Small wonder we ended up as worm food for the Collector! I may sound like I disked this room, but I didn't. Of all the ones we did here, yes, this was my least favorite, but still a cut (see what I did there?) above most other serial killer games at other companies. Come for pretty much any and all of the games here. It's worth the 90 minute drive from New Orleans. But if you are coming out, plan to spend the whole day and do all of them.

We technically went over time a little, but we were so close they let us finish anyway! All in all, I think this room was just okay. The concept of being trapped at the bottom of the well was innovative and they certainly had the space to do so. But nothing really stood out to us in this room even though there was a lot to do. Very linear room!

Very well designed room. Excellent ambiance and props.

My group decided to do all of 13th Gate’s escape rooms in the span of two days. I will say this. All eight of their escape rooms here have the most impressive set design. However, I’m only liking and not loving any of the rooms because as another reviewer put it, the puzzles were just difficult enough that it could feel like a waste of time rather than a satisfying problem solve. The Collector has some puzzles that may not be intuitive for their “Beginning” ranking but there was one part that you just “slide” into and that was fun. I also liked the logic puzzles. Our game master was sweet and she set the tone for us, because this was the first room we did. They seem to listen to feedback, and our game master did share that there used to be QR codes everywhere. They don’t have that anymore so you could stay immersed the whole time! Things to note - this room is horror-themed and the flashlights don’t always work. Just be ready to shake that flashlight a couple of times or you may not see a clue!

The Collector was my second game to ever play at 13th Gate and this game was a very satisfying wrap to our day. There was a moment where we thought we had pulled of the Win only to realize we had even more to do was such an adrenaline rush for us all.