“You wake up on an alien ship with no recollection of how you got there, or what they plan to do with you. Can you and your friends break free and survive the mayhem to find a way home?
Dream Escape is a really cool venue. I love the vibe, the lights, the music, and the bar. AND the food is GREAT. But there was something a bit off about this place in terms of customer service. Walking in, no one really seemed to greet us or could tell us where to head – and we were clearly unsure! We really liked the bartender and the gentleman who ran our game, who also built a lot of the electronics, was also great and we appreciated him taking time to chat. I hope they can work on this a bit because I really like this location.
This room is BIG. I have never been in a room like this that just keeps going and going. This room could easily handle, and is made to handle, 8 people. It is immersive. There is special attention to making you feel like you’re in the story from the very start. You are restrained within an alien ship. And I mean restrained. Until you figure it out, you can’t move anything but one hand – and that includes your head that is in a helmet and attached to the wall. It is immersive. You are restrained.
Once you are free you are taken throughout this alien ship (which is one of the best alien ships I’ve seen) which experiences some randomly generated issues, just for you. The ending also changes based on your choice. You can complete the room but still fail. Some of the puzzles didn’t make a ton of sense and we found ourselves guessing correctly at a couple. In other places, helper videos aren’t exactly clear until they’re explained and definitely need to be modified a little. The puzzles are also a bit light – I would say there are only about 10 puzzles in all. It would be nice to see a bit more since that averages just over one per person with 8 people.
There is one puzzle that I really want you to know something about. This is a bit of a spoiler but, in my opinion, it needs to be made clearer in the game. I’m sharing this because it is possible to finish this room and fail the mission and you don’t have a fair shot if you don’t know this. So here goes:
The very last puzzle of the room (you’ll know it when you get there) has a confusing interface and you have one shot at it. There’s a red and green selector to confirm. You cannot just “try” this puzzle until you get it. So don’t select green until you’re sure you have the answer.They did a great job building this room but there is something lacking in the puzzle experience. It feels like not enough and that’s what has hurt the rating. Additionally, the intro and wrap-up are so nonchalant that it feels like when someone is trying to explain a sport or a game to you for the first time. This storytelling needs to be taken up a notch. Also, there’s a scoring system. We got 700 out of 1,000. For what? We’re not sure. It wasn’t explained at any point. But you do get a discount on drinks if you do well!
In summary, I think you should go with a large group and have fun and get some drinks. But I also think that the owners should make some improvements to the “Spice Rack” video, the wiring puzzle, and the instructions for the last puzzle. I also hope they incorporate some more enthusiastic storytelling and improve the sound isolation between the control room and the room itself.