Escape Room L.A. - "The Four Elements"

Updated: Apr 27

Photos provided by Escape Room L.A.

Company: Escape Room L.A.

Game: The Four Elements

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Digital Escape Game (W/ GM Host) 💻

Genre: Sci-Fi

Date Played: 2/7/2021

Difficulty (based on 4 players): 6/10

Size of Team: 3-7 Players

Time: 60 Minutes

Price: $23.50/ pp

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You and your team have to travel back in time to stop an evil alchemist. Only when you unite the four elements (Earth, Air, Fire and Earth) will your powers be strong enough to stop him. Do you have what it takes?

🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

This is a point-n-click game designed on the Telescape platform. At the beginning of the game, you'll be given a detailed explanation of how the game works. This was great as we've seen telescape games that just start right away and players who haven't used this platform would have no clue on how to operate certain elements during the game.

You'll be able to roam around with your teammates in a 360 view. There are items you'll be able to collect and ones you'll be able to interact with. There will be an inventory section that will be shared with all players so everyone will have the same information. It's organized in 4 sectors which represents the 4 sections of the room. Every time one player opens something or collects something, it'll update for the rest of the team. You'll be accompanied by a game master incase you need any assistance with navigation or hints.

We play the game as a team of four and it seems to be the ideal number. There are four sections of the room and each section represents an element. You can actually play this game three ways. If you decide to play the game as a team, the advantage is that you won't miss any puzzles and will get to see everything but you might run short on time and there might be too many people in one area. Since some puzzles are interactive, you probably don't want too many mouse pointers on the same puzzle. You can also divide and conquer which will probably lead to finishing the game much quicker but some players may not be able to see some of the puzzles solved by the other players. We played it the third way which felt like a competition of 2 vs 2. We divided into a team of two and each team was able to solve two corners of the room and we finished the game in 41 minutes.

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Some puzzles were pretty straight forward but there were some that had us thinking for a bit. We really liked how the puzzles were revolved around the 4 elements and each had a very nice "reveal" moment once that section was solved. The room was not all "locks and keys" either and the interactive puzzles were a lot of fun to implement. Once we activated something, the platform also showed us a nice reveal of the after effect. This made us felt closer to an in person escape room game.

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If you've played Escape Room La's "The Alchemist" room in person before then you might want to skip this game as this digital game is the online adaptation of that room. We've never played a telescape game where versus mode could be implemented so that was interesting to see. Of course you can play it anyway you like. We don't really think the GM is really necessary in these types of point-n-click games as we can work through the hint system ourselves if its automated. But it could really help if you are not familiar with this type of play. The price might seem a bit higher in comparison to some of the other telecape games we've seen but the quality is definitely higher as well. It would be great if the game masters could do some role playing with the storyline. This would make the game seem more like an audio escape room and digital game hybrid. It will also make the price more justifiable. We looking forward to sabotaging more evil plans with Escape Room LA soon!

𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤

Stacey M.

This is one of the better fully online adaptations that I've played. You got the sense that you were in the room and you were each able to interact with whatever you wanted to rather than having to all work on the same thing.

Our team split into two and were able to quite quickly tackle the room. One thing that is harder with an online room is that when you split up, you are still communicating through the same medium, so communication and being mindful that the other team needed to speak was important. In the end, though, each team did have the room, and really both pairs had no idea what the other side had done. We could have easily switched sides and played again. That is both a good and bad thing. Good in that we could play it again and have fun. Bad in that I feel like I missed out on puzzles. I thought the theme was a good take on the "stop the mad scientist" trope. The way the room was set up made me quite sad that I wasn't in the actual room, because it looked very well built and styled. The puzzles were clever. Certainly, a few that I don't recall seeing in other games. (Again, some of the puzzles, really made me wish that we were in the live room!) I would definitely look forward to playing one of their rooms again.

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Kelley W.

Pros:

The puzzles are solvable and nothing is too difficult. The puzzles make sense and there is a linear progression to the game. You find an item, which leads you to another item, or a way to solve a code or unlock a box or case. You can also see what others are clicking on, making it cooperative. There are some nice graphics and videos too which pull things together. The room is set up with plenty of items to explore.

Cons:

As a four player game we split up the duties and exploration, and two of us worked on two elements while the other two worked on other 2 elements. It is cooperative and everyone can hear each other. This can make it a little difficult to communicate when working in pairs. One other negative is that because it is a point and click with an inventory system, you do have to go back and forth a bit between the room and the inventory.

Thoughts:

I enjoyed the game. I don’t think it was quite as “immersive” to its' theme (evil alchemist) while playing as I would have liked. It was more task oriented, versus playful, or entertaining, which is probably an aspect of the Point and Click and inventory system. It was very linear. I would recommend it as more of an entry game into remote escape rooms because the tasks are clearly defined, and with time and effort can be solved.

(If you do decide to try this game, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

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Disclosure: We thank Escape Room L.A. for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.