Review: Project Escape - Nautilus | Atlanta, GA escape game

RATING: 5 Keys RESULT: Loss REMAINING: X:XX

Get a job on a submarine, they said. You won’t encounter any death dealing deep sea creatures, they said.

Story

The Nautilus has fallen under attack by a deep sea monster! The hull is breaking into pieces and you must work together with the crew members you were trapped with to get the power back on. You have one hour before the entire submarine is crushed under the pressure of the sea and the mighty mythical creature that haunts the waters of the world devours you… Do you and your crew have what it takes to regain control of the Nautilus before you perish 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?

The unexplored depths of the ocean provide one of the Earth’s greatest mysteries. How can terrain so close to our modern society remain so unexplored? Perhaps it’s because any time some rebel captain with a penchant for adventure dares to venture down below they get attacked by a giant sea creature!

Yup, it’s predictably happened again and it’s up to a rag tag crew of submarine dwellers to put the vessel back together before they lose control forever and sink to the bottom of the ocean, turning their prestigious submersible into a waterlogged coffin.

Scenic

The scenic aspects of Nautilus are undeniably it’s strongest selling point. A seamless blend of anachronistic luxury combines with futuristic technology to create a setting that is effortlessly classy, elevated above standard steam punk fare.

With a split start, half of the team members will begin their quest to save the day deep in the belly of the mechanical beast; a boiler room housing all manner of technical equipment controlled by an intimidating amount of buttons, switches, and wires. This chamber looks like it has seen it’s fair share of frantic sailors manning the controls in an effort to avoid the perils of the deep sea.

In contrast, the other half of the team will begin in living quarters that appear to be some sort of study. Immediately noticeable are the plush arm chairs, a variety of framed artwork, and a bookshelf featuring a modest library and all manner of maritime artifacts, likely collected on past expeditions. From top to bottom, every inch of the Nautilus is oozing with detail. Ambient noise and dramatic lighting push the beautiful scenery over the top to truly immersive territory.

As the quest to save the day requires crew members to explore additional chambers of the vessel, there is a true sense of wonder and discovery. This old submersible contains much more than meets the eye and some of the hidden reveals truly took us by surprise.

Puzzles

Nautilus’s split start is the weakest aspect of it’s gameplay. Although the justification for the separation is entirely appropriate to the storyworld, the process of restoring power to the vessel and thus the ability to open the door keeping the crew apart becomes tedious very quickly. It is the type of puzzle where we recognized what needed to be done right away, and from there it was simply a matter of executing it, again and again and again and again. This puzzle could be streamlined to create the “ah-ha” moment without the draw-out completion process afterwards.

Thankfully, with the exception of two or three puzzles that suffer from the same “we get it already” weakness, the puzzle flow is both intuitive and largely connected to the mission of regaining control of the Nautilus. Power must be restored, engines must be restarted, wires must be patched, and bearings must be gained all before the crew can have any hope of keeping the submersible intact and ultimately evading the ever-lurking giant sea creature.

We appreciated that the mission required full use of the submarine’s considerably lengthy floor plan. With multiple puzzles spanning several different chambers, crew members get a work out pacing back and forth connecting all the dots that are meticulously laid out from the first second to the very last.

Overall

Nautilus is Project Escape’s largest and most complex game to date. With this outing they continue to up their attention to detail and incorporate story in a more satisfying way than some of their other offerings. We loved how many aspects of the game that were set up at the start paid off at the end. The only slight let down was that we never encountered any deep sea monsters.

This adventure is best suited for larger crews, as there is simply just so much that must be completed within the hour that it may be nearly impossible for even seasoned sailors to undertake. Thankfully, the nonlinear game play offers up plenty for all parties to do at any given time and makes the moments when they all come together even more satisfying.

Ultimately, Nautilus is an elegant and engaging game, using beautifully immersive scenic to frame a compelling collection of challenges that all relate back to the ultimate goal of saving the ship.