Melissa Nguyen
As someone who’s done a few escape rooms prior and would consider myself “experienced”, here’s my review of The Mystery of Innsmouth with a team of 7. Room Theme: Described as a dingy hotel, the first room greets you as a hotel lobby. It’s nicely decorated and captures an initial creepy vibe. The rest of the rooms feel disjointed from the hotel theme. It’s all dimly lit and there are few decorative only pieces that aren’t a part of the puzzles. Overall, I wasn’t overly wowed compared to the others I’ve been to, but it’s not bad. Puzzles: The game listing says it accommodates 2-8 players, and the game host tells you that not all puzzles need to be solved linearly and you can split up. I would say this game is best played with at max a team of 5, but preferably 3-4 given how simplistic the puzzles are. I came with a team of 7, and it was a very chaotic experience with everyone solving things at different times so that you sometimes feel like you missed out on part of the experience. The puzzles themselves aren’t super challenging. Once you get the general idea, the end goal is very direct. No puzzle left us stumped or required true deeper thinking. It’s very match-and-go. For beginners or less experienced, you may enjoy this. But no puzzle impressed me, felt new, or left us feeling proud to have solved it. For those looking for a greater challenge, I would choose another room. All locks and keys were easy to use. As far as fun effects, it’s mostly just drawers that pop open, and nothing very innovative. Storytelling The story is a bit long-winded and boring. The ending left us feeling like, “oh.. that’s it? we’re done?” There’s a lot of talking over a speaker that is meant to feel immersive but falls flat and also feels like a waste of time. While designed to feel haunted and creepy, there are no jump-scares and the room itself is not “scary”. Overall, I think this room is fine for beginners, but will leave you disappointed if you fall under the “experienced escape room enthusiast” category looking for a challenge. We finished the game around 48 minutes with no hints and left hoping for more.
