Ghastly Escapes - Ch. 1 The Bag Man

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.

Let me start by saying that the staff at this location is absolutely top tier. So kind, so welcoming. As enthusiasts, I had a lot of questions and they seemed genuinely interested in connecting and discussing their business. That alone goes to say a lot about how much passion goes into their rooms. And that’s what I will say about this room- the passion was there. The potential was exponential. I just can’t put a solid finger on why I felt let down by this room. After playing wrecked, which I honestly felt is such a strong and well designed game, this room seemed a bit under thought. There are parts of Ghastly that 110% deserve a love review, for starters, the sheer size of it is impressive, as well as the theming. The meta idea of an escape room in an escape room is really clever, especially for enthusiasts. Additionally, their bigger idea to make it a series of interconnected games in the same space is genius. Love the creativity there. The beginning sequence of this room (hallway) was my favorite- the anticipation and theatrics were top tier and set it up so that I had big expectations after that, but I never felt that same high again after that moment. Here are a few notes I made about what knocked this room down to a like: • Our in-room actress felt out of place to me and unnecessary. There are two moments that need her there, and while they are a cool idea, I actually felt like they could’ve been done away with for the sake of immersion. She has to assume a GM persona to instruct the players and it felt like the immersion switch was paused momentarily, which interrupted flow. •The story had SO much potential but ultimately I feel like it was lost between the beginning and ending. The Bagman has some quirks that could’ve made a really really fun hide and seek style game, but there was a cop-out given, and I feel that it lessened the experience. •The space was not an environment that made it easy to sneak up on someone or be completely dark or enclosed in a way that creates true panic/fear. After the waivers and multiple safety speels about punching actors, I was expecting a terrifying play. It just wasn’t that. It was creepy, but not scary. Maybe the fact that the Bagman can touch you, but does so gently, makes the “what is he going to do next” factor disappear. The novelty of the first kidnapping quickly lost its flair. I think a no touch game would actually be more frightening. Everyone in our group felt this way about the scare factor, which was ultimately a let down. Definitely still a fun room that I would recommend to people, but I do think wrecked has this one beat in terms of which is the better room. We still look forward to subsequent “parts” of this room coming out and can’t wait to see how the story all comes together.

The meta-horror theme hit in a really great way. It was set up beautifully and in some ways messed with my perception of reality. This is our favorite room so far at this location. (Ghastly, Wrecked, Missing, and Deadwood. -ranked in that order for me personally). This is one of those places that have such high quality rooms, that all are great and really fun. The gameplay had a great flow and they have some really unique and well thought out puzzles. The actors are awesome and really made the experience something special. Highly recommend! These are a must-do in this area!

Go with the extreme mode and tell them I sent you……. If you dare

The high-level meta theme of this escape room being an escape room really scratched an itch for me thematically and in terms of set design. The puzzles were on the simpler side to accommodate for the fact that the group is under duress. I enjoyed the effort put into world-building the grander narrative for this series. The acting was passionate and immersive and I recommend all to forgo the safety opt-out; it's not too bad. We did all the escape rooms at Masterpiece except for Metro Mayhem and Missing and this was our #3!

I don’t do scary and I loved this game. And it was very scary. I can’t believe I loved it. Solid game play for a scary room. Our guide was so believable that I feel like I fell for it. The story line was meta in the best way. Even if you don’t do scary try it! If you do scary, you gotta try this!