Escape Game Long Island - "Legends of a Hidden Temple"

Cici Cao

Oct 10, 20193 min read

Updated: Apr 16, 2024

LOCATION:  Lake Ronkonkoma, New York, USA

Photos property of Escape Game Long Island

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: Legends of a Hidden Temple
📅 DATE PLAYED: October 10, 2019
🎬 GENRE: Temple
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 7 ppl): 6/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: Up To 10ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: $32/ pp
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Public/Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

This was a last-minute decision for us to visit Escape Games LI on a late weeknight. We had our two sisters with us this time and were joined by three lovely escape room enthusiasts. Escape Games LI have 3 different locations with 9 different themed rooms. This is the largest Long Island escape company we’ve ever been to. Today, we visited their Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma location and there was plenty of parking in their shopping complex. As we entered, there was a small but comfortable waiting area with different puzzles you can attempt to solve while waiting for other players to arrive. There were a few ways you can gain a clue while waiting: (1) Like their social media page, (2) Solve the sequence on the wall, and (3) Unlock a directional lock.

“Legends of a Hidden Temple” was a game designed in-house by Escape Game LI. The story took us to an ancient dig site and our archeologist team must fight through quicksand, wall of despair, and crawl through a grotto in hopes to be able to escape this hidden temple with treasures in hand.

It was always great to see authentic props used in a room. Right when we entered the room, we stepped into the sand dunes so our suggestion is to wear shoes you wouldn’t mind getting sand into. Our recommended size for this room is 4-6 people. Since the website said that the room could be booked with 2 people, we were wondering how one of the puzzles could be done as we actually needed a team of 4 to complete it. We also felt that this particular puzzle design didn't really fit well with the rest of the room decor as it didn’t belong in a temple setting. A simple aesthetics change (maybe Mayan symbol looking buttons?) would make this room look really amazing with the ambience. Some sound effects would also contribute to the immersive feel of the room. The other suggestion we had would be to cover up the entrances for each area to have more of a temple feel versus doors with key locks. The keys can perhaps also change into a more “temple inspired” looks. As we progressed into the next challenge area, the puzzles were spread out, so a large group can easily divide and conquer. We liked how spacious the area was and it was great to still have the puzzle flow even though everyone was separated. Eventually, we all came together in the end to put all the pieces together. Certain puzzles would require teammates to participate, but not in the same space which is always fun. Good memory would help in this room but it's not required. The added crawl space (since it was mentioned on their website description, we don’t consider this as a spoiler) was probably the longest we’ve experienced, and we love those aspects in a game since it made us feel like real adventurers. However, all the players would need to go through this so if there is some sort of knee issues, we suggest letting the game master know at the beginning and they can suggest another room or perhaps an alternative meeting point for the player with crawling issues. If the ambiance of the crawl space could be enhanced with better décor or lighting, it could also improve the immersive feel.

Overall, we really enjoyed this room and got out with no hints used and plenty of time. We think this is a great room for team building. The game flow was great and most importantly it was a lot of fun! We can’t wait to return to Escape Game LI soon to bring you more exclusive content on their other games!