The Archive

I wish I could love this room, but I just can’t. First off, the set design is top notch. One of the best designs in the Orlando area that I have seen, only outdone by Cinema 7 in my opinion. The story is awesome. I love the Tillman lore and this story does not disappoint on that front. My main issue is the gameplay. Over-thinkers beware. There was one puzzle in particular that we wasted a ton of time on simply because I read too much into a particular written instruction I was given. One of the last few puzzles was also very frustrating in the implementation of. So, yes, this one is a mixed bag. I loved aspects of it and was disappointed by others.

Didn’t finish left early

The structure of the room is very creative and led to an immersive story. I love how it continues the Tillman lore (as all the games at Dare2Escape do). There were some difficult puzzles here! Everything is well done, from the theming to the puzzle variety to the physicality. Highly recommended.

Updating as we ran it again with the rest of our larger crew Still a great game and holy cow this was fun, immersive and a heavy volume of puzzles as you get deeper into the experience. We finished the second time around but highly recommend with at least three people but can easily get 3-5 into the flow without people standing around idle. Love the location and Danielle was a fantastic GM -------------------- So original and atmospheric; great puzzles and vibe throughout. Nearly all of the puzzles were intuitive and fair; got hung up on a few but the game master was helpful. We only had two and we came about 5 minutes short of finishing. No extra time as there was a group behind us. Will definitely be back to try other rooms.

I definitely can agree that this room is a double edged sword. The initial wow of walking into the room was awesome, and the scenic upon discovering and unveiling more followed suit, but the puzzles were so difficult. Not difficult in the way there is a lot to do, instead it’s complicated and layered with extremely time consuming challenges. We were told after playing that this is their hardest experience and I can totally see it, as our team of two escape room lovers still got through, but with only about 2-3 minutes left.

Very cool themed room with lots of puzzles to complete. Fog and dimly lit but flashlights are given. We were missing a piece of a puzzle which stopped us in our tracks. If you are going for the record make sure you tell them before you start. Overall good room.

It was alright. The set design was well done, the puzzles could have been better. We were treated very well.

“The Archive” is double edged sword, that features some really quite great set design, but is marred with atrociously designed, out of date, unengaging puzzles that are needlessly complicated and verbose for the sake of wasting time, with pacing so poor that it almost bored us to tears at certain points. This one is really teetering dangerously close (literally by a hair) to being a thumbs down. There’s just a lot of really cool stuff visually to see that keep it from being a total wash. But that thumbs up is not a recommendation by any stretch. Let’s get the good out of the way first. The set design is truly great. There’s a lot of attention to detail, a surprisingly massive footprint with a great deal to see and absorb, and an awesome sense of place and progression from room to room. They are such inventive, cleverly designed spaces. Which is a shame because, while “The Archive” has all the right visual elements that make it an all time great escape room, it just doesn’t have the right puzzles to match. Every new puzzle didn’t invoke a sense of excitement or discovery when starting it. After a certain point, it just felt like another ordeal that was more like work and less like fun. Look, we get that these are designed with enthusiasts in mind who want a challenge. That’s why we’re here. But it’s not a challenge to force people to sit, dissect and analyze your poorly concocted lore for the sake of solving a simple lock combination, only to have to do the same thing all over again, four layers more involved and irritating this time around, MULTIPLE TIMES. Dare 2 Escape’s consistent biggest weakness seems to be there is TOO MUCH READING and ridiculous amounts of exposition for what amounts to completing a mostly unrewarding puzzle. And there are too many distracting red herrings in each college thesis that just keeps piling up, only to leave a really bad taste in your mouth, making you question what exactly you should even care about. We want a challenge. We don’t want to feel like we’re being taken for a ride and have our time artificially wasted. “The Archive” rides a fine line to being the latter. The entire puzzle structure and flow of this experience is in desperate need of an overhaul. In its current state it’s unacceptable. The only reason this is a 90 minute experience is because you are going to spend most of your time reading. It’s that poorly paced. These rooms may be tailored for enthusiasts, but even hardcore players might find themselves disappointed in its disjointedness. This is a missed opportunity that should have knocked it out of the park.

They didn’t offer a photo this time. :-( Fun room. Very difficult for 2 people. My only complaint would be that it is pretty warm in the rooms and by the last room both of us were nauseous. She did say it was their warmest room. Very cool design and nice GM. I would recommend 3 or 4 people. We will be back to do the rest in September!