Review: Escape Woods - The Cabin

RATING: 2 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 4:19

Journey deep in the woods to a place where no cabin escape room has dared venture before: an actual cabin.
No matter how clever you are, though, this one will end up leaving you in the dust.

Story

Every serial killer has to start somewhere. You find yourself locked in a cabin in the woods, HIS cabin. HE has been researching killing his whole miserable life, you have only two options either to be his first kill or escape the cabin. You have only one hour until he returns to make you his first kill, use every clue you can to outsmart him and save yourself and your friends from being his very first killings.

Despite quite a few previous exchanges with serial killers, we’ve managed to find ourselves trapped once again by another one in his creepy, isolated cabin. Now we again must escape the maniac who wishes to be like the serial killers he’s idolized his entire life before we become the inaugural pieces in his skin suit collection.

No doubt about it, this room definitely immerses players in the story. Let’s face it, we’re out in the middle of the woods in a creepy, old cabin – and no one can hear us scream. Whether that scream will be from fear or frustration, we have yet to determine.

Scenic

The scenic experience begins well before the arrival at the cabin itself. First, the gamemaster must lead us along quite a hike deep into the woods before we get to The Cabin. Needless to say, the time of day will affect the first impression of the surroundings and set the tone of the adventure, as we learned by playing at night.

The woods are thick, the path is narrow, and at night there is not a lot of moonlight filtering down. We were the last two bringing up the rear of the pack, which left us in total darkness and feeling terribly exposed. We’re pretty sure those woods are just as eerie during the daytime.

At the end of our journey through the woods, we arrive at an actual rustic cabin. A deafening shotgun blast is heard close by, startling us toward the dilapidated structure. We are ushered inside, and the door slams behind us.

Inside, it is a dark and small, one-room cabin. It is rustic and very dusty. There are old, dirty appliances and items positioned about the room, and timeworn newspaper and magazine pages are scattered everywhere. It truly is a complete mess to the point where the room actually looks like it was ransacked by the previous group, but was never reset. A nasty, dirty cot rests along one wall, and looks like it has been slept in – and sweated on – a lot.

There are a few creepy mannequin parts here and there and a suspicious-looking fireplace. The entire scene is enough to give us the heebie-jeebies for sure. Yes, a crazy wannabe killer could definitely call this his home.

Puzzles

As far as puzzles go, there are a few locks, one of which covers a predictable secret passage. Right off the bat when the game started, we encountered our worst nightmare of the search-and-find variety. There appeared to be hundreds of keys all over the floor and other various flat surfaces upon which a key could perch. Unfortunately, one of the steps early in the game required that we find just the right key, and so we embarked on the nightmarish task of finding it and keeping track of keys we’d already sorted through along the way. Needless to say, players will spend/waste a lot of time on this chore and might even wish the killer would return early and put them out of their misery.

Other puzzles included making sense of random writing on the walls that mostly turned out to be red herrings. There are some surprisingly good hidey holes in this confined space, partly because they are clever hiding places and partly because players may be too tentative to investigate further or stick their hand inside something to check it for clues for fear of bringing something furry back out.

A major point of frustration for us was the fact that upon searching around the cabin for various hidden objects, a massive amount of dust was stirred up. The more players there are, the more dust cocktail you consume. We had to stop and clean our glasses several times, which made us realize, “hey, we’re breathing all this in.” Perhaps dust masks should be distributed beforehand for the sake of good health?

Overall

Of the games we’ve played at Escape Woods, The Cabin was not on the list of our favorites. They do have some other pretty fun rooms, but for us this one was just okay. The staff is very down-to-earth, friendly and interesting to talk to, especially because of the tie-ins this venue has to the TV and film industry. Some of their other rooms even feature props and set pieces from major motion picture films, and the parent location, Sleepy Hollow Farm, is home to several really popular seasonal events. The site itself was the filming location for quite a few very recognizable scenes from season two of the Netflix series Stranger Things.

Due to the nature of The Cabin game, it is recommended for players aged 18 years or older. It is touted as a scary, horror-themed experience, so make sure you’re up for that if you choose to play this room. Wear good walking shoes that can carry you along the wooded trail – possibly at night – and wear clothes that you don’t mind possibly getting a little dirty. Because, did we mention that this room is dusty?