Tag: Room Escape USA

Riddle Me This Escape Rooms (Formerly Room Escape USA) – Dr. Ensaine (Review)

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Location: Richmond, VA

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

Price: $25 per person, Private Sun-Thurs or any day with a 4 player/$100 minimum

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Ensaine in the membrane.

Theme:

From the Room Escape USA website:

Dr. Ensaine is renting the space out from us to run his dentist practice. We’ve heard a lot of weird noises and frankly, we are too scared to check it out. You are here for your 60 minute appointment and we need you to let us know what is going on. As you take a seat in the waiting room, don’t mind the screams, Dr. Ensaine’s current patient probably has a cavity.

First Impressions:

Ever since that one episode of Escape This Podcast, (which can be played as a text adventure here!) I’ve wanted to play a dentist themed escape room. As one of the most enduring fears most people have, a trip to the dentist seems ripe for a horror themed room, so I’m somewhat surprised that we haven’t found one until now! As we entered the waiting room, I was excited to see what horrors awaited us, despite the doctor’s unfortunately punny name.

High Points:

While we weren’t overly impressed with the first half of the game, in regards to the set and game flow, there was a particular surprise we encountered during the latter half of the game that made the game a bit more exciting and fun to engage with. The use of space during this part of the game is interesting, and the props here were tactile and very enjoyable to play around with. There are a couple very clever puzzles here as well, both of which we found presented their solutions in ways that challenged how we looked at the room.

Low Points:

For the most part, the set is incredibly basic. It certainly fits the theme of “unfortunately named dentist rents out space from an escape room company,” but does very little to impress visually. One puzzle became needlessly complicated when we found that one of the three identical necessary components we used was not working. To remedy this, our GM came in and brought us one replacement. With no idea which of the items was the offender, we had to waste a fair amount of time guessing and checking which item needed to be removed, until we were finally able to move forward. There were also a few puzzles that just weren’t integrated into the game flow very well. At these points, logical leaps were either made, or the gameplay ground to a halt. There was really no middle ground, and most times we were correct, we prefaced our solution by saying, “So I know this is probably dumb, but…” Overall, the room suffered from a lack of solid connective tissue keeping the flow running smoothly.

One specific interaction was not only a bottleneck for us, but an enormous time sink. It’s a fairly ubiquitous puzzle for escape rooms, and when we first identified it, we figured it’d be pretty standard, but as we attempted it we found that it was probably one of the worst implementations of this sort of task we’ve seen. Put simply, there’s just too much going in in too small a space, with too many restrictions for it to work as a fair challenge. There are also just too many locks that are solved by finding a random number and entering it. Escape room puzzles have progressed too far by now to justify the inclusion of this sort of banal interaction. Story-wise, the game has the skeleton of something interesting, but is never really explained satisfactorily. I understand that there’s creepiness in not knowing the why, but in an escape room, where a huge component of the fun is discovery, it’d be nice to be able to delve a little further into the demented story of Dr. Ensaine.

Verdict:

Dr. Ensaine presents a bevy of good ideas that are, unfortunately, not capitalized on as well as we had hoped they’d be. A room that very much has its roots in the early days of escape rooms, it would need a lot of updating and overhauling to its set and game flow to be able to compete with the powerhouse rooms that can be found in Richmond. In fact, it is dwarfed by Room Escape USA’s own Rock Star, which I would recommend trying out instead. If you’d like to try your hand at escaping the good doctor’s Ensanity, you can do so here.

4/10 (Subpar)

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

Riddle Me This Escape Rooms (Formerly Room Escape USA) – Family Secrets (Review)

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Location: Richmond, VA

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

Price: $25 per person, Private Sun-Thurs or any day with a 4 player/$100 minimum

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Some secrets should remain buried.

Theme:

From the Room Escape USA website:

Grandpa Earl has been drugged for the last 30 years by your parents who have been running an illegal medical clinic. He has since escaped, sobered up, and he is angry! He has kidnapped you and your cousins and we’re not sure what he has planned. Handcuffed in a darkroom with the temperature rising, you must escape before grandpa Earl returns!

First Impressions:

The first thing that I should note is that this room utilizes handcuffs, but do not include a safety for removing the handcuffs. Recent events have proven that this is unacceptable, and while there is a way to remove what keeps you stuck in the room, this requires an extra step and still does not rid players of the cuffs should an emergency situation arise. I’m all for handcuffs for immersion, but there should always be some way to quickly rid yourself of them should an emergency arise. This issue, coupled with the fact that the initial room is pitch dark could become a recipe for tragedy should a crisis strike.

High Points:

I really enjoyed one specific puzzle that, while we’ve seen one very much like it before, worked very well within the theme of the game. There were also a couple of surprises when we solved certain parts of the adventure.

Low Points:

As I’ve pointed out previously, there are some serious concerns about safety with this room, and while they aren’t the most egregious I’ve seen, they’re still an issue and can and should be easily corrected. Further, the handcuffs really do little to add to the experience overall, and provide only discomfort. Safety issues aside, the room just really isn’t that fun. The game starts in a pitch black room, with one dim light that fades in and out, and several tiny tea candles for players to use. The dark only serves to make the initial, severely banal puzzles somewhat more difficult, but in a way that only serves to frustrate players. The set is also very bare, and looks like a converted office space rather than a creepy basement and bedroom.

Beyond the set design, the hum-drum puzzles and choppy game flow continue to make the experience feel incredibly dated. None of the enigmas included within Family Secrets is very memorable, in stark contrast to the great run of interactions we found in Room Escape USA’s newest room, Rock Star. The initial room definitely would be uncomfortable with the maximum 10 players, and even if a group charged forward with this many, a lot of folks are going to be at a loss for anything to do in this slightly non-linear room. The puzzle that provided the most items to work on at any one time is a dreaded process puzzle, proving that sometimes, sitting around with nothing to do is preferable.

Verdict:

Family Secrets just feels like a game that’s far past its prime. With safety issues, a much too large player count, choppy game flow, and average at best puzzles, it’s high time for Family Secrets and Grandpa Earl to be put out to pasture. I don’t recommend this one, especially since the much more engaging Rock Star can be escaped at this venue, but should you wish to book yourself a kidnapping, you can do so here.

2/10 (Bad)

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

Riddle Me This Escape Rooms (Formerly Room Escape USA) – Rock Star (Review)

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Location: Richmond, VA

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

Price: $25 per person, Private Sun-Thurs or any day with a 4 player/$100 minimum

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Swan Song

Theme:

From the Room Escape USA website:

Dean Waylon is the front man of the band, Us, Them, Or Dean. Tonight, they will be performing the last show of their concert run but Dean is nowhere to be found. As private investigators, your backstage passes give you access to his private studio.  They are set to take the stage in 60 minutes. Find the clues and solve the puzzles that lead to his whereabouts before that time.

First Impressions:

I’ve only done one musically themed room before, and it was pretty excellent, so I was excited to see another during our trip to Richmond. With a more mysterious and objective based theme, it seemed that Rock Star would be an excellent adventure! On top of that, this room is advertised as Room Escape USA’s most difficult room, and we always like a good challenge! We were given our backstage passes and immediately went to work.

High Points:

The set for Rock Star is compact, but believable, with excellent props and a great sound track to get you in the mood for musical meditation on myriad mindgames. It was really immersive to be able to interact with the wide range of instruments and sound equipment, some of which looked nice enough to prompt one of our teammates to ask if we were truly allowed to touch all this stuff! Though there are a lot of fantastic props decorating the entire experience, at no point does the game feel cluttered or messy, and everything felt as though it was important to the mystery or the slowly but surely evolving storyline.

The game flow of this adventure is solid, if highly challenging. The difficulty, however, never feels unfair or obtuse, rather, everything is embedded within the game cleverly, requiring excellent perception, teamwork, and attention to detail. Puzzles flow from point to point well, with each signposting towards the lock they’re meant to open in excellent ways. Interactions within the room were varied, ensuring everyone on our team of five remained engaged, while allowing us to shine individually when a puzzle within our wheelhouse was discovered. Clues emerged naturally as well, popping into our heads during solves as a clue triggered remembrance of something we may have thought was a throwaway decoration or random tidbit included for immersion’s sake. These surprises kept up during most of the room, and it was always fun to find a new ah ha moment during each step of the game.

Low Points:

A lot of clues were presented via paper, which isn’t necessarily a poor choice overall, but can sometimes feel as though puzzles are more from a coffee table book than from the green room of a rock band. One particular puzzle can feel somewhat arduous without at least a small bit of musical background, as even though the knowledge is somewhat basic, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that some groups may be unfamiliar with this enigma’s specific tells. I also feel the room/game flow would be fairly cramped with more than 6 people, especially since the difficulty caters to a more experienced crowd.

Verdict:

Rock Star was my favorite room at Room Escape USA, and absolutely a great challenge to take on with an experienced group of escape enthusiasts. Beginners should get a few rooms under their belts before taking this one on, or be willing to take a clue here and there to keep things rockin’. You can book your time facing the music here!

8/10 (Great)

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