LOCATION: Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
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Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
📝 ETR DECODER
🔑 GAME: Below Zero
📅 DATE PLAYED: November 7, 2021
🎬 GENRE: Sci-Fi
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 5 Players): 5/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 4-8 PPL (Recommend 4-5PPL)
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins
💰 PRICE: CAD $30.98/PP
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: YES
📖 THE STORY
Humanity is on the brink of destruction and the world is no longer habitable. Thanks to Ellipsis, those remaining have been cryogenically frozen until it is deemed safe. Surprisingly, you’ve been woken up early by the system’s AI to assist in identifying and fixing damage done to the facility. If you don’t get the power up and running, the facility will fail. No pressure but humanity is relying on you to succeed and make the right choice…
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🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE
From the moment you walk into the debriefing room for the game you are immersed. Everything fit the theme perfectly and all the puzzles were structured to make sense in the story. There are reveals throughout that further indicate the passion these creators had to take the time and effort to really make you feel like you are on the Ellipsis from beginning to end.
The use of the AI to guide you through the rooms kept players focused and motivated. I really enjoyed the character of the BERT (the AI) as he was funny and serious at the same time. He definitely gave off some Portal vibes which I loved but he still felt distinct as a character.
Many of the puzzles relied on groups working collectively rather than divide and conquer, which I enjoyed because we all progressed at the same time and didn’t feel we were missing anything.
The story was clear and strong with element of plot development, character development, and cohesion. The care in making not just a well themed room but a good story allowed motivated us to act in certain ways.
Puzzles are straightforward (we required no hints). Good observation skills and pattern recognition are the key to solving many of the puzzles.
🧩 MISSED THE MARK
There is a puzzle that utilized lasers that have a cool effect but there appeared to be no consequence if you touched the lasers.
There were two puzzles that were a little repetitive. The made sense in the story but I would have loved the variation as you entered the rooms.
🏹 TAKE A SHOT?
"Below Zero" is a beautifully designed and strongly written escape room that turned an escape room into an immersive experience for puzzlers. The collectively puzzling meant there was time to really appreciate the details and development to truly connect to the story. I also found the element of choice in the end was a perfect way to capture to theme. Crypto Escape Rooms shows a real dedication to wanting to push the envelope in their experiences to give players the feel of being in a real video game. I highly recommend if you are in the New Market area (it’s worth the trip from Toronto) to check this game out if you love narrative driven escape rooms, science fiction themes, and collaborative puzzling in your games. This was the first game of the day, and I couldn’t wait to dive into the next one!
ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO
Parking is available in front of the store in a shared parking plaza. The facility is on the second floor but there is an elevator. They currently have four other rooms available, "The Extraction", "The Lost Shipwreck", "Kilgore Cabin", and "The Cursed Temple". You can rent out their lobby for celebrations and meetings, which offers table seating and a projector. In the back of the lobby is a photo-booth set up to take victory photos after your games that include stylized frames of the room of your choosing. A selection of tabletop escape rooms games are available to purchase as well.
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(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Crypto Escape Rooms for offering us a media discount for our tickets to this game. Although a media discount was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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