Review: Escape Kings - Kings Quest | Charlotte, North Carolina

RATING: 3 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 4:24

Knights assemble! Just as we hung up our shields and swords, the king has summoned us for yet another one of his crazy quests.

Story

King's Quest at Escape Kings

Welcome adventurers to Kings Quest! You and your fellow knights will be inside of King Arthur’s royal planning chamber to complete his final quest. Many knights have tried, only a few have succeeded. This fast-paced, 45-minute adventure will require teamwork to complete the quest.

We have been summoned to King Arthur’s chamber, where he plans… stuff. What? We’re not sure, but it is not for us to question or meddle in old Artie’s business anyway, right? We are here to stick swords into people who deserve it and do whatever he asks of us. All we know is that we must help him complete his final quest, perhaps the one that will help secure his legendary place in history.

Though many adventurers have come before us and have mostly failed, our group of knights are determined to succeed and make the King proud. This will be the most important mission from the King we have been tasked with thus far. While it may not compare to the time Lancelot replaced our round table with a square one, this quest is likely to be the pinnacle of our knighthood.

Scenic

Having played all the previous games at Escape Kings, we were pleasantly surprised when we entered Kings Quest because the level of scenic quality has been enhanced compared to earlier offerings. It is a pretty little room; not huge in size and not multi-chamber in layout. However, the scenery is truly reminiscent of a Medieval theme and is by far their best adventure scenically.

The walls create a nice visual made of molded archways and brick, which made us feel like we were in a castle of some sort. Subtle lighting effects also add to the ambiance, making it seem as though there is somehow magic in the air. Elements and items typical of the period are arranged about the space, but nothing jumped out in particular that we haven’t seen before.

In two corners are actually the most interesting and memorable features of the room: cage-like containers. These enclosures, draped with snazzy material and topped with a tasseled rope, make a great holding place for much-needed secrets later in the game.

Puzzles

The puzzles and challenges in Kings Quest are mostly lock-based with very little presence of tech or tasks using mechanical elements. Even so, they stuck to the story for the most part along the way.

There are two key areas in the room that players must access during their experience: the two aforementioned cages that require deciphering the proper code before looting their contents.

At some point during the game, we interacted with a large chess board that somehow felt akin to playing Twister. Once we made sure the requirements were met, we advanced in our medieval journey. Other challenges required us to employ basic discovery techniques to keep us going at a steady pace toward completing our quest.

While the puzzles are not overly advanced and there is not a lot of technical wizardry in place, the gameplay still manages to be fun and does present an enjoyable adventure with a moderate degree of difficulty for any group.

Overall

Kings Quest is first and foremost a family-friendly escape experience and is a huge hit with kids – and big kids, too. Secondly, it is just a fun room to play. The topic may be a common one but is one of the more popular themes that will bring families in droves to play. There is nothing out of the box that will blow you away, but it is still a good, solid game. We feel strongly that Kings Quest is Escape King’s best room to date and shows a promising level of advancement in the right direction. We applaud the time and effort that was spent on the design and gameplay to raise the bar of what to expect for future rooms at this venue.

Escape Kings is also very big into esports and has a dedicated gaming room for special events centered around esports events and video-game related movie releases. It is great to see that crossover and both event types offered at a single location.

We have known the owner of Escape Kings for a few years and have always found his games to be reliably fun. On top of being very personable and friendly, he has always been willing to take time to talk to us and discuss his existing rooms, as well as ideas for new ones. It really says a lot about a venue when they are open to hearing feedback and ideas for improvements. They have obviously listened to player feedback, and it shows in Kings Quest. We look forward to going back for future offerings, as they are moving steadfast in the right direction.