Review: Escape Plan Columbia - Espionage

RATING: 3 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 13:20

Having a blast isn’t always a good thing…

Story

A spy has been living in Columbia and has enacted a plan to blow up the city. The CIA has enlisted your help to capture the spy, but upon entering the spy’s office, a booby trap has been triggered and you and your friends find yourselves locked inside! You have 60 minutes to find the spy’s computer and deactivate the bomb before our state’s capital is blown to pieces. Can you save the city?

Though no story or thematic introduction is provided to the hopeful spy-catchers by the gamemaster or through other medium (at the time of review), the description on the website establishes the goal of the experience- to deactivate the bomb. However, if the adventurers do not read the website description prior to playing Espionage, the plot and goal would be unknown. With the exception of some pictures of Russian political figures encountered during play, no additional story elements are provided as the game progresses.

Of note, it is also unclear at the end of the game if the team of CIA operatives defused the bomb or not. The final “code” is revealed by the “bomb” long before the “bomb” is even touched. It is unclear if this is the design of the game or a gamemaster accommodation due to malfunctioning tech.

In our experience, the mission came to an end with the gamemaster entering the room long before 60 minutes (>10 minutes remaining)- for this reason, it was ambiguous if our team was successful or not. When questioned, the gamemaster stated our team of spy-hunters had successfully solved the last puzzle. No clear answer was provided for why our team did not get to input the final code. The gamemaster was not able to clarify if this is the design of Espionage or an accommodation for broken tech.

Scenic

The adventure begins in a fairly spartan room, with only a couple objects present. The next environment encountered by the players is an office type environment, where most of the hour is spent.

The office did have some theming elements that ‘kind-of-sort-of’ alluded to a general “spy” theme, but overall, Espionage does not provide an immersive environment.

Overall, the set pieces do not feel authentic and many show heavy wear. The overall quality of the scenic in Espionage left much to be desired and contributed to the game not receiving a higher Key rating.

Puzzles

Espionage’s redeeming quality is in the puzzle department. Though it is an older game, Espionage contains a unique lock type (Samuel Morse would be proud) and several non-combination based puzzles. Some of the interactions and tasks are intriguing and fun.

However, many puzzles led to combination locks without clear indication to WHICH combination locks they belonged to. Accordingly, the spy-hunters must spend valuable time trying the combinations on multiple locks. In a non-linear game, inputting each code into multiple combination locks is a chore that should be avoided.

Red herring alert: one particularly frustrating clue appears to be a two step prompt, but the first step is irrelevant and leads the CIA operatives on a wild goose chase. The second part of the clue is also misleading, but does provide some relevant information.

Overall

Espionage is Escape Columbia’s oldest escape adventure- and it shows. Though there are several solid puzzles, this game reveals its age both in the gameplay and aesthetics. Espionage never develops a smooth flow and contains primarily code to lock interactions that become tedious as the game progresses.

Fortunately, Escape Plan Columbia has shown they are fully capable of designing fantastic games with their more recently opened rooms, Floor 23 and Mutiny. We look forward to seeing what they come up with next.