Escape Room Reviews: Murder in the Old Manor House

Company: Escape Hunt Experience Cleveland
Room: Murder in the Old Manor House
Date Played: 12/27/16
Player Count: 3. One or two more would have been okay. 
Success:  Success!

Premise: There had been, at a stately manor home, what law enforcement professionals might refer to as "A Murder," and as those professionals, it is incumbent upon you to crack the case!

Immersion: Escape Hunt is a franchise, in this case built into a former big box appliance and electronics store, and as such their lobby and rooms feel very professional, but more in the 'game show' side of production design than 'actual spooky manor.' There is a scene that takes place 'outside,' which we don't see too often. Some of the puzzles are beyond belief as things that might 'really be there,' but don't feel out of place or wrong for a nice game.

Highlights: There is a lot to do in this game, and a variety of puzzles. A few clichés, (black light: ✓) but also some mechanisms I'd never seen before. As an introduction to this kind of puzzle gaming experience, it went over great with the first-timer in our group, who put together a bunch of solves. I don't recall ever being at a loss for what to work on next.

Lowlights: Because of a lousy previous experience where I refused to work a cypher, I put extra effort into taking one for the team and puzzling one out in this game. This wasn't super fun or super helpful. I don't have any particular complaints about the game itself.

And Finally:  I think a room like this one is a very solid baseline for what an escape game should be. I would recommend it to anyone looking to try this sort of thing out, or more experienced players looking for a solid fix of puzzling. The only reason I don't rate it higher is that while this game checks all the boxes, newer and fancier games are inventing new boxes and checking them. That is, innovating and elevating the form on the shoulders of games like this one. Out of 15 games played, I'm ranking this one #7.

Also, I'm not sure we really did much in the way of catching the killer... 

How to book this room yourself: Visit http://cleveland.escapehunt.com