Komnata Quest Brooklyn – City of Ashes (Review)

September 26, 2019September 5, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ Leave a comment

Location: New York, NY

Price: From $35 per person (Private games are available on a sliding scale, see website for more information)

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 2-4)

Time to Escape: 60 Minutes

Monsters? They look like monsters to you?

Theme:

From the Komnata Quest website:

Population: none. You’re more than welcome here. You move forward and melt in the fog with the sound of scratching wheels and metal rattling. Long-lasting burnt odor. Anxiety and shudder. You hear the siren scream and forget how to breathe. Welcome to the City of Ashes. Tonight the silence of the city will be broken…

First Impressions:

City of Ashes was very obviously inspired by one of my favorite horror video games of all time, Silent Hill. Being a huge fan, this room seemed to be straight up my, (foggy, monster infested,) alley. After checking in with our excellent game master Devon and getting blindfolded and led into the dark city, I was extremely excited to hear some music from Silent Hill 3 begin to play over the background of the recorded introduction.

High Points:

I can easily say that this room is one of the scariest actor-less escape rooms I’ve ever experienced. While there are some jump scares, the eerie aura that is instilled in every facet of the room, along with the ability to frighten players with things that are hidden in plain sight, keeps even hardened veterans of scare experiences on their toes. Any Silent Hill fan will enjoy the many call backs to the games and the first movie that are littered throughout City of Ashes. In fact, the inclusion of one iconic puzzle from the original game is an exciting addition for fans. City of Ashes is also one of the biggest escape rooms we experienced during our trip to New York, twisting expertly between locales in ways reminiscent of some of the lesser known titles of the franchise. Overall, the room captures that otherworldly feel of Silent Hill organically, evoking a nostalgic feeling reminiscent of my first visit to the city’s foggy streets.

The game flow works for the most part, encouraging players to be perceptive and employ an appropriately nightmarish sort of logic to the game. When the room is at its peak, it provides some amazing feedback and unexpected twists that keep the intensity of the room at a fever pitch that only calmed down for us on a couple of occasions. The game itself is highly tactile, encouraging players to keep manipulating props and to just get a little bit closer to the horrors trapped within the room’s walls. City of Ashes should definitely be praised for its ability to engage with players and mess with them in increasingly clever ways without once using an in room actor. The meta-puzzle for the game is great, and provides players with a physical measure of their progress naturally. The climax of the game is fantastic, and ends the room off in a way that disorients and surprises satisfyingly.

Nurse! I think there’s a problem here!

Low Points:

Though this may be a high point for some, City of Ashes focuses less on puzzles and more on interacting with the environment. In many ways, the experience feels more like a highly interactive haunt rather than a pure escape room, and knowing that going in helps temper expectations. Those who enter seeking a pure escape room experience might feel somewhat disappointed, but playing it for what it is, we had a good time. Some of the interactions included within the game are based on some iffy logic, leading to one point at which we were led to futz around with one area of the game a couple times so something would trigger. A lot of triggers seem to be run by the game master, so at times, it felt as though things were on a bit of a delay. At one point, my wife and I were working on two separate puzzles, and I had completed mine, but it did not trigger, while hers did, leading to me needing to complete mine a couple more times before the finale finally set off. There are a couple of places in which it is possible to get ahead of the game flow by accident, and we did so both times, leading to a somewhat confusing run of puzzles. Devon did a good job ensuring we got back on track, however.

Verdict:

City of Ashes is a lot of fun, but players should go into the experience expecting more of a interactive haunting rather than a pure escape experience. The attempt at something new is fun for those looking for a spooky adventure however, and having gone in expecting something a little different, I can definitely say we had a good time exploring Silent Hill. I recommend giving it a shot if Silent Hill, haunted houses, and light puzzling are your thing. Book your descent into the City of Ashes here!

7/10 (Good)

Full Disclosure: Komnata Quest Brooklyn provided our team with media discounted tickets.

Exit: The Game – The Catacombs of Horror (Review)

September 25, 2019September 25, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ 1 Comment

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-2

Price: $24.99

Nothing good happens underground.

Theme:

From the Thames and Kosmos website:

Gloomy crypts lie under the city of Paris. The catacombs swallow city light, riddles, and, apparently, also people. After the mysterious disappearance of a friend in the catacombs, you and your team embark on a search party, making your way through the puzzling underground labyrinth. Will you be able to find your friend in time and escape this cavernous world of darkness? This double-sized EXIT game is presented in two separate parts.

First Impressions:

It has been well documented that Exit: The Game is one of my favorite tabletop escape room experiences, and for good reason. Most all of their games have been high quality, with twists and turns you don’t quite get from other games available via retail. When I heard the newest box would be a two part adventure, I was instantly excited to see what the designers would do with this new, expanded format! Once we obtained it, we quickly got to puzzling.

A double size box for a double size adventure!

High Points:

The Catacombs of Horror has easily some of the most tactile and engaging props yet. Several puzzles require players to manipulate the items in fascinating ways in order to create some really ingenious reveals. The initial sections of both halves of the game do a great job of easing players into the game before ramping things up with intuitive and challenging, but not overly difficult puzzles. Some of my favorite puzzles within this box were incredibly intuitive, encouraging players to read between the lines and pay close attention to their in game surroundings in order to pick up on key clues, resulting in some excellent moments of revelation as all the disparate parts fall nicely into place. The two part experience delivers bonus items during the second half that ensure the adventure remains stuffed with original interactions, and several of our favorite Exit: The Game tropes can be found within this box. Puzzles themselves trend towards multi-layered, challenging affairs, and when they’re implemented well, they’re astounding to behold, but sometimes the difficulty veers a bit too far into the realm of logical leaps and obtuse cluing. The theme is much darker for this outing, tying the Paris Catacombs to an ancient evil, and the stakes remain appropriately high from start to finish. Our team of two enthusiasts remained engaged with this adventure for a little over two hours, so you’re definitely getting your money’s worth, time-wise.

Even more evidence to process than usual!

Low Points:

As noted before, this is certainly Exit: The Game’s most difficult box, even more so than Dead Man on the Orient Express. However, the difficulty is derived far too often from logical leaps and the absence of intuitive clue threads. The connective tissue of several puzzles needs to be beefed up in order to make complete sense, and some of what should be the most climactic interactions in the game become mired in frustration due to deficient cluing. One particular riddle gives fewer clues the quicker you’ve solved so far, and this feels needlessly punitive, a blatant time sink in a series that has so far artfully avoided such puzzles. Another time sink forgoes cluing entirely in favor of a guess and check puzzle that also provides a choke point that will leave any players beyond one waiting around for the moment they can move on. While previous linear Exit games have proven skillful in implementing linearity to the benefit of weaving an excellent story, the linearity of The Catacombs of Horror tends to ignore the story, leaving only choke points and dead zones in the game flow that really kills the atmosphere of the adventure.

While the first half of the game tends to run a bit more smoothly, the second half tends to implement more complicated puzzles which, on its face, is a good idea. Ramping up the difficulty curve is standard. However, the design decisions made in order to present difficult puzzles for the sake of difficulty rather than challenge compounds here, and results in over complicated, red herring filled illogic. This is unfortunately most evident in the ultimate puzzle, which should be a climactic and exciting solve, yet falls flat in practice. In fact, we stumbled upon the solution in a way that is completely opposite to how it was intended to be completed, as integral information was just missing completely from the clues. The experience has two different endings, a good and bad one, and the ending you receive depends on how you solve this final puzzle. Luckily, we pulled the correct card, but I could definitely see a lot of frustration arising from being given only one shot at this puzzle, due to the flawed implementation of the cluing here.

Verdict:

The Catacombs of Horror evolves the Exit: the Game experience, but in other ways is a huge step back for the franchise. While there are many interesting mechanics and clever puzzles to be found, there are also a cavalcade of questionable design decisions and an uncharacteristically uneven game flow. While we ultimately had an alright time with this game, I can’t really fully recommend it, and new players should definitely not try this before any other Exit game. Exit enthusiasts are the definite market for this game, but I’d only recommend checking it out once you’ve finished the rest of the available games. You can pick up a copy from your friendly local game store today. We recommend checking out The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC, check out their website here!

5.5/10 (Mediocre)

Exit Escape Room NYC – High Speed NYC (Review)

September 24, 2019September 24, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ Leave a comment

Location: New York, NY

Price: $30 per person (Private games are available on a sliding scale, see website for more information)

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 3-4)

Time to Escape: 60 Minutes

End of the line!

Theme:

From the Exit Escape Room NYC website:

You hop on train heading to the park for a fun day, but before you know it you realize that the train has been abandoned by it’s conductor and is now moving at high speed without a driver… You must figure out how to activate the emergency systems and stop the train… before it’s too late!! High Speed NYC is an exciting, innovative, technologically advanced hi-tech game that is guaranteed to give you an escape experience like no other.

First Impressions:

If the fact that we aren’t wearing our Keyed Up! team shirts in our group picture doesn’t give it away, our trip to Exit Escape Room NYC was completely spontaneous. We were able to get set up with a room pretty quickly after giving them a call and walking over from our hotel, and we are very grateful to our game master Allison for her excellent customer service in helping us out so last minute! From looking up open games to helping us choose our adventure, to providing a choice clue or two when we started to overthink things, she did a great job.

High Points:

At the beginning of High Speed NYC, we were led into the subway car and immediately launched into the madness of an out of control train. Excellent technical touches and train announcements kept us immersed within the moment, and the consequences of failure were very apparent. Sound and set design really hammered home the theme of the room, and we were immediately transported into the New York subway system. The promise of a high-tech game was absolutely delivered on, as there were only a few classic locks inserted into the game flow, and almost every puzzle involved some sort of well themed technological magic. Clues were hidden throughout the room, sometimes in plain sight, and they delivered marvelous moments of revelation as we realized that sometimes those items that fade into the background were some of the most important once we’d taken a moment to have a really good look at them. The game contains some really clever interactions throughout, and each step of the game flow is intuitively laid out with original clues and signposting to ensure teams remain challenged, but never completely left flailing in the wind. Most puzzles involve some sort of tactile interaction as well, which is always an excellent touch that ensures the room remains highly immersive.

The game is semi-non linear, with a few moments of linearity for story’s sake, but when the room does become linear, puzzles are designed with a focus on teamwork to ensure that larger groups won’t have much, if any, down time and as the difficulty curve rises, so too does the non-linearity. The design of High Speed NYC does an awesome job weaving the puzzles into the experience, ensuring they don’t feel like puzzles for puzzles’ sake, but rather a convincing part of the game world. The climax of the mission is excellent, and a unexpected surprise kept up the fun with a new twist inserted into the story. Everything rounded out in an entertaining way, and by the end, we were left wanting more in the best of ways.

Themed entrances to the room are always such an astoundingly good touch.

Low Points:

The room loses some of its steam during the latter parts of the game, introducing a surprising twist that offers a great reveal, but ends up taking some of the urgency and excitement out of the game that was omnipresent during the initial stages. One puzzle in particular feels out of place, and with the many other excellent interactions around, this one becomes more apparent. The late game definitely becomes more challenging, which is a plus, but the set design is a step down from the fantastic environs of the earlier levels of the adventure.

Verdict:

High Speed NYC lives up to its name as it delivers a high octane experience aboard a realistic and immersive subway car. An exciting adventure from the start, enthusiasts will find a lot to love about the excellent technology and teamwork based puzzling, and new players will love how the game makes players feel like they’re in their own, subway based version of Speed. If you’re in Manhattan looking for an escape to remember, this is definitely a solid choice. Book your time on the runaway rail car here!

8.5/10 (Great)

Total Escape – Temple of Tikal (Review)

September 19, 2019September 23, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ 1 Comment

Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Price: $30 per person

Players: 2-10 (We recommend 4-6)

Time to Escape: 60 Minutes

It (still!) belongs in a museum!

Theme:

The Temple of Tikal is a legendary Mayan temple, rumored to house an ancient and incredibly valuable treasure, hidden away by the Jaguar King behind a series of traps and puzzles designed to only give way to those who are worthy of possessing his most prized treasure. You and your friends have found a way into the temple, and have one hour before the temple’s mechanisms seal again, leaving you trapped inside! Work quickly, and become the true heir to the Jaguar King’s riches!

First Impressions:

Prison Break was Total Escape’s first escape room, and it was a great experience, taking a fairly common trope and executing it better than most other escape rooms have. Before our venture into the Temple of Tikal, we spoke with one of Total Escape’s owners, and she gave us a sneak peak of the then upcoming Yacht Heist, which was a huge, and incredibly sleek looking room. All of this had us jazzed to see what the designers had cooked up for the Temple!

We were also impressed that Total Escape added in subtitles to their intro video, which is a small touch, but very much appreciated.

High Points:

Temple of Tikal began with our fantastic game master giving us our back story and challenging us to begin our game by opening us the Temple itself with somewhat of a pre game challenge. I always enjoy when escapes begin “outside” the room itself, and this was an unexpectedly cool way to start off our game. Once we’d pieced together this appetizer puzzle, the Temple was ours to explore! The experience remains highly non-linear almost throughout, with capstone puzzles measuring progress splendidly, and providing intuitive solves to ensure that all players remain involved with solves and there aren’t many choke points to stymie progress. The game flow works extremely well, and many solves provide great moments of revelation and satisfying pay offs. This may be one of the most hands on rooms we’ve done lately as the set is absolutely littered with large scale puzzles and interactions, displaying some amazing and tactile set pieces to puzzle around with your team. This focus on large scale, teamwork based puzzling is a constant theme throughout the adventure, and there was something for everyone to work on for almost the entire game.

Technology in the game is incredibly responsive, and players always know when a solution has been accepted, as many times when a correct answer has been input, there’s instant feedback. This feedback takes inspiration from great adventure games, and we were wowed many times by the exciting moments our actions triggered. This was one of the few games in which I felt as though I was in the middle of one of the great puzzle moments during a Tomb Raider game. The intuitive nature of the game ensured that even during the more challenging parts of the room, we were never left to cast about wondering what came next, and the high energy journey through the Temple remained engaging through it’s appropriately exciting climax. Like Prison Break, the absence of a game timer really elevated the experience, ensuring that we remained focused on the game and immersed within the story. I lost all track of time in the best possible way, and this small exclusion helped keep outside distractions from encroaching on the game.

Low Points:

One particular puzzle is an interesting interaction to begin, but is somewhat arduous to complete, due to it’s nature. It boiled down to a guess and check interaction at its core, and until we’d found the right way to manipulate things, it felt like busy work. An additional puzzle or clue could easily skip a lot of the aimlessness of this one, preventing the novelty of the interaction from wearing off. Though the room is non-linear and provides a lot for larger groups to do, there is one particular choke point we arrived at that leads to some standing around as only two players could comfortably work on it before becoming a case of too many cooks. Overall, though, both of these instances were minor points during a run of great adventuring.

Verdict:

Temple of Tikal is an awesome leap forward from the already great Prison Break, and if our sneak peek of Yacht Heist is any indication, the sky is the limit for Total Escape! Boasting some excellent set design, cool interactions, and large scale teamwork based puzzling, Temple of Tikal is a must play for any enthusiast in the area, and new players will be astounded by the highly approachable, yet challenging gameplay as well. Uncover the buried secrets of the Jaguar King’s treasure here!

9/10 (Excellent)

Full disclosure: Total Escape provided media discounted tickets for our group.

Sleuth Kings – Case 024: Framed (Review)

September 18, 2019September 17, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ Leave a comment

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-4

Price: $29.95 per box

I wasn’t me, I swear!

Theme:

From the Sleuth Kings website:

Sullivan King has found himself in the middle of a murder investigation – only he’s the prime suspect. Framed for a crime he didn’t commit, Sullivan is on the run from police with only one option: find the real murderer. Can you help Sullivan catch a killer and clear his name before he winds up in prison?

First Impressions:

After the lighter adventure that was Case 023, Framed promised a much more intense mystery, as the client this time was Sullivan King himself! Framed for a murder he did not commit, and on the run from police, he has reached out to us for help clearing his name! I’m sure this wasn’t the excitement he was hoping for after the recent slow days at Sleuth Kings!

High Points:

The clues involved with this case are great, and fit well with the movie theater aesthetic that the box is going for. The puzzles are loaded with hints, and layer upon each other in great fashion. The initial solve is devious, but highly intuitive, and unfolded in stages to develop into a wonderful moment of revelation as we solved. The challenge for the box remains steady throughout, and build towards a fun meta puzzle that caps off the climax in an appropriately exciting fashion. As players solve, new interactions reveal themselves, and there is much more to the box than initially meets the eye, and each new step in the investigation adds another level to the mystery. Props are fantastic and highly tactile, incorporating into their respective puzzles excellently, and giving us some cool interactions to work through. The design of the evidence included is fantastic as well, and the movie poster for the (sadly fake,) upcoming Head Hunter III has a perfect B-movie horror vibe that I really love.

Sullivan’s time spent on the run is well told, and there is a good bit more interaction with him during this case, which brings back some of the fun story tidbits we missed from some recent cases. The hunt is believable, and ties into the overall universe of Sleuth Kings while remaining accessible to new players. The epilogue is a great denouement to the story, and includes a great little bonus in the form of an extra optional puzzle. It’s a great, small addition that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, and allows players to help in the investigation just a little bit more.

Lights, camera, action!

Low Points:

One specific clue uses a cipher that we are familiar with, having done a lot of subscription boxes in the past, but may be very unfamiliar for newer players. The hint section is helpful, but if players are reticent to take a hint, they may be stuck for a while. The in game clue is good, but does require a passing familiarity with codes to decipher at first blush. There is a point at which there is a lot of deciphering to be done, which becomes a choke point if playing with more than one person, as only one can comfortably solve the code while the other is relegated to waiting, or busy work if you make some adjustments to involve them. More than two players is right out for this particular point in the game.

Verdict:

Framed is a great new addition to Sullivan King’s continuing adventures, blending an intense story and great puzzling together into an awesome investigation! I recommend trying it out, especially if you’re a long time sleuth, as this one adds some great story beats for loyal fans. You can purchase previous cases from the Sleuth King’s archives here, and if you’d like to subscribe to upcoming adventures, you can use the promo code ESCAPEADVENTURE to get $5 off your subscription here! You can also read the rest of our Sleuth Kings reviews here!

8/10 (Great)

Full Disclosure: Sleuth Kings provided a complementary box.