THERE’S TERROR IN THE SKIES!! (me)
My first crack at Urban Escapade and I ended up having a really nifty time! Coming straight from the real Sydney airport into a 1968-spy-mission-Sydney-airport was quite the jump-scare but hey, that’s what being a part-time (on call) air marshal is all about.
Turbulence was a really interesting game for me, the set was clean, the premise unique and the tech impressive. My friends and I enjoyed ourselves as we navigated the space, making sure to lug our totally normal and non-suspicious suitcase with us wherever we went; fully buying into our responsibilities of foiling something dastardly and airborne, it was a good time.
My main constructive feedback here is at best, a little redundant. As having now played 2 different airport-themed escape rooms, it becomes clear to me just how difficult it is to try and make fun puzzles out of air-travel gimmicks. The overuse of elements like correspondence, documentation, maps, arrival times, scheduling and staff info never really sparked joy for me and created more of a workflow than a puzzle-flow. And while the designers here have done a fantastic job with the space, I fear if they continue to keep the puzzles more “in-world” they’re gonna find themselves restricted by the rules and expectations of the environment they picked.
While I can definitely see players getting a kick out of this one, I think it just wasn’t my bag (ha).
Special honourable mention to the cinematic ending and our wonderful GM, Danielle! And a special dishonourable mention to all the AI content used throughout the room. Boo.
6.9/10 🔏🧩
Particularly interesting or different
Yes
Physically active
Not at all
Free two hour parking inside the shopping complex.