Even the best puzzles need a bit of spice to bring them to life in a believable way. Story adds a clear and defined purpose to any good escape game. When interwoven with a game’s puzzles, story adds a much welcome sense of urgency, clarity and inspiration to achieve the task at hand.
Escape Authority is honored to announce our 2019 Keys To Greatness – Best Story winners:
The Whispering Halls
(Sacramento, CA)
Basking in the paranormal glow of a classic ghost story, The Whispering Halls goes to great effort to ensure that narrative never loses its focus. Easily also a contender for our Keys To Greatness – Best Scenic and Most Immersive categories, The Whispering Halls masterfully utilizes theatrical tricks – including an entirely convincing Pepper’s Ghost illusion to bring its chilling story to life in a way few other escape games could achieve in their wildest dreams (or nightmares.)
Click here to read our full review of The Whispering Halls.
Maze of Hakaina
(New York, NY)
Maze of Hakaina brings a sinister Japanese legend to life, dropping its guests into a world quite literally full of actual demons, in hopes of solving the mystery of a lost child. Not only is every step of this dark journey full of surprises, but each and every second embraces its storyworld, furthering the narrative to a very real climax. Milestone tasks release the spirits of each demon one by one – hopefully before it’s too late to save the child. Maze of Hakaina will haunt you long after you escape its twisted labyrinth, thanks to a story so unique and compelling that it has little competition on this or any spectral plane.
Click Here to read our full review of Maze of Hakaina.
Lab Rat
(Los Angeles, CA)
If you’ve not yet heard of Lab Rat, you must be living under a rock. And frankly, that makes you a perfect candidate to run this over-sized rodent test and prove you aren’t an idiot. Lab Rat masterfully weaves a story in and out of an escape game experience better than any other – full of irreverent humor, ridiculous puns and whole lot of sarcasm, all while hurling more than a few insults along the way.
Every second of this experience is a cinematic masterpiece – flowing like a big budget motion picture with a clear opening, middle and end. And just like any good summer blockbuster, be sure to stay past the credits!
Click Here to read our full review of Lab Rat.
Congratulations to our winners of the first ever Keys To Greatness – Best Story award!
With nearly 1,000 games played across the site, being picked as one of the best three in the country is a well-earned honor to truly be proud of!
With so many deserving games worthy of recognition, our goal is to ensure these Keys To Greatness awards are attainable to all – not just those with blockbuster budgets that might be otherwise out of reach. As such, it’s important to note that with just one exception, a given game can only win in a single category – but every game will still be qualified to win the coveted Keys To Greatness – Best Game award on June 2, 2019.
*Although the games I’ve personally designed are consistently very highly rated by both enthusiasts and newer players alike, I cannot in good conscience nominate an attraction I created. As such, those games and the venues that call them home have been intentionally omitted from consideration for any Keys To Greatness award.
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