Escape Artist Greenville – Dr. Fratelli’s Cabin (Review)

Location: Greenville, SC

Players: 2-6 (We recommend 3-4)

Price: $27 (Public Booking) or $30 (Private Booking) per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Why do we keep visiting creepy cabins in the woods?

Theme:

The formerly world renowned psychologist Dr. Fratelli has gone into seclusion over the past few years. No one has heard from the eccentric doctor until you and your friends receive an enigmatic invitation to Dr. Fratelli’s private cabin out in the woods. Nothing weird about that, right? As  you are led into the cabin, you’re told to make yourself at home and look through the doctor’s research to your heart’s content. Though his assistant said he’d be by shortly, the doctor doesn’t seem to be showing up. Even worse, the door you came in has been locked behind you, and a mysterious countdown just popped up on the television…

First Impressions:

Escape Artist Greenville’s website shows some glimpses of their rooms, and due to the awesome looking designs, they’ve been on my radar for a while. Luckily, we had a big trip to plan, and Greenville, SC was on the way. After stepping into the good doctor’s waiting room, I could definitely tell that the sets wouldn’t be the only good thing about this experience!

High Points:

The storyline for Dr. Fratelli’s Cabin was fairly straightforward, but at two particular points there were personal touches that added some fantastic twists to the adventure! We greatly enjoyed the addition of these story beats, and it helped bring the immersion even further into focus. The set design here was amazing, as expected, really bringing forth the feel of a small cabin inhabited by a crazed psychologist, especially as we ventured through the many layers of the room. Speaking of layers, there were several, as the rooms opened up in unexpected and sometimes amusing ways. It’s always nice to be surprised as an enthusiast, and this cabin was chock full of surprises!

The game flowed well, with only a couple of hiccups when our group started to overthink the puzzles. Throughout the flow, which vacillated between linear and non-linear puzzling threads, our group of four stayed engaged and actively interacting with the experience, especially with the final puzzle, which spanned the room and depended on our teamwork to complete. The game itself ended climactically and included another fantastic ending via a mysterious final missive, leaving us wanting more in the best way possible!

Low Points:

The gating between some of the mid to late game puzzles wasn’t quite as tight as we’d like it to be, and as a result, there was a bit of frustrating time wasted on a puzzle that seemed solvable at first, but proved to be extremely difficult without an item encountered later. Luckily, the game master intervened to let us know to stop beating our head against that particular wall. There was also another interaction that presented text in a difficult to read manner, which seemed strange due to the way this puzzle was set up.

Verdict:

Dr. Fratelli’s Cabin was Escape Artist Greenville’s first room, but it certainly doesn’t show its age! A more classic escape experience, there are still many surprises to encounter and original interactions and puzzles sprinkled throughout the entire experience! I definitely recommend checking out the old cabin if you’re in Greenville! Take part in Dr. Fratelli’s experiment here!

8.5/10 (Great)

Full Disclosure: Escape Artist Greenville provided media discounted tickets for our team.