p
psarrett
55 escape rooms
I liked this room, but with reservations. 1) It was much dimmer than it needed to be, particularly in the first two acts (the third act's lighting, while dim, felt appropriate). For those of us with less than perfect eyesight, the lighting made it difficult to see/read important information, diminishing our enjoyment. 2) The second act is incongruous in context of the game. When explained afterward it made sense, but it did not make sense while we were playing. We actually groaned when we walked in, because it was a thematic change we weren't expecting and felt arbitrary. It feels like there's a story beat missing before the transition, where players could get a clear narrative confirmation about what's going on (in case they haven't figured it out) which would enhance the second act by giving players the proper context to engage with it. Even so, the second act feels like it belongs in an entirely different game. We were given walkie talkies as a way to get hints, and we hated it. It was an object someone had to carry and track and was completely unthematic. GMs are already watching us on camera, presumably they can also hear us, they should be able to communicate with us through speakers or some other system in the room without walkie-talkies. 3) There's a neat gameplay mechanic in the third act that we enjoyed, but the end of the game came without warning or narrative setup. We solved a puzzle, and stepped through a door expecting to enter a new game space, but instead... it was the lobby hallway and the game was over. It was sudden and anticlimactic. The game is missing a narrative beat here that wraps things up.
