LOCATION: Marietta, Georgia, USA
Photo above is property of Project: Escape
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
📝 ETR DECODER
🔑 GAME: The Will
📅 DATE PLAYED: January 22, 2022
🎬 GENRE: Mystery
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 9/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-6 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 75 Mins.
💰 PRICE: $33.99/ pp (Min. 3 ppl)
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes [59:58]
📖 THE STORY
Shortly after your team has solved the mystery of who killed William Waterfeller, you are on a train ride to Paris. In his will, it stated that he has hidden numerous artifacts aboard the very train car that you are traveling in. If the artifacts are not found in 75 minutes, when the train arrives in Paris, the entire train is to be donated to the Louvre. Can you prove yourself to the late Waterfeller and obtain the items hidden upon this train. Doing so might just lead your team to an even larger fortune in the future.
🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE
The set design was very well done in making an eccentric collector’s estate prominent in the small quaint train car. With how small a train car can be, it does a fun job at hiding plenty of secrets for your team to discover while “en route”.
The variety and difficulty for the puzzles in this game was geared towards the puzzle veteran and their design felt like a puzzle hunt. This is where you solve an initial portion of the puzzle but there is still more work to be done. All of the information needed was in the room provided and no outside knowledge was required.
🧩 MISSED THE MARK
The puzzles were not connected in a way that flowed or gelled with the storyline. The story lends itself to being a hook narrative but the puzzles that supported the game felt as if they were puzzles for puzzles sake; which in a game to test your wits may be all your group needs to have a fun time.
There were also portions during the game where our team had to take a minute to examine items and our surroundings. We had to try to come up with a path to solve the next puzzle that was not quite obvious.
The length of the puzzles balance between the line of being enjoyable and being tedious. This game doesn’t have very many puzzles but the ones they do have take time to solve. Unfortunately this can lead to fatigue and lack of interest in solving.
🏹 TAKE A SHOT?
This game was played January 2022. As of February 2022, Project: Escape has lengthened the game to 75-minutes. The thoughts that follow are based on a sixty minute game. Lengthening the game fifteen minutes will give smaller groups or groups with not as much puzzling experience a better chance to fully experience "The Will".
The Will is an extremely polarizing room. When our team of two participated, one of us loved the room and the other was quite underwhelmed. Project: Escape does a wonderful job setting the scene and presenting the theming in a very immersive way. Each piece and prop felt like part of Williams collections and that made it fun to explore and search. There are only a handful of puzzles but of the mysteries needed to be solved, expect to take a longer time than one would typically encounter while in an escape room. One puzzle alone took twenty minutes to crack the code, part of it was the dexterity involved while another issue was not knowing exactly what the end solution was. This occurred in other portions of the game as well, not having a clear objective is what hinders The Will the most.
Cryptograms, crosswords, decoding, searching and deduction are all examples of puzzles to expect in this game. It is built for the team who are looking for a mental challenge. There are some physical riddles in the game, the mental puzzles though; far outweigh the tasks presented to your team. The flow between each mystery can be difficult but finishing the job ahead is sure to give your team a rush of adrenaline and a sense of accomplishment when playing "The Will".
ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO
Free parking, party room available, scavenger hunt inside venue.
Photos above are 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 Project: Escape 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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