RATING: 6 Keys          RESULT: Win           REMAINING: 3:07

A little old lady has a shocking secret. And twenty-four cats.

The Truth About Edith is completely unique live game which can only be played online. This is not an existing, physical escape game at Mad Genius Escapes’ brick and mortar location. Although it shares a storyworld connection to Cat Lady, these are two completely different games.

You may recognize Edith Humphreys, your sweet neighbor with 24 cats. You may have even helped her out, snooped around her apartment. But there’s something about Edith that doesn’t quite add up… she looks way younger than she is, she says she was born in 1902 but that she’s 97 years young… and she lives at a business called Mad Genius Escapes?! What is going on here…

Something doesn’t quite add up about Edith Humphreys, the little old lady with her twenty-four cats. Sometimes she’s 97 years old; other times she’s 118. She even occasionally looks like different people. Also she lives inside an escape game business, so there’s that.

But how could a sweet old woman like Edith – known for knitting socks for strangers (even those who have an embarrassing condition where their feet are mismatched) – possibly hide a mysterious secret? Sure, it doesn’t all make sense, but does it have to?

So, just what is The Truth About Edith? The answer may surprise, and it lies, naturally, somewhere on the internet. After all, everybody knows that if it’s on the internet, it must be true.

Unlike other Remote Play games, The Truth About Edith does not take place in a physical room. Instead, detectives are enlisted by special agent J. McKinley to scour the internet in hopes of finding clues to Edith’s secret. During the investigation, leads will point to various custom-created websites, each which further this outlandish storyworld in the most delightfully absurd ways.

Secret Cat Conspiracies™ unfold at the hands of the Society for the Advancement of Feline Causes, or SAFC. Their mission statement is both simple and obvious: to foster a world where no cat must stand in a box with his or her own feces. Back to the human side of the net, a vintage Cat BBS is full of messages from obsessed, and sometimes distressed feline owners.

Custom animation, sound effects and cartoony graphics further bring this zany world to life, drawing detectives in with a level of immersion rarely found even in the very best brick and mortar escape games. If successful, agents will discover first hand just what The Truth About Edith really is, face to face (even if she’s too old to understand how to operate the video machine properly.)

Everything about The Truth About Edith is different – beginning with its group size. Of course we’ve seen brick and mortar escape rooms that sometimes carry minimum group sizes – but this game is the first remote play experience to enact a similar restriction – exactly four agents – no more, no less. If you find yourself wondering how – or why – an online game could have a minimum requirement, you aren’t alone. Mad Genius Escapes completely reinvents the proverbial wheel here, creating online gameplay that assigns specific roles to each agent, requiring them to individually interact with things differently from computer to computer, making The Truth About Edith the first Remote Play game to truly make use of teamwork and communication.

Like a true investigation, detectives will follow leads across various websites, using logical deduction and a little bit of whimsical imagination to properly deduce each subsequent step. Some tasks take place on custom-created, animated online gaming pages that allow for a wide range of interactions. Others require thinking it through from an “if it were real” perspective, creating tasks that truly fit the storyworld perfectly.

The investigation – if successful – culminates in finally learning The Truth About Edith, and in the process, involves one of the most brilliant immersive theater puzzles we’ve ever encountered. In a step that’s truly replayable, even our suspect doesn’t know the randomized answers. What results is some of the most creative problem solving agents may ever need to do in an escape game.

Prior to booking our investigation, we genuinely had no idea what to expect from The Truth About Edith. We weren’t sure a fully online-only game, which at no point takes place inside a physical escape game, would be for us. What sold us was the venue’s preview trailer for the experience:

After immediately calling the team, the conversation went something like this: “Guys, I really have no idea what this is, but that video is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen, and I think we’re going to love it.” It’s not often that you can use the word “stupid” as the ultimate compliment in the escape game world – but in those moments where you can, there’s just nothing better.

Minutes in to the investigation, it became crystal clear that The Truth About Edith was like no game we’d played before. Its sense of irreverent humor and tons of hidden easter eggs turn it from online game to immersive theater art. (We found a hidden blackjack game on the BBS, and it was there for no reason other than to add yet another layer of authenticity to the storyworld!) During the mission, there were multiple times where we found ourselves yelling at each other to not enter the next code until everyone is able to see every little nuanced detail of story hidden on each page. It’s that immersive.

Perhaps best of all, like any good narrative, there is a solid beginning, middle and ending. Investigators will learn just what The Truth About Edith really is – and like a movie befitting the silver screen, it’s a twist that you’ll never see coming. Mad Genius Escapes has created something truly special with The Truth About Edith; it’s not just a quick fix in uncertain times. This is a must-see, stand alone attraction that can go the distance, becoming a permanent offering that is sure to put the Mad Genius Escapes brand on the internet map to a world-wide scale. (And don’t worry, Edith; Benji will explain how the internet works.)

*Montu, Escape Authority’s VP, Dog Business™ and lead home game correspondent objects to the choice of theme found within this review.

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Venue: Mad Genius Escapes

Location: Remote online play at home, broadcast live from Portland, OR

Number of Remote Play Games: 2

GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

Duration: 60 minutes

Capacity: exactly 4 people

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

Cost: $80 per team (four players are required)

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