RATING: 5 Keys          RESULT: Win          REMAINING: 20:43

Escape the Night!… or the Mansion!… or the Museum!… or Purgatory!… doesn’t matter, just escape!

There isn’t much time and we need your help. The society against evil is starting to crumble and the power of The Collector is growing stronger. Join us – and find the Cosmic Sphere before she destroys us all.

Escape the Night – Escape Room is a live action experience based on the hit YouTube series “Escape the Night” by Joey Graceffa. The series follows The Savant (played by Graceffa) who invites a number of guests (played by assorted YouTube stars) to dinner at his estate, which just so happens to be stuck in a different time in the past.

The guests, who are assigned characters that fit the theme of the era, compete in challenges and solve puzzles in an attempt to escape the estate and survive the night. At the end of each episode, two guests are pitted against each other for a final challenge, where the loser is eliminated via a fictional and continuously creative death, until one or more guests wins that seasons challenge and is transported back to the modern world.

The fourth and most recent season of Escape the Night takes place in purgatory. The Savant has traversed into limbo to rescue his friends, who have been killed in the past, from the clutches of a character known as The Collector. The Savant’s rescue mission quickly shifts as the Collector’s Museum of the Dead begins to breathe life.

In Escape the Night – Escape Room, adventurers take on the role of The Savant and his companions to unlock the mysteries of the Collector’s Museum of the Dead, retrieve the nine jeweled keys, find the Cosmic Sphere, and escape with their lives.

Guests of the Savant begin their journey trapped in the Collector’s Museum, in a room full of artifacts and ancient puzzles. Lights remain dim, with candles contributing the bulk of the usable illumination. A life-size sarcophagus adorns one wall, while trinkets and various other items are scattered about the remainder of the room.

As the adventure continues further into this purgatory palace, more elaborate and impressive relics can be found. The head of a gigantic beast, a golden dragon, and many other unique and remarkable pieces highlight what is clearly a spectacle of an escape game. Even the ornamental keys used to escape are both elaborate and stunning. What makes this all even more impressive is that Escape the Night – Escape Room was built in approximately three weeks.

The only categories in which the scenic design of Escape the Night – Escape Room falls short (and truly this is being as nit-picky as it gets) are in very small details, like gaffer tape covering an extension cord to a technological puzzle in the middle of a room. There is no doubt then that given even more time and a longer-lasting run, this escape game would have been clearly approaching the top of many lists as far as immersion and set design is concerned. It is already so much closer to the top of those lists than any pop-up style experience has a right to be.

The fourth season of Escape the Night centered on finding nine jeweled keys hidden behind locks and puzzles throughout a purgatory museum. When translated to a real world escape game, travelers are tasked with that exact same quest. Many of the puzzles throughout the experience are based on games and events that were seen in the show.

For the purposes of translating to the general public, Escape the Night – Escape Room did an excellent job of requiring zero outside knowledge, both of the show or otherwise, in order to escape, something that would have been all too easy when basing an escape game so closely off their successful series.

The puzzling throughout the experience is not overly complicated or difficult, while still remaining quite fulfilling once each is solved. Puzzles of all variants and types exist throughout this escape game, each perfectly fit into the storyworld and executed well. Riddles and word puzzles test deduction and analysis; physical puzzles allow adventurers to wield ancient weapons or dig through buried treasure. Escape the Night – Escape Room also brandishes technology in creative ways, allowing for surprises and twists as the Savant’s teammates venture forward towards their quest for the Cosmic Sphere.

Escape the Night – Escape Room was a limited run pop-up event that operated from August 9th through August 27th, 2019.

It would have felt perfectly natural for Escape the Night – Escape Room to cater to the same demographic as its YouTube Premium audience. What could have felt like a polarizing and elaborate “you get it if you’ve seen it” kind of experience, turned into a pleasantly surprising and scrupulously entertaining escape game.

Graceffa and his team may have a more permanent experience for the public to enjoy in the future, but there are currently no concrete plans. Suffice it to say, that decision will be awaited with much anticipation.

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Venue: Escape the Night

Location: Beverly Hills, CA

Number of Games: 1

GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

Duration: 60 minutes

Capacity: 8 people

Group Type: Public / You may be paired with strangers.

Cost: $55 per person and up

We thank Escape the Night for inviting us to play this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, that in no way impacts the opinion included within this review.