Puzzle Theory - "P.T. Railways: Spectral Rift"

Updated: Apr 12

LOCATION:  South Windsor, Connecticut, USA

Photo above is property of Puzzle Theory

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: P.T. Railways: Spectral Rift
📅 DATE PLAYED: May 29, 2021
🎬 GENRE: Sci-Fi, Supernatural
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 7 ppl): 6/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 4-10 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: $30.00/ pp (Min. of 4 ppl)
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

📖 THE STORY

You've booked tickets for a 1-hour train ride aboard P.T. Railways. Prior to boarding the train, you receive a mysterious letter. Immediately after boarding the train, you realized that this isn't a typical journey. There appears to be some kind of spiritual awakening aboard this train and you must figure out a way to stop it before it's too late!

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

Puzzle theory cleverly transformed the original floor plan of a narrow hallway and multiple rooms into a train station. The soda machine, handmade wooden train benches and various boxcars really raise the experience to another level. The accent lighting and sound effects also added to the immersion.
The introduction of the game master as a train conductor, checking us in with a train ticket and closing our train doors for the upcoming journey was like preparing us for a Disney ride. We love the storytelling aspect of the beginning of this escape room.
The storyline for "Spectral Rift" was creatively orchestrated to provide not just a paranormal experience, but onboard a moving train that has been possessed. Almost like the scene in "Speed" but with a supernatural twist to it that definitely gave us an adrenaline rush.
The non-linear aspect of the puzzle design allowed our team to work on various puzzles separately but still bought us together as a team with a conclusive ending. The cooperatively on challenges really enhanced the sense of urgency.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

Since this game is replayable as a completely different storyline and puzzle set, some tags and moveable pieces did confuse us in terms of if they were part of this game or not.

🔎 HINT

Listen carefully to the spirits...

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

This is our 3rd time visiting Puzzle Theory. So far we've played "The Dimension Gate", "The Wizard Realm", "The Jungle Dimension", and "Warehouse 13". P.T. Railways's set design was designed to be replay-able for two separate escape games - "Spectral Rift" and "Rebel Run". It utilizes two different storylines in the same space. We highly recommend trying both games, but in terms of level of difficult, "Rebel Run" is more for beginners with more physical puzzles and "Spectral Rift" has more puzzles and could be a bit more challenging because of that. My personal favorite was definitely "Spectral Rift" but I'm a bit bias towards the paranormal theme as well.

** Puzzle Theory recently opened their new axe-throwing company - "Stumpy's Hatchet House" in Manchester, Connecticut (10 min drive away). You can definitely plan an entire day with friends at their locations with the entertainment options that they currently offer.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

BOOK NOW

(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 Puzzle Theory for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.