RATING: 1 Key RESULT: Loss REMAINING: X:XX
The spirits inside of this house were telling us to get out, with good reason!
In part one of the Fogmore saga you open your eyes to find yourself in a dark room. Lightning flashes, illuminating the stained glass windows, and the crackling fire casts dancing shadows over the strange and mysterious artifacts scattered around the manor drawing room. A flickering candle and a scribbled note from your missing business partner are all you can see. So begins your experience in Fogmore Manor. Are there really spirits inhabiting the strange artifacts here? More importantly, if there are, are they trying to help you escape or trap you forever? You have 60 minutes to follow the trail left by your vanished business partner. Will you find him, or will the same fate befall you when the clock strikes midnight?
Apparently each time our business partner removed an “artifact” from Fogmore Manor, it would mysteriously disappear and return back to the manor. Instead of giving up on it, he is sending in a ragtag crew of explorers to investigate the scene and come out with artifacts in hand.
After sitting through not only a long speech about the storyworld we are about to enter, we also must sit through an equally long winded video. There is an attempt at building a compelling story here, but when the whole thing takes what seems to be an eternity, it borders on the line of necessity.
Finally after all the background is set up, we are off to the manor. By putting on blindfolds we are guided down… the same hallway we walked through get to the lobby. For whatever reason this ten foot walk needs to be shielded from our eyes to “immerse” us in the story.
When the grandfather clock strikes 11:00PM, our blindfolds can be taken off and we are set forth into a rectangular office space. Dimly lit at best, the office space serves as a makeshift manor which houses many objects.
At least the dim lighting helps the quality of the scenic presentation here. Many of the artifacts hidden in Fogmore Manor are housed by a plethora of wooden furniture. In what seems like a rummage sale of junk, we are searching for objects of value or the mystery shrouding them.
Technically taking place across two rooms, the first space is where you will spend majority of your time, in once again dim lighting. The second room, if we wish to call it that, is merely a crawl space behind the wall that attempts to drive the narrative.
Because we are in a haunted house, we will obviously need a guide. Look no further than our trusty tablet. On said device, there is documentation relating to all the artifacts and intricacies to the manor that we can read through at our leisure, in a dimly lit space.
At times the reading becomes frustrating, since our only source of information on how to operate puzzles, or what do to, is limited to one device. To top things off, there are pages and pages of text to read through, with majority of it not relating to the game in a helpful manner.
Though attempting to relate the artifacts lore to the puzzles, things seem forced at times. Why are explorers interacting with this painting or book to have it serve no purpose aside from moving to the next time consuming step? Because puzzles for puzzles sake.
At any given time, due to the extreme linear set up of the room, groups will have one or two members working on a puzzle. Everyone else will be standing around waiting for that one task to be completed. Repeat this cycle for however long the group makes it in here.
The puzzles themselves are touted as highly tech driven. While there is tech involved in the room, the problem becomes maintenance and how things work. Ever been through a puzzle in which it is evident how to solve every step, yet each time an answer is input it’s just slightly off? Don’t move too fast, don’t move too slow, don’t accidentally tilt a few degrees off center in a convoluted chain of events. This is the biggest point of frustration throughout this whole room.
Having spoken to many other groups, we feel confident in our assessment of the room and it’s failures in tech. When there is a lack of manual overrides for groups that have clearly figured out a puzzle, but the tech is being finicky that day, it leads to a horrendous experience. If everything worked perfectly(in which we have not heard a case of) the experience could be alright at best.
Not only did the tech fail, but the lights, timer, and air conditioner as well. This turned out to be one of the most frustrating experiences we have had in an escape game. I cannot stress this enough, we spent over fifteen minutes on one of the first puzzles in the room due to the tech not working. That time was not given back to us, and the cascading issues along the way added up to the room becoming a nonsensical mess.
Show your support for Escape Authority and get social with us:
Venue: The Entrapment
Location: San Diego, California
Number of Games: 2
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 6 people
Group Type: Public / You may be paired with strangers.
Cost: $28-35 per person, varies by group size