RATING: 4 Keys          RESULT: Win           REMAINING: 22:00

Don’t be discouraged by the desolate location; this innovative game is worth a trip.

Dr. Williams died from apparent natural causes. However, their ghost still haunts the room. In an effort to stop the haunting, equipment has been installed to bring the room slightly out of phase with our reality and facilitate a connection with the spirit. Once activated, you’ll have 90 minutes to figure out why this spirit still lingers, hopefully allowing it to find peace… and for you to escape…

No Escape does an excellent job at weaving its unique storyworld throughout the entirety of the game. From the moment explorers enter Dr. Williams’ office to the second they escape (or don’t) it is clear that adventurers are facing imminent danger in the form of an ominous and unfriendly spirit. An interesting and distinctive story arc has been created, truly enhancing the quality of gameplay.

Unfortunately, Checkmate completely falls flat in the scenic department. On the company’s website, the escape game is listed as being “within a home”. For this reason, we did not have the highest expectations for scenic design. It is clear that this escape game really is just placed in a spare room in a house.

While it is plausible that this space could be an office, as was laid out in the storyworld, it simply feels all too barren. The plain white walls are left largely undecorated, with the exception of a few pieces of art. There are several exposed wires and other visible technological mechanisms which seriously hurt the room’s immersion factor. Additionally, there is a window in the room which is not covered up, and looks out to the owner’s backyard. It likely would have been highly beneficial to shield this window from explorers’ view.

The single worst element of Checkmate’s scenery is a dusty old closet in which several clues are located. On our run through, there was a large web with an even larger spider in the top corner of the closet. We have seen plenty of fake spiders in escape games before, but seeing a real one was certainly unpleasant to say the least.

Completely unlike its horrendous scenery, Checkmate has some truly extraordinary puzzle design. The owner of the game, a post-doctoral student at an Ivy League university, utilized his engineering expertise to integrate technology in highly engaging ways.

Every puzzle in Checkmate makes complete sense in conjunction with the established storyworld. The challenges flow seamlessly into one another. Many of the puzzles require significant time and brainpower, and are exceedingly satisfying to complete. One especially fulfilling puzzle makes use of a common household item in a genius way.

The single most unique thing about No Escape’s Checkmate is its complete automation. Everything in the game is run through JavaScript programming, and there is a small screen in the room which tells adventurers their exact percentage complete, along with their time remaining and hints available. Upon finishing the game, this unique percentage complete system is all that we could find ourselves talking about.

Checkmate is truly a tale of two escape games. Although it had a strong storyline and its puzzle design was spectacular, its scenery was so lackluster that we could not justify granting it any higher than a 4 key rating. An increase in the quality of the scenic design could quite possibly boost it to a 5 key experience.

Upon pulling up to the escape game venue, we were concerned that we had gotten lost. It is quite difficult to find, and it could never be stumbled upon without knowing exactly where you were going. It is somewhat disorienting to play an escape game that is quite literally located in a spare room in a residential house. That said, the owner certainly made use of his space, and created a very enjoyable and highly unique experience.

After finishing the game, we had a brief discussion with the owner. He described to us that this was initially supposed to be a passion project, until he was convinced to operate it as a small business. Now, he said, he uses the income from the game to pay for half of his rent; a better alternative to a roommate. We really appreciated the owner’s enthusiasm for the industry, and hope that he has more games planned for the future!

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Venue: No Escape

Location: Lansing, NY

Number of Games: 1

GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

Duration: 90 minutes

Capacity: 6 people

Group Type: Private  / You will not be paired with strangers.

Cost: $19.95 per person