Escape Room Fairfax – The Frightful Feast (Review)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 4-5)

Price: $27 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

They did the mash… they did the Monster Mash!

Theme:

From the Escape Room Fairfax website:

You and your teammates wake up in a poorly lit cell and can’t quite remember how you got there. As you come to your senses, you can just make out three monstrous voices planning a party. It seems they’ve decided to have you over for dinner…in a manner of speaking. The ghastly group has left you unattended for just one hour to attend to the last details of their frightful feast, giving you just sixty minutes to avoid becoming tonight’s main course.Can you escape this disastrous dinner before the next course? Only time will tell. Good Luck.

First Impressions:

Escape Room Fairfax has a sprawling complex, housing a huge amount of rooms, and requiring marathoners to bop between various areas of the complex the games are housed in. It was impressive how many rooms they had, and navigating our way between them was made interesting via the directions presented in an escape-roomy way. After solving the puzzle of how to find our rooms, we were interested to see how excellent the actual games would be!

High Points:

The Frightful Feast is just the right amount of spooky and cute for families and those seeking a game more akin to the works of R.L. Stine than Stephen King. With some goofier and sometime cuddly monsters about, and a storyline that doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s the perfect Halloween experience for those who prefer a bit of light spoopyness. There are a good bit of beginner friendly puzzles that will introduce a fair few escape room tropes, making this a good room for first-timers to get a taste of the basic workings of the genre. Further, the game flow is very non-linear, with several separate threads to prevent any unnecessary downtime. A few of the puzzles are very clever, with a good bit of humor mixed between the puzzling and light frights. The story is fun, starting out a little spooky and leading up to a silly, yet satisfying climax that ties everything together at the end. Sound effects, surprising delivery of key items, and some interesting lighting keeps the room in theme, as an obviously haunted house of yore. Overall the room is solid, not bad, but never quite inventive enough to rise above that basic competency.

Low Points:

There are a lot of old school “noticing” puzzles that, for veteran players, may feel like old hat, and some are a bit too directionless for our tastes. A couple of puzzles feel completely out of theme, and while one of them is an old favorite of mine that I enjoyed solving, I couldn’t quite justify why it was included within the room, other than “because escape room.” As one of Escape Room Fairfax’s older rooms, it is definitely a lot more basic overall, in terms of set design and puzzling, and while it is certainly a solid adventure, it isn’t going to blow your mind. There are a few red herrings here and there, nothing that can’t be overcome with a little logic, but seems to leave threads hanging that could otherwise be tightened up. A few of the props around the room have started to show some serious wear and tear, and some of the… gooier, we’ll say, items could bear replacing.

Verdict:

The Frightful Feast would be a fun room for families and those looking for a cute spooky jaunt without much in the way of scares. There’s nothing too world changing for enthusiasts, but is good for an hour’s fun. The room itself certainly left us satisfied with the experience, but I’d recommend trying out the newer 2233: Fighting for the Future or 1960: History of the Future rooms for those seeking a more updated challenge. Book your time escaping the dinner bell here!

6.5/10 (Alright)

Full Disclosure: Escape Room Fairfax provided media discounted tickets for this room.