Ghastly Escapes - Ch. 1 The Bag Man

What a delightfully frightening time! I was utterly terrified, hands literally shaking, and so immersed in the experience and my own terror I took ages to calm down afterwards, but all in the best way! The puzzles were simple but rewarding and we were expertly and deftly navigated through the experience by our game master. The Bagman had a great physicality, and had a very intimidating presence, and was very well performed: absolutely terrifying. This is a must do for anyone who loves horror and if you don’t I encourage you to work up your courage to give it a try, you can really trust that you’re in good hangs here. I can’t wait to play the next chapters of the experience!

I’m a sucker for all things horror, so when a game comes along and actually scares me, I know it’s something special. Ghastly Escapes took the meta element of the premise and used it to make the game even more immersive than the average horror game. Between both performers, the game played with the distinction between escape room, haunted house, and immersive theater perfectly. The gameplay was mostly toned down to allow for the scares, but the puzzles were not simply filler - they were well designed and extremely fun in their own right. What made the game stand out was how unpredictable it was. It was genuinely terrifying to not know what was lying in the next scene, or even in the current scene. The ending was a perfect capstone to the entire experience - an appropriately tense sequence plus a great hook for future games. Plus, our hosts were incredible and made the whole experience pop in a great way. I am so glad I was able to work with Masterpiece Escapes to fit in these two games - both Wrecked and Ghastly Escapes are great examples of the power of passionate owners and incredible customer service!

This was our last room we finished at Masterpiece. We had a lot of fun in this room. Our GMs/actors were great. Mattie played the other victim and Beans played the scary Bagman. My wife was a little nervous going in since we knew that the Bagman "handles" his victims. But, Beans did a great job making us feel safe but still made it scary fun. The storyline and theming was really good. Puzzles fit the theme. Puzzles all made sense and were fun. Not a hard room for just 2 people. But IMO, the real fun in this room was the experience and the actors. Must do room IMO.

The GM had me eating out of her hand! Such an amazing idea for an escape room- I can’t wait to play more chapters!

Incredible experience. First interactive room, was lots of fun. Puzzles were perfect level of challenging... can't wait for part 2!

The most fun I've had being "kidnapped". The flow of puzzles and pursuit kept the adrenaline high without ever feeling rushed. Nice variety of puzzles to keep us on our toes. The sets are fantastic, capped by a finale that absolutely delivers. We enjoyed the backstory and lore. It was nice that The Bagman was an equal opportunity menace. Even while being "captured" I never felt uncomfortable. I liked that they provided a non-contact option for our friend. Also there’s no timer in the room, so that doesn’t break your immersion. Play it and you'll see why it received a TERPECA Top Room nomination in 2024 and 2025.

spoopy also skye is a great game master

A few days later and I am still thinking about The Bag Man. There is a live actor and a bit leveled up in that they can touch and move you around, which freaks some people out but I promise it is in a safe and somewhat predictable way. You can also choose to opt out of the touching. Keep in mind I am a big scaredy cat when it comes to horror. I get startled easily and generally avoid horror rooms. I can tell you that these folks do it in a caring way to the point where when I return I would be ok opting into being touched. The puzzles are not overly difficult but where things shine is the storyline and experience. I would recommend bringing at least a group of 4-5 to get the most out of it. Any more than that and it starts to feel less scary/strength in numbers.

--A fun and immersive haunt escape room. There's a meta-component to it, and we had an actress who did a great job selling the initial fiction of the room. --This is a more physical game in the sense that the actor can touch and move you. But it's never too much and they also give players a way to opt out of the physical contact. --The narrative doesn't always make sense. It's not clear why the actor is moving you where they do (once I was left in a hallway), or why they sometimes leave you with clues. It's also not clear why one in game character simply doesn't leave (or at least make an effort to leave). From a game purpose, I understood why she was in the room, but I didn't understand the psychology of why her character would stick around. There are narrative work arounds that could help this. --This is a lock heavy room and sometimes you are left guessing which four digit code goes with which four digit lock. A few minor tweaks would clear up this confusion and make this part of the game stronger. --speaking of locks, at one point in the game, one of the players has one hand that is handcuffed. The chain is attached to a carabiner above your head, so it would be easy to disengage in case of emergency. However, shorter people may not be able to reach it. --As the title suggests, this is the first of a four chapter story. The game (and our GM) gave us a slight preview of the next three chapters which sound intriguing. When we are back in Charlotte in the future we hope to play them!

The three of us had a great time. Our game-master, Skye, did fantastic. The staff in general are terrific. Everyone was polite, professional, and passionate.