Puppet Heist: The Hand Of Life

This room had a good premise and lots of potential, but in the end was pretty rough. The puppet concept was novel and unique, though. It had vibes of Sesame Street or My Friendly Neighbourhood. The good aspects: * The puppet facilitator was a good motivator. He gave bits of story and gave prompts for what to focus on. * They did a good job at reusing elements in a clever and subtle way. * Using screens to simulate windows and building interiors worked really well and added to the atmosphere. The not so good aspects: * If you don't hear what the puppet facilitator says you might be a bit lost. * The set and props were all very rough and run down. * It ended very suddenly and in a nondescript sort of way. * The flow from puzzle to puzzle was vague. We often wasted time working on things we shouldn't have been. * One particular dexterity-based activity took way too long and was more frustrating and boring than the game designer probably thinks.

Puppet Heist is a game that reached for the stars but fell far short. A game of peaks and potholes. The experience felt sparsely decorated. It was hard to determine what to do at times, and I felt we lacked direction. Puzzles felt frustrating, even if we knew how to solve them. That’s not to say it was a bad game, I quite enjoyed the theatrics and voice lines. The through line of puppetry was well done, and a fun lobby experience is definitely a plus! The Bureau is divisive, and i can see why. With so much to play in Orlando, I’d recommend skipping out on The Bureau.

Disappointed with some puzzles, audio is hard to hear. But the set is good and first half is better than the second half

You must read your booking email for context on how to enter the building, it looks abandoned on the outside. Plenty of parking. The lobby is neat and definitely sets the tone for the experience. We were pleasantly greeted and given the mission details. Going into the room I had expectations based on reviews, so I was aware that Melvin was meant to help out in creative ways. However I might have been too excited about this because I kept hoping throughout the room he would be used in more ways than he was. The set design in the first room is pretty standard and becomes more elaborate in the second room, fitting for the mission’s theme. As other reviews have stated, seasoned escape room goers (or anyone who has done even just a handful) will need to put on a different kind of thinking cap for this room, it’s more task based than puzzle oriented. The gameplay was a little difficult because of this, but also certain paths that seemed wrong were actually the way we needed to go, and things that seemed right were not something we had enough information for. Definitely not always intuitive in my opinion. We figured it out with the assistance of unlimited hints (which you ask for and receive on a tablet, which I enjoyed) and had 29 seconds left. Your timer is not visible in the room. Overall it was a fun experience, two women traveling across the country doing an escape room in every state told me about this room at the escape room I work at in New Jersey, so I was excited when I realized I’d be vacationing near the location. It’s a change of pace but enjoyable.

Loooooveeedd this room. I went back and played it again 2 years later. The game play is phenomenal you really ger sucked into the story

It was a lot of fun, full of silly puns and fun puzzles. Our group fell in love with our puppet friend

Super novel concept! Physical puzzles and logical puzzles. One physical puzzle was nearly impossible due to the prop being broken, but we made it happen. Love our puppet buddy!

Just a personal opinion but again these story line rooms are just not it for me. The puppet theme was cute and made me giggle however not much thought needed to do the rooms here and if you like locks and puzzles that take some thought then this might not be the room for you. I would say it is more for beginners and very family friendly. The staff and location itself were great again just not my style. Big yawn.