Ghastly Escapes - Ch. 1 The Bag Man

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.

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!