Mantis
41 escape rooms
This was an enjoyable room - suitable for 2 experienced and zoned-in players in terms of puzzle number, complexity, variety, and linearity. The room felt similar to the Salem Witch room. It was not scary but had a spooky design overall. A couple of helpful nudges kept us on track for success. The set design and the lighting was pretty decent. However, some of the "major props" could have benefitted from better design for immersion. Like their other rooms, when you solve a puzzle, there is a slight delay in form of changing lights or sounds before the result is revealed - just something to keep in mind if you're new to their rooms. The room is mostly mechanical. The surprise factor was not very high. Also, as is a theme with their rooms, there is always a secondary objective you need to accomplish - get the code to "escape" the room after you complete the primary objective. Handy to budget 5 minutes for that last bit!
Gameplay
Linear gameplay that flows well.
Atmosphere
Set design was decent and special effects came from the lighting. Felt that some of the props could have been designed with more effort for more immersion.
Customer service
Jareth and Victor have been great during the other rooms we did. However, for this one, there were two other staff members who seemed a bit distracted/in a rush. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt as the gamemaster (Camy, I think) was prompt when we needed her and was paying attention to our game.
Particularly interesting or different
Yes
Vampire theme was cool!
Story
Plot was okay. Nothing extraordinary but ties in with the evolving objective.
Difficulty
Medium
For inexperienced players, this may be more difficult. For experienced and zoned-in players, should be able to figure out "what" needs to be done - but the "where" may take some additional thinking.
Game tech
Mechanical
Ideal number of players
3
Solvable by 2 experienced players. The linearity helps. For a mix of experience, 3-4 is good. More than 4 would feel crowded because there is no parallelism to the puzzles (and physical space).
Scary
Spooky
Okay for people who don't like scary stuff but are okay with an eerie atmosphere with audible unlocking sounds of set pieces.
Was anything broken?
No
Live actors
No
Physically active
Not at all
Easy to find location
Yes
Inside Stonebriar Mall - lower level (enter from Dillard's and the room will be right at the exit of Dillard's leading into the mall).
Parking
Easy
Park near Dillard's for quickest access. A couple of minutes to walk inside.
