Green Light Escape Room – Alien Escape (Review)

Location: Wilmington, NC

Players:  3-8 (We recommend 4-5)

Price: $26 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Don’t get probed!

Theme:

Waking up to the hum of unfamiliar machinery, you and your friends slowly realize that the room you are standing in is not of this planet! As impossible as it may seem, you’ve been abducted by aliens, and judging from the sterility of the room and the sharpness of the instruments on the tables, it isn’t going to be a pleasant trip! You’re contacted soon after waking by another human survivor, who lets you know that he has found an escape pod and will wait for you to find him, but he’s not going to wait around forever and be recaptured, so you’ve got 60 minutes to get out or get probed!

First Impressions:

While waiting for the previous group to finish up in the Alien room, we heard some… interesting noises emanating into the lobby. Evidently the group was all kids, so some noises could be easily explained that way, but it certainly sounded like they were having a blast!

High Points:

Set design in Alien Escape was the best among the three rooms at Green Light Escape Room, with fantastical props, weird alien dissections, and… something growing on the walls around a strange machine. After a slightly bumpy start (totally our fault, as our brains had begun to numb at this, room #5,) the logical flow of the room ran together very well. The linear nature of the beginning didn’t leave out any in our group of 6, and the branching paths and teamwork puzzles of the second half of the room kept us all busy. Several of the puzzles integrated well with the theme and allowed for spatial puzzle solving involving the whole team. One puzzle we were advised was a new addition was elegant in its simplicity, but was still a challenge to solve, while not being an enormous time sink. The climax of the room was appropriately exciting and well implemented, and disoriented us in the best possible way.

Low Points:

A couple of the props were worn and could stand to be replaced. One beginning puzzle was interesting to start, but dragged after the first half of solving, though its solution triggered a fun interaction. Some basic lock types showed up that, while understandable, don’t quite mesh with the theme as well, due to the alien nature of the room, breaking immersion slightly.

Verdict:

Alien Escape was a definite favorite of mine in Wilmington, and not only was a superb game boasting great puzzle flow and set design, but was challenging to boot. I’d definitely recommend checking it out, and while you’re there, you can try to beat our new record, boasting our brand new team name! (Special thanks to A-Team member Cathy Nanni for devising the new moniker!)

Book your abduction here!

8.5/10 (Great)

Full Disclosure: Green Light Escape Room provided Media Discounted tickets for our team.