Twist of Oz is Key to Escape’s newest room and it really shows with their integration of high tech puzzles- I don’t believe there was a single “regular” lock - a lot of keypads, but also some original tech. I will caveat this review with the statement that I genuinely love the people at Key to Escape and think they are so passionate about what they do, but my husband and I both agreed that their style of game just isn’t for us. That being said, this was a step up from Under Pressure, but implemented many of the same strategies/faults. They definitely pride themselves on being a hard escape game, which I actually don’t believe is because of the puzzles, but because of the lack of flow and jumps in logic. I also think a huge thing in both their rooms has been SEARCHING. I know some people love combing over a room from top to bottom searching, but I prefer my time to be spent working on a guided puzzling experience, not a free for all. It feels like a time suck and takes away from my experience. While we did escape the room with 12 minutes to spare, I think it was solely because we knew what to expect from Under Pressure. When we solved puzzles, neither of us felt satisfaction with them, it was more of that “oh, that worked?” kind of feeling. There were definitely fun moments in this room and the set is adorable- we loved the apples feature and the wiggling feet. And we loved the beginning sequence/story/ room in black and white. Overall, we had a good time but will not be returning to play top shelf elf, which appears to be the “hardest” of the three. I wish I loved these games more, especially since it’s the closest location to our home, but they aren’t for us. I feel like they need a fresh set of eyes to come in and refresh these rooms. But don’t let that stop you from experiencing Oz yourself, see if it suits your style of play!
