Review: Exit Escape Room NYC

RATING: 4 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 9:42

Experience the joy of being trapped inside 6000 tons of metal hurtling towards certain death!

Story

You hop on train heading to Central Park for a fun day, but before you know it you realize that the train has been abandoned by it’s conductor and is now moving at high speed without a driver… You must figure out how to activate the emergency systems and stop the train… before it’s too late!! High Speed NYC is an advanced hi-tech game that is guaranteed to give you an escape experience like no other!

Another day, another disgruntled MTA employee has decided to go out in a blaze of glory, abandoning their post as conductor mid-ride and consequently dooming all of their passengers to die.

The MTA should probably put in some safe guards for this type of situation by now. Thankfully the passengers on this train have the grace period of one hour before they’ll hit anything too deadly. they’ve got the motivation, but do they have the skills to figure out the complicated operating system of an NYC subway car?

One thing is for sure. In 60 minutes everyone on board will either be dead, or they’ll all live to complain about their experience on social media.

Scenic

Stepping foot inside the subway car of High Speed NYC, the attention to detail is immediately obvious. From the advertisements and safety warnings on the wall, to the handholds and sliding doors, it’s as if they could have been stolen directly from the MTA. Outward facing windows are fitted with monitors playing videos of the outside world whizzing by.

Atmosphere is created by the overhead lights, which occasionally dim or black out as passengers travel down the tracks.

With the exception of the cleanliness and a few escape-gamey embellishments, it truly looks like passengers are boarding an authentic, albeit short, NYC subway car.

While High Speed NYC looks real, the immersion is broken a bit as it doesn’t feel real. One expects a subway car to sway, bump, and jolt when in motion. The stillness of the floor beneath the passengers betrays some of the realism.

Puzzles

Even with the strong scenic value of High Speed NYC, the puzzles are what make this a real gem. Riders will have to engage in a whole host of activities one normally associates with riding the subway. We loved how many seemingly innocuous scenic elements were integral to solving various puzzles. From deciphering subway maps to following specific safety precautions, many of the actions that passengers must take to complete this adventure feel natural and intuitive.

So natural that when we realized some of the steps we had to take, it evoked just as many “ah ha!” moments as it did laughs and smiles. Granted, many of these puzzles were more related to generally riding the subway than the actions one would take to actually stop the moving vehicle, yet it was just so much fun that it was easy to overlook.

In fact, there was only one puzzle that felt truly out of place in the grimy underground world of High Speed NYC. Given that the goal of this puzzle was the very real task of turning on the power, we were surprised that a more grounded task was not required to achieve it.

Thankfully, as the trip progresses, actions do eventually transition to figuring out how to operate the subway and thus shut it down. The initial joy of discovery turns to urgent action when the final moments near and passengers must complete a crash course in train engineering in order to save the day.

Overall

From start to finish, this trip is a smooth ride. So many moments are authentic to the NYC subway riding experience, even when they don’t lend themselves to the specific dilemma at hand. The action flows swiftly and intuitively, utilizing a wide variety of puzzles that offer a balance between more traditional escape game fare and some outside the box thinking. Top it all off with immersive scenic elements that reward close attention to detail. Simply put, High Speed NYC is a joy to explore.

Now that we know getting stuck on a subway careening towards certain death can be so much fun, we kind of wish disgruntled MTA employees would go off the rails more often.