Games in San Jose by Beat The Lock
Most recent ratings & reviews from players
I should have had an inkling that this wasn't going to go well then they took the team photo at the start of the game....
If you're doing a pre-recorded video escape room then you'd think that you'd film it in focus and make a decent job of making any text visible.... is not just me is it to expect that, is it???
Our host was pleasant and patient with us constantly asking for things to be described and read out, in fact she must be used to it as she offered to do this as part of the introductory briefing!
The puzzles were variable, with some seriously large logic leaps required at times and further let down by some rather lazy puzzles that should only be in a book! Add that to a pointless 'superpower' and at least one 'key for a key' (ie open a box just to get another key for a second box... nothing else just a key) made this so disappointing that 1/3 of our team walked away from the game at the 20 minute mark (and went to get beer whilst muttering something about the game being "p*sh!").
Apparently the sucess rate is 20%, not sure if that is due to the number of people who give up, or that the logic leaps are just too wide for most, but if you're in that 20% then you deserve a medal for the pain and suffering (I know I want one!). The sad thing is that this game has quite a good story and a nice host, and with some decent camera work and some changes to the gameplay and puzzles then this would be a solid game (albiet expensive for a pre-record game)... but until that happens, I'd avoid.
I just did this via zoom and it's pretty well done. The room sequences are pre-corded and a live moderator will trigger them when your team does something right and post close up photos of the in room items. This means multiple teams can do the room simultaneously and that you don't have the annoying issue where zoom gets fuzzy just as you are trying to watch something happen. The puzzles were clean - not mind-blowing, but not terrible either.
