RATING: 4 Keys          RESULT: Win          REMAINING: 8:00

A warm and gracious welcome… foolish mortals, to The Haunted… Hotel (which is definitely not based on two iconic Disney attractions and is completely its own original story™.)

You and your friends check-in to the once lavish and now eerie, decrepit and spooky “Hellspire Hotel.”  It seems that you are the only living occupants left, although the lobby is bustling with supernatural activity in the form of possessed portraits, haunted elevators and a telephone switchboard that connects you to other dimensions.

The only way to ever check-out is to solve puzzles, mysteries and clues left by supernatural spooks and playful poltergeists.  Are you up for the challenge…?

The story here is light; there was a hotel, but now it’s haunted. So we need to solve puzzles because escape game.

Haunted Hotel aims to be more about the mood than the narrative – like a cross between Disney’s The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and The Haunted Mansion. And not just because the promotional video “borrows” CBS’ iconic Twilight Zone music. And not just because the logo originally featured an image of Disneyland Paris’ Phantom Manor. And not just because an actual replica plaque from The Haunted Mansion – probably purchased at a gift shop in the Magic Kingdom hangs on the Lobby’s wall.

There’s… other reasons too.

At first glance, Haunt Hotel’s scenic is gorgeous, though this doesn’t much come as a huge surprise. The same team that runs St. Louis Escape also heads up The Darkness (and several other well known haunts in the St. Louis area) – and simply put, scenic is what they do.

Intricate details flourish throughout the three rooms that make up this game, beginning in the Hotel Lobby. A large check-in desk dominates sightlines upon entering the room and clearly becomes the focal point of attention. A fireplace provides the base for flickering candelabras, while paintings surround the room – their beady eyes seemingly following your ever move. Antique elevator doors sit locked just past the check-in desk – implying many additional floors await beyond.

But those doors would be Haunted Hotel’s first scenic faux pas. In an inexplicable design miss – they open – not into a rickety old elevator – but rather into a bedroom. Why?

Because escape game.

The bedroom, elegantly furnished with all the trappings of extravagant wealth – right down to its piano – felt a bit more like a room belonging in a mansion than a guest room of a hotel. This theme would continue into the final room which felt more like the library / study of a house, in effect continuing to muddle the Hellspire Hotel’s identity just a tad.

Make no mistake – it still looks beautiful, and it’s incredibly detailed – it just doesn’t completely flow coherently with Haunted Hotel’s storyworld.

The puzzles throughout are Haunted Hotel’s weakest aspect. They’re certainly not terrible by any means – but they do little to further enhance the rich, ornate world that was created by St. Louis Escape’s talented scenic team.

Instead, many of the puzzles feel basic, and worse, are often puzzles for puzzles’ sake just to get players to the next code. Questionable design choices bring hotel guests quickly out of the storyworld thanks to an RFID “place the objects” type puzzle which uses actual pieces of merchandise purchased from Momento Mori – the gift shop at the exit of The Haunted Mansion in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. These items, which bear clear branding right down to the attraction logo, make it difficult to remain immersed and suspend disbelief that this old hotel is to be real.

We want to preface this next paragraph by saying the venue’s owner tells us that the following puzzle has been removed based upon our feedback – and although we have not had the chance to return to verify, we certainly hope it to be the case. At the time of our visit, one of the tasks found in Haunted Hotel’s lobby was a straight sudoku puzzle on a laminated sheet of paper, justified by a scribbled note that read “Everyone knows that ghosts love sudoku!”

But perhaps the biggest fault of Haunted Hotel is also what makes it genuinely unique and kind of cool. Each of its three rooms is overflowing with animatronic figures who, upon completing their respective puzzles, come to life to interact with players. Without a doubt, it’s a wonderful way to further an attraction’s story. But here’s the problem. There’s quite a few animatronics, so this happens a lot. And in most cases, their dialogue drags on for a fully minute or two. To be clear, the game time does not stop for these show bits. What that means is that in your 60 minute game, you easily get under 50 minutes of actual play time – if not even less than that. We’ve always looked at an escape game for the total package combination of all aspects; but for groups who care less about Story than Puzzles, this is guaranteed to be off-putting.

Haunted Hotel is another stunningly beautiful example of St. Louis Escape doing what they do best – crafting compelling scenic environments and jam-packing them full of special effects to make them truly unique. Unfortunately at the same time, it’s also a bit of an example of their weaknesses in the puzzle department. This is something we see often at “haunt venues” – that is, established seasonal haunted attractions that opt to extend their operating calendar year round through the implementation of escape games. It’s something we’ve come to call “The Haunters’ Curse.”

There are certainly exceptions to it – but in many cases, these types of venues will have some of the best scenic and special effects you’ll ever find in a game, falling a bit short on the puzzles. And while some of those examples have games full of illogical gameplay, that, thankfully, is definitely not the case at St. Louis Escape. Haunted Hotel, along with all of the venue’s games, is unquestionably a very fun experience – and one that will prove memorable for both experienced groups and newer players alike. Although their puzzles could use a bit of polish to get them up to the gold standards set by their scenic, these games are great examples of daring to do something different.

And although it may start off trying to be the Tower of Terror or The Haunted Mansion, in truth Haunted Hotel works best when it simply embraces its own unique supernatural personality – delivering a quirky ghost adventure that’s sure to make its guests scream with delight.

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Venue: St. Louis Escape

Location: St. Louis, Missouri

Number of Games: 4

GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

Duration: 60 minutes

Capacity: 10 people

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

Cost: $25 per person

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