The Other Tales - Escape Rooms - "The Anomaly"

LOCATION:  Hawthorne, New Jersey, USA

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📝  ETR DECODER

• 🔑 GAME: The Anomaly

• 📅 DATE PLAYED: August 24, 2019

• 🎬 GENRE: Sci-Fi 🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 8/10

• 👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: Up to 8 ppl

• 🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.

• 💰 PRICE: $29.95/ pp

• ☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private

• 🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: No

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

This is our second time visiting The Other Tales - Escape Rooms. Read our review on the “Amazing Adventure Society: The Forgotten Room” room to learn more about their location. The Other Tales - Escape Rooms was an escape room company that we visited earlier on in our ESCAPETHEROOMers career. They are one of our favorite locations in the Northern New Jersey area. The owners are puzzle enthusiasts themselves and the rooms tend to be a bit more challenging on puzzle design side. We are excited to be back to try their newest room - “The Anomaly” and see where this adventure takes us.

We were debriefed in front of a travel agency which is really just a cover-up for a special agency that analyzes strange disappearances of objects and people. They have just recently reported an incident of loud sounds and lights coming from one of the offices and we were sent here to investigate. The room is extremely “neat” when you enter. It’s as if you entered a blank slate. It’s also quite linear so if you don’t find the starting point you’ll be stuck for some time. I do believe that was our mistake as we took too long to start and didn’t have enough time at the end. There was a lot to do in the room, so definitely pace yourself (even though it may not seem so at the beginning). In comparison to their first room, they definitely raised the bar in terms of the incorporation of technology. It made perfect sense since this room takes place in a sci-fi futuristic world. There is a good mix of simple puzzles and ones that you really need to layer through to get the answer. We did have an issue with the hint system as we couldn’t really hear to clearly on the mic of what was told to us. It would be more immersive if the hint system could be incorporated through an intelligence machine of some sort and told through there instead of the speaker into the room. Also, some incorporating some music ambience could also contribute to the immersive experience especially when the storyline had that element to it. We do love the “step-by-step” feel of solving a puzzle and discovering a new one but for a larger group this could be an issue since they can only work on one challenge at a time. In this case, you might need the extra brain power to get through the more challenging puzzles. There was a few props used in this room that we’ve never encountered before which was entertaining. Our recommended size for this room is 4 people.  

Since The Other Tales Escape Rooms is located in an office building and there’s not much they can do in terms of space utilization, we were glad they were able to incorporate as much as possible. Both rooms were great at the puzzle design elements, but it still felt like they were both set in an office setting and lacked the general “wow” moments of new discovered dimensions. We are excited to see what the future holds for them in a new location that would allow them to let their imaginations run wild.  

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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(If you do decide to try this room, please remember to let them know that "ESCAPETHEROOMers" sent you!)

Disclosure: We thank The Other Tales Escape Rooms for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

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