Mystery Soup Escape Rooms (formerly Lock & Clue) - "Agent Z.E.N."

Updated: Nov 13

LOCATION:  Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA

Photo above is property of Mystery Soup Escape Rooms

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: Agent Z.E.N.
📅 DATE PLAYED: July 9, 2022
🎬 GENRE: Spy, Espionage
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 7.5/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-8 ppl (Recommend 4-5 ppl)
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: $45.00/ pp
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

📖 THE STORY

While out on a top secret espionage mission, your mentor Agent Z.E.N. has mysteriously vanished. As a result, you and your fellow recruits are now put to the test to demonstrate what you've learned out in the field. Your mission objective is to locate and retrieve a thumb drive that contains sensitive top secret data. Do you possess the skills and tactics to carry out this mission?

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

"Agent Z.E.N." is not your typical spy/espionage escape room storyline. The creator implemented bonus missions along the way. If you've accomplish the main goal and still have time left on the mission, you can go back to work on the bonus cases.
We liked that the game also involved some strategy element to it. Since this game is score-based, you might want to see if its worthwhile to spend your time solving the bonus cases or accomplish the main goal and return to base early.
When we first stepped inside "Agent Z.E.N." , we thought: "there's got to be more to this room than meets the eye"... and there sure was! Although, we could've guessed where the secret entrance was located, we were still surprised by the "change of scenery".
Some of the non-tech puzzles were actually our favorite ones. They really played into the theme of discovering the hidden secrets within a remote location.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

One of the puzzles required us to trigger something in order for us to visualize a clue but the prop felt like loose wires and we weren't sure if we were supposed to touch it or not. Perhaps a more visible sign or clue would help as a player could easily apply too much force and might damage it as well.
One of the clues could be confusing in the current state (the owner took our advise and will probably be changing this soon).

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

"Agent Z.E.N." felt like a hybrid of "The Vault" and "The Sorcerer's Curse" in the sense that it had a good mixture of traditional and tech usage. The puzzles were not as complicated, but there's a lot to solve. As a team of two, we got out with minutes to spare but no time to complete any of the bonus puzzles. There's going to be a lot of running back and forth and if you have a great memory and great at organizing, then you'll have an upper hand with this game. If you want to fully experience this room, definitely bring more teammates. You can easily divide and conquer the tasks. So far there's no team that has been able to complete all the bonus cases yet. Are you ready to take on this challenge?

ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO

Street parking available (metered)
Located on the 2nd floor (no elevator)
Lobby area with seating available and merchandise for sale
Water stand provided
This game was played when owned by Lock & Clue (the previous owners)

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

BOOK NOW

Check out our YouTube video for a sneak peek of the location, interview with the owner, the room(s) (no puzzle spoilers) and more:

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

(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 Lock & Clue Escape Rooms (previous owners) for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.