RATING: 5 Keys          RESULT: Win           REMAINING: 8:00

A dinosaur theme park that doesn’t actually have either physical dinosaurs *or* a park. “Spared no expense,” indeed!

Prehistoric Park is an audio-based escape game that is completely separate from the venue’s brick and mortar location offerings. Although audio-based, this game does utilize visual graphics, including room maps and puzzle pieces that evoke the sense of a physical escape room experience. To read our Pro-Tips on how to best enjoy this new Remote Play genre, click here.

It’s your lucky day. You have been randomly selected to be the first visitors to Prehistoric Park! Boarding a private helicopter, you head off on the all-expense paid vacation of your dreams.

After all, what could possibly go wrong on an island filled with dinosaurs? 

In a not-so-tongue-in-cheek storyworld clearly, ahem, inspired by that other dinosaur theme park, visitors travel by helicopter to a lost island-turned entirely safe family attraction funded by Mr. John Baccond. (Get it? Do you get it?) It’s a technological wonder no longer bound by the limitations of science or reality itself.

In Prehistoric Park, anything is possible, and nothing could possiblie go wrong. After all, as he quite often points out, Baccond has ‘spared no expense.’ If you find yourself feeling skeptical, you probably aren’t alone. Sure, control systems across the park could fail. Sure, massive, carnivorous dinosaurs could rampage through guest areas unchecked. Sure, we could get stranded on this island,  and we could be doomed to get eaten alive.

These things could happen.

But I don’t think you understand guys – THERE’S DINOSAURS.

We’ve seen one or two dinosaur-centered brick and mortar games in our travels – but they always seem to leave us with the same impression. Some themes are just too ambitious to pull off in the relatively small space of a typical escape game. Simply put, your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think whether they should.

This very notion is what excited us most about Prehistoric Park; no longer is a dinosaur game bound by space or budgets or the ability to include massive audio animatronics figures. To the contrary, Prehistoric Park is limited by nothing more than our own imaginations.

With the addition of some delightfully stylized cartoon-style graphics, Prehistoric Park comes to life, not just in the descriptions of a spoken word, not just in our own imaginations, but right before our very eyes. This approach to an Audio-Based Escape Game is something almost guaranteed to bridge the gap between all types of player, making something like Prehistoric Park appealing to a much wider audience.

It becomes quickly apparent that perhaps the biggest strength of an Audio-based Escape Game is that, simply put, the rules of reality no longer apply. Although Prehistoric Park certainly has its fair share of classic escape room-flavored detective work, this game, more than any other, really does require fresh, outside the box thinking.

Trapped Puzzle Rooms relies on more than just deciphering a riddle or collecting dino-DNA (although rest assured, you’ll encounter some of that along the way just to keep things balanced.) To make it out of Prehistoric Park unscathed, visitors may be required to distract – or even feed – a hungry dinosaur, face clear dangers head on and never feel constrained by ‘what is possible.’ What results is a fast-paced, exciting adventure full of surprises, so hold on to your butts.

We’ve mentioned ‘imagination’ a lot in this review – and in truth, there’s no better summary than that. Anything that you can dream up becomes instantly possible, allowing for an outlandish, zany storyworld that feels truly limitless. If you can imagine it, you can do it. Clever girl.

Prehistoric Park was our first experience playing through an Audio-based Escape Game. At first glance, we strongly felt it would not be for us. In fact, when Trapped Puzzle Rooms kindly reached out to us to extend this invitation, we at first politely declined. Thankfully, they asked us to reconsider – and we’re glad that we did. This is one of those moments were we were really, really happy to be proven wrong!

In fact, we entered into a game thinking we wouldn’t enjoy it, and exited asking how quickly we could schedule our time to check out Trapped Puzzle Rooms’ second audio-based offering. Simply put, they figured out a way to crack the formula and create an audio-driven experience that appeals to all types of player. As they say, “Life… uh… finds a way.”

Thanks to clever, comical graphics, Prehistoric Park plays out in execution as feeling like much more than “just audio.” Throughout the course of this adventure, guests are able to actively explore the park, participate in detailed searches, and find clues first hand. It really does play out like some of our favorite At Home card-based Escape Games. Although T-Rex might dispute it, while playing in Prehistoric Park, imagination truly is king.

*Montu, Escape Authority’s VP, Dog Business™ and lead home game correspondent endorses the opinions found within this review.

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Venue: Trapped Puzzle Rooms

Location: Remote online play at home, broadcast live from Minneapolis, MN

Number of Remote Play Games: 2

GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

Duration: 60 minutes

Capacity: 10 people

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

Cost: $45 for up to three people (+ $15 per each additional person)

We thank Trapped Puzzle Rooms for inviting us to play this game. Although complimentary access was generously provided, that in no way impacts the opinion included within this review.