Mad Genius Escape Co.: The Truth About Edith

The Truth about Edith is a delightful, whimsical 1hr experience that lies somewhere between escape room, immersive theatre, and ARG. Many of the recent online, "virtual" escape room games can feel a bit emotionless - leaving players feeling as though they were just remotely interacting with a distant videogame. But Edith, despite being 100% digital, exhudes human charm and intimacy, due in part to the wonderful live characterisation of the eponymous mad old cat-lady Edith.

It is also a somewhat unusual experience in absolutely requiring a team of 4 players to participate (each on separate devices, even if they are co-located in the same room). While this may present somewhat of a constraint to team formation, it means that Edith can make use of puzzles explicitly designed for 4 people in which every team member has a crucial role to play. This further aids the humanity and co-operative warmth of the game - you simply cannot win unless every player contributes their part. The puzzles span a wide variety of styles:- there's some digital versions of classic escape room assembly and combination puzzles, ARG-esque use of external websites, social media, and email, interaction with a live actor, and a chaotic multiplayer co-ordination task along the lines of "Spaceteam" or "Keep talking and nobdy explodes". They're silly, well-made, and lots of fun.

We experienced one brief technical glitch (no fault of the company - one of players lost their Zoom connection at their end), and our attentive gamesmaster immediately paused the clock, waited until they reconnected successfully, and then allowed us to resume the game. And we had a lovely opportunity to chat to her afterwards - to meet the "real" Edith, and ask any questions - all from the other side of the world. Highly recommended.