Escape Room Reviews: Labyrinth

Company: Trapped! Escape Room (Cleveland)
Room: The Labyrinth
Date Played: 12/27/17
Player Count: 3
Success:  Success! Sort of.

Premise: Stuck in a labyrinth! Nobody gets out of those. Most get eaten by the minotaur!* *There is no minotaur

Immersion: This room is built on the strength of quite a bit of custom woodworking, probably just like the labyrinth of myth. Unlike that labyrinth however, this one is not a maze of twisty passages. It has a little bit of a rec room feel, perhaps due to the lighting. 

Highlights: This company really roots for the players. Our GM loaded us up with some big hints on the way in, and towards the end there are multiple warnings about a puzzle that can only be attempted once. When something between my flu-addled brain and the sheer, call of the void curiosity led me to touch something I should not have, another GM came in and reset the game so we could try again. And again. And again.  

Lowlights: A lot of the custom props and sets have taken a beating over the months or years of customers playing with them. I don’t have a term for it, but we definitely passed at least one puzzle based on one of two choices looking much more worn down. Unsolicited hints and a couple of cliché elements are minor nitpicks.

And Finally:  It might be the cold talking, but I felt less like I was solving this game than just putting my head down and lumbering through. Wooden pieces that needed to be jiggled and coaxed into place felt like fudging the combinations instead of clean and correct answers. And that ending. I appreciate them taking care of us because it would be unsatisfying to get to the end of the game and do the wrong thing, lose, and have to leave. But since all that happens when you get it right is the GM comes in and you have to leave, the choice doesn’t have much weight. Out of 42 games played, I'm ranking this one at #29.

 How to book this room yourself: Visit https://www.trappedcle.com/room/the-labyrinth/