Kong

This was a fine room. It was definitely a step up from Matsuri at this same location in terms of puzzle design. The puzzles were pretty easy and there weren’t many of them. It was still enjoyable for an escape room outing. Strengths- -The puzzles were logical, and varied in their nature, and fun to complete for the most part. -The set design looked nice and used lights and sounds to enhance immersion -The ending was cute -All the tech worked Weaknesses/Areas to Improve - There were not enough puzzles, as there were only a handful of relatively simple puzzles. - The puzzles didn’t feel very satisfying to complete as most of them were self contained and didn’t connect to anything else in the room, and were not layered or multi-step in any way.

First time at Lock Chicago and it was a decent experience. Kong is their newest room with the most tech and it was a good experience overall. The immersion in the room was very good as you felt like you were in a safari camp with the floor being old shipping pallets that creaked, the dim lighting of a nighttime camp, and the wood shipping containers. Some cool themed decorations on the wall added to scenery. There was a lot of tech used in the room where if you performed the right sequences or placed things in the proper place, boxes would automatically open or lights would shine, which was rewarding. The room was pretty dark throughout, and it gets darker as you progress through the game due to a few puzzles near the end that may benefit from having it darker. They only provide 2 very dim lanterns, so luckily I brought my own flashlight, as darkness is an obstacle throughout, which makes the room more difficult. They really should provide each person with their own flashlight, as that would improve the experience significantly. Another area for improvement is to simply provide a pad of paper/pen or a scribe writing tablet as there is 1 puzzle which has a few different parts to it and having something to write on would make it much easier. The darkness and not having anything to write on really frustrated us during this particular puzzle and forced us to waste time. The puzzles were fun overall and made sense, with a few that stretched your thinking a bit (and with the darkness, made it much harder to connect with). The finale of the room, with saving Kong, was neat, but also a little generic. GM (Aiden) was friendly and gave us a few helpful nudges. The hint system is very basic with each character being typed coming onto the screen in real time…but it worked fine. For a 1-room escape room, Kong was a fun experience, but nothing really memorable.

A great room for beginners or escape room veterans alike. We went as a group of 5 with 3 first-timers. The room was extremely well themed and decorated for being a slightly smaller space but they utilized it well.

Amazing room, really fun tech and surprises. Puzzles were exciting and the set was immersive, love to see Lock Chicago still going strong.

Lock Chicago completely stepped it up with their newest game. We played their first ever room, Sunburn 7 years ago and it’s nice to see they’re adapting and leaning into the trend with some crazy tech and puzzles. Hope all their rooms stick to this pattern.