Review: Escape Room Live - Curse of the Mummy

RATING: 4 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 15:00

We’ve discovered another ancient Egyptian tomb, and foolishly fallen to yet another booby trap. I’m beginning to think being an archaeologist may not be the career path I’m most suited for.

Story

We are archaeologists, lost in a forbidden Egyptian tomb. With the stone doors sealed behind us, air is running out. We need to find the secret passage to escape lest the curse of Anubis claim us next!

It’s the classic story of treasure hunting gone awry, in an Indiana Jones-flavored setting full of booby traps and curses. We’ve made the discovery of a lifetime, but can we manage to find a way out and live to tell the tale, or will this tomb seal its secrets – and us – in for all eternity?

You guys, I think I need to admit that we’re just not very good at this whole archaeologists thing. I mean – just how many tombs have we discovered at this point, yet we continue to get trapped in every single one of them? If we make it out of this one alive, I’m going to consider a new occupation.

Scenic
Curse of the Mummy exhibits some beautify scenic work between its three rooms. Familiar to the increasingly more and more common Egyptian thematic flare, each room is a different chamber inside a recently uncovered ancient pyramid. Stone idols of Pharaohs accent walls lined with ancient hieroglyphs. The floor is actually entirely covered in thick layer of sand (so perhaps don’t come wearing your nicest dress shoes!)

The first chamber has clearly been discovered by the crew before you – as a small dig site has been set up to survey and document the various artifacts found within. The remaining to rooms have clearly not been seen by man in centuries.

Curse of the Mummy is one of few games that can claim the inclusion of an animatronic – in this case the large stone-like visage of a mighty Pharaoh who you’ll encounter during your quest to find a way out.

Puzzles

Though there were one or two moments where our team found small stretches in logic, for the most part the puzzles throughout Curse of the Mummy were intuitive enough. Several were highly enjoyable, in fact.

Curse of the Mummy mixes some great discovery moments (how can you not when you’re playing in a literal sandbox!) with some pretty cool tech gags to create a fairly unique gaming experience from start to finish.

Puzzles connect to the Egyptian-flavored storyworld in a satisfying by making heavy use of hieroglyphs and other symbol based translations, leaving us feeling like true archaeological explorers. We especially enjoyed one of the finale’s somewhat physical tasks involved with several marked stones embedded into the tomb’s floor.

Overall

In all, Curse of the Mummy is another great game from Escape Room Live, full of the top notch quality scenic the venue has rightfully become known for. The puzzles, for the most part, were logic and always kept us engaged.

Although we’ve grown a bit tired by the more and more increasingly common use of the Egyptian tomb as a theme, we can argue that Curse of the Mummy might make the best use of this industry trope that we’ve seen yet. And while we still find ourselves longing for unique environments and stores, this venue definitely has that covered as well.

Escape Room Live is also home to some of the more unique games we’ve found, linked heavily to some of the most iconic intellectual properties you’ll see used in the industry today. From officially licensed attractions based on Ghostbusters! to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even an encounter at Camp Crystal Lake in Friday the 13th, this is a company that is definitely not afraid to do something different, making them an absolute venue to watch for us moving forward. We recommend you do the same!