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kittykath
135 escape rooms
This room is a paradox. It is beautifully themed and decorated but also one of the worst rooms we've ever played in terms of puzzles and gameplay. At least one thing malfunctioned for us allowing us to "escape" without completing at least 4 puzzles. Our GM said it wasn't working earlier in the day either. Oops.
Gameplay
Worst ever. The gameplay had no flow of any kind making it difficult to know where to start or what to do next. Nothing was intuitive. Signposts were placed in odd spots that had nothing to do with the puzzle they were near. Sometimes they were not even in the same room. The room was also heavily reliant on a black light and the zodiac for the majority of the puzzles.
Atmosphere
Excellent set design and props. That is the only positive thing I can say about this room.
Customer service
The staff here always seems bored. I don't know our GM's name because he never mentioned it. The last two times we've been here, the rooms had malfunctions and puzzles that were not reset. Staff never makes any apologies or offers any incentive to return. (See my review for the Bank Heist game).
Particularly interesting or different
No
We've played two other Dracula-themed games and both were better than this one.
Story
All of the story is explained via audio which was sometimes hard to hear clearly.
Difficulty
Hard
Extremely hard but mostly because of the nonsensical game flow and placement of signposts. I would be willing to bet that no one can escape without hints and few probably do even with hints. We only escaped because a malfunction allowed us to bypass about 4 puzzles.
Game tech
Mechanical
I'm going with mechanical here even though it was a combo. There were a fair number of spinners and a couple of key locks. Also some triggers (one worked, one worked but was not obvious and we wasted 5 minutes trying to figure out what happened, and we missed a few because of the skipped puzzles). There were also digital keypads which seem out of place in a vampire crypt.
Ideal number of players
2
Scary
Spooky
Again, atmosphere was great.
Minimum age
12
Was anything broken?
Yes
One malfunction that lead to us missing about 4 puzzles and escaping anyway. Staff attitude was just "oh well" shrugs shoulders.
Live actors
No
Physically active
Not at all
Easy to find location
Yes
Parking
Limited
Hellish on a Saturday night. They share a parking lot with Twin Peaks. When I called from the parking lot to say we might be late because there was nowhere to park, staff suggested driving around the building. We were already on our 4th lap around the building.
Safety
Yes
