The Hideout

I'm so glad we played all the games here instead of having tunnel vision for ratings. I really enjoyed the hand-hewn quality of things here- rather than wishing it was more polished I felt like it spotlighted the puzzle design, heightened the story and inspired imagination as to what ingenuity can make out of everyday things. This game even more than the Agency features a lateral thinking that is much more fun than the sort of linear "find device/solve device" trap that escape rooms can fall into.

This was a unique styled room with a lot of mechanical puzzles most rooms don’t have anymore. The clue system was unique and I liked it a lot. Overall I think a solid room. Out of the three at this company, it ranks #2.

An ok room, if there were more rating options in Morty, this would probably be like a 2/5, but there aren’t so a thumbs-down it is. The puzzles in this small 50 minute room are mostly mechanical, to a fault. Sometimes you have to jiggle things and make physics work for you to get mechanisms to open properly. Having the right idea and not being able to do it because physics hates us is a horrible feeling. The story connects to The Agency room, and it is an interesting dystopian premise, but who cares since the puzzles are unrelated. To be honest, we booked this and The Agency as add-ons for a trip here to Ghost of Mentryville. Whereas Ghost was the best room of our trip, the other 2 were among my least favorite. We made the leaderboard for the week at least.

The Hideout is another older game at Arcane, but it’s still somewhat unique - its mostly lack of locks and focus on mechanical interactions is a natural evolution of some of the more interesting moments of The Agency. One of the emphasized elements of the game design is searching, but it never felt tedious and in fact often felt more like a puzzle than what typically ends up being an unclued task. We never felt like there wasn’t a goal in terms of what we were looking for, even when a few puzzles felt slightly reliant on small details (which also felt like a mistake on my part). The set is also a step up from The Agency - it’s evident how much more unified and coherent the game world is intended to be, and all of the best moments or details of their earlier effort have been improved greatly.

Small room with gen1 style puzzles. I appreciate the physics based puzzle and overall the room is suited for 3 people and is an easy - medium difficulty.

The Hideout is a linear room, and while that may be a deterrent to some folks, the puzzles are interesting enough for everyone to be doing something. Also, what stood out to me is how physical the puzzles were. While other rooms may have more electric or magnetic puzzles, the puzzles here required physical mechanisms to unlock, which is pretty cool. We had a group of four and it could get roomy in here, but still there are plenty of things to do. The puzzles all fit the story and the late game surprises (there is one puzzle that stumps most folks) make this a recommended room. If you could only do one room at this location, you have to do The Ghost of Mentryville and then do these rooms! They’re all a great time.

I guess if “decipher the clues to unlock the entrance to the secret hideout before the totalitarian regime finds you and experiments on you” is a theme, then this room is in that theme. I didn’t find it particularly strong in any aspect (set design, puzzles, story) but it was adequate in all three. Would recommend 2 players maximum.

Good puzzles! No crazy theme or story just a good puzzle room

Tier: C+ (bordering on C) (see bio) A fun and well put together small-scale game that has the added twist that there are almost no electrical mechanisms and almost no locks meaning that all puzzles utilize physical mechanisms. This twist and some late game surprises make this decent game worthwhile to an enthusiast in the area.

Really fun room! Very immersive, the puzzles fit within the story, very limited physical locks in here. We weren’t rushing and got time of the week because the puzzles flowed so well. The room is VERY small. There was 3 of us and it was just the right amount of space.