Elite (Formerly ‘Epic’) Escape Games – Undead Outbreak (Review)

Location: Mount Pleasant, SC

Players:  2-8 (We recommend 4)

Price: $28 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

The first rule of Zombieland is Cardio.

Theme:

You’ve been running from a horde of zombies for a while, and before they catch up to you, you see an abandoned cabin in the distance! You fight your way there and are able to take a breather for maybe an hour before the horde gets in. Luckily, it seems that someone who was here previously was working on a cure! If you’re able to piece together the clues this ill-fated survivor left, you might just be able to save the world and get out alive!

First Impressions:

Elite Escape Games has a fantastic lobby and a very personable and engaging staff, along with one of the most excellent post-game photo backdrops I’ve seen. Rather than using only the company logo on a blank wall like many others, they’ve worked into the mural every theme that they will have at their location. You can see it in all of its glory above! Customer service here is also a cut above, which is always a plus. (As a side note, if you’re lucky, little Bo man might be there. He is the owners dog, and is enormously cute.)

High Points:

Stepping into the room was fantastic. A beautifully dilapidated, run down cabin was filled with incredibly interesting props and puzzles to play with. As an added bonus, we could see and hear the zombies outside the boarded-up windows, spurring us into action. One of the best implementations of an escape room standby was installed on the ceiling, and was a lot of fun to work with. Several puzzles were very original, and required some entertaining physical interactions. The overarching puzzle was a great surprise and provided excellent feedback on our progress. Each new find was more surprising than the last, building the story one exciting step at a time as what first seemed like a simple zombie escape became something entirely more complex.

Low Points:

There were only a couple issues I found with this room, one regarding an unclued, fairly unintuitive input on one lock, and the other being a fairly small crawlspace that, though our group of 2 had no problems with, may present difficulties for handicapped or larger players.

Verdict:

Undead Outbreak has it all, great puzzles, immersive set, surprising and engaging story, and enjoyable interactions throughout. It is by far one of my favorite rooms, and has me excited to return to Charleston for their upcoming rooms! You can book your race for the cure here!

Full Disclosure: Elite Escape Games provided Media Discounted tickets for our game.

9.5/10 (Excellent)