RATING: 5 Keys          RESULT: Win          REMAINING: 8:00

A large scale game designed for intimate group sizes, full of top notch scenic ambiance makes this one Dungeon I’m more than happy to be locked up in.

Brooklyn Escape Room’s story  for this room is light but satisfying; You are transported to Medieval Europe and find yourself trapped in a dungeon awaiting a date with the executioner. You’re not sure how it happened, and you don’t know why, but he’s coming for you.

The mood is set by being led – hooded – into your respective cells to begin your adventure.

From there, the central narrative is less important than the overall experience itself, but that in no way lessens its effectiveness.

Medieval Dungeon truly shines when it comes to scenic – though, perhaps not literally, and that’s a good thing. The room is dark. Dank. Gloomy. The mood is ominous from the start, and gets more and more so the further you progress.

It’s clear that this is a place that was well constructed to keep you in, and at the same time a place a wise man should have urgency to get out of as quickly as possible.

The walls are true stone. Not cheap scenic painted plaster, or textured plastic sheets. Real, authentic stone. The accents and doors are vintage stained wood. The room feels and even smells real, because it is real.

It also hides surprise chambers and some really satisfying reveals.

From start to finish, nearly every puzzle step inside Medieval Dungeon makes total sense within the story world. Except for the finale.

I was a bit let down that the final puzzle really did not make show sense, but not enough for it to dampen my overall appreciation of the attraction. And that’s not to say the final puzzle wasn’t fun.

Other steps are totally in-world, from having to work together to break from your individual cells (one of the only times I’ve seen that starting concept pulled off successfully without leaving one party with not enough to do while the other works) to using authentic looking medieval tools to achieve other tasks.

Brooklyn Escape Room’s Medieval Dungeon truly is a rare example of a game that delivers on all levels – and it’s definitely one of the best we played in NYC. The scenic is top notch and truly sets the mood to perfectly compliment puzzles that exist naturally within the story world.

One thing I’d like to note, because I myself am actually very claustrophobic – and though the idea of a dungeon typically evokes the notion of very tight spaces, this game is entirely accessible – even down to an optional tunnel section (which only one member of the group needs to traverse) that was more than wide enough for even me to feel completely comfortable within.

This venue was originally branded Claustrophobia, a chain that is big across Europe and absolutely huge in Russia – but NYC is currently just one of two US markets to find their games. After purchasing their games, they made their own in-house improves to even further increase their quality. If Medieval Dungeon is any indication, we Americans have much to look forward to from this top notch brand!

(We may or may not but definitely did go straight from Sleep No More to Brooklyn Escape Room.)

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Venue:  Brooklyn Escape Room

Location: Brooklyn, New York

Number of Games: 3

GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

Duration: 60 minutes

Capacity: 8 people

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

Cost: $30 per person (weekdays), $35 per person (weekends) – Group discount available