Review: Escape Game Time - Space Station Crisis

RATING: 0 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 11:50

We’re trapped in outer space, and only one of the world’s worst escape games can get us home. Houston, we have a problem.

Story

A module of the International Space Station has been sabotaged. You must solve the puzzles to escape.

That’s it folks. That’s the story. The International Space Station has been sabotaged and turned into an escape game, for some reason. Probably because escape room. I don’t know.

We could spend hours discussing the fundamental flaws Escape Game Time exhibited in every since of their business strategy, but the fact of the matter is, why bother? We’d be putting far more effort into this than they ever did.

Scenic

Nothing. And a fog machine.

Because space station.

Puzzles

Oh boy. The puzzles. These were perhaps the most convoluted collection of nonsense steps I’ve ever seen.

Like, here’s the thing – we’re a fairly experienced group of players, right?

We needed a hint on every single puzzle. Every. Single. Puzzle.

And after those hints, in most cases we debated why the answer we were given is what we should do. It still made that little sense.

This game was one of the worst examples of everything an escape room can be: illogical, low production values and completely devoid of fun.

Overall

Escape Authority exists to further the escape game industry as a whole. It’s a site build on a foundation of a whole lot of passion for this genre. We understand that some games will be good, some great and others will be not so great. When we come across a game that’s not so great, we typically try to offer suggestions as to what it’s missing to help it become great – because again, furthering the industry is always the goal.

Unfortunately, the truth is you sometimes come across a venue that is literally hurting the genre – a game whose production value and product quality are of such low standards that it literally is detrimental to the industry that this game continues to operate. Escape Game Time’s three rooms exemplified that worst case scenario.

The problem with the escape game industry is it is still a young faucet of the entertainment world. There are still a whole heck of a lot of people out there who have no idea what an escape room is – and as such, each and every day there are people who experience this world of ours for the first time. Some may stumble upon it from a promotion or discount they found on Groupon; others may hear from a friend who has seen games elsewhere that it’s something worth checking out. Frankly how they get to their first game is irrelevant in the grand scheme.

IMAGINE if their first game were at a venue the caliber of Escape Game Time.

Those guests would literally never try another escape room again, because to them, *that* awful, low quality experience is “what an escape game is.”

It’s truly rare that we find a venue of such poor quality that the only viable hope is for them to close – to save others from being subjected to their product and thus allow their first experience to be a positive one somewhere else. Escape Game Time is one of those very few venues – and thankfully due to a court ordered eviction notice posted on their front door, that’s exactly what happened.

There’s a lesson burred in all of this. If you come across a bad venue, TELL YOUR FRIENDS who are less familiar where it is and what makes it bad. Post about it on our forum. Review it on Yelp and TripAdvisor. Help spread the word that there are good examples and, sadly, bad examples that represent the extremes of our industry. Help spread the word that the majority of experiences will be positive ones – so in the off chance that your friends or family DO start at a place of the caliber of Escape Game Time, they’ll know they found a dud rather than think our industry as a whole isn’t for them. Though we’ll never stop “fighting the good fight,” we cannot do this alone. Use your passion to shape and support this industry, and together we can ensure a long and enjoyable future within it.