RATING: 3 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 3:09
What will kill you first? The kidnapper, or the boredom?
The kidnapping begins with you and your fellow captives waking up handcuffed and blindfolded in a strange room. With nothing but collective brainpower, hidden clues and 60 minutes on your side, you have to free yourselves before the kidnapper returns. A heart-pumping thriller from start to finish, you can expect a rush of non-stop fun.
As far as narrative justifications for locking a bunch of strangers in a room and tasking them with escaping, serial kidnapping is a no brainer. Unfortunately, it’s obviousness also means it’s been done to, ahem, death and it’s hard not to compare apples to kidnapping apples. By any measure, The Kidnapping does not do anything to pull ahead of the pack. Nor does it even seem that it is trying.
There is sadly little information given to the victims as to exactly why they’ve been chosen or why they only have one hour to escape. It is these details that can really create a sense of immersion and a driver for urgency, yet this adventure is anything but captivating.
Intentional lack of information can be a powerful motivator for action and discovery within an adventure as the true answers are slowly metered out. Unfortunately the absence of tangible and satisfying plot points is revealed to be anything but a clever narrative device as the clock ticks down and story never comes together.
Captives wake up in a pitch black room, handcuffed to a bed. Although there is no immediately obvious source of illumination, the potential victims are allowed to use their cell phones as flashlights. I guess this killer wasn’t smart enough to take those away. Any captive that left their phone to charge in the car will be plum out of luck.
The glow of the harsh white handheld lights reveal a room that is… well… a room. Four plain walls with a light brick facade adorned with a few photos, a note or two and a periodic table for some reason. The most noticeable features are a bed frame and a desk. Now we don’t expect a serial killer to have a masters in home decor, but the environment is altogether sterile, nonthreatening, and worst of all, uninspired.
The puzzles in The Kidnapping will be standard fare to anyone that has spent more than one night chained up in serial killer’s dungeon. Still, the puzzles do flow smoothly and intuitively, offering up the occasional clever surprise.
Our biggest issue with the puzzles was their overall lack of connection to the narrative. It was clear early on that we should not be expecting to perform logical real world tasks tied to escaping captivity. But is it too much to ask for some justification? Why did the kidnapper leave so many clues and puzzles laying around? Do they actually want you to get out? Is this all a test to prove your worth? Do they just love laminating ransom notes? Are they obsessed with the periodic table? Anything? Bueller?
Of course, this is not say some of the puzzles didn’t provide any fun. It’s a fine enough collection of locked boxes and blacklights. But without the necessary connective tissue, it all just becomes the epitome of puzzles for puzzles sake. The end result is the world’s most mundane kidnapping escape that lacks all sense of urgency.
The Kidnapping is one of those games where there isn’t really anything wrong about it, but there just isn’t much right either. It feels like a rough draft where they said “we’ll add in the details later” but never got back to it. The absence of detail and inspiration is apparent on every level. A blank paint-by-numbers kidnapping escape in desperate need of a creative mind and some Crayola.
Ultimately, The Kidnapping distills down to a bland storyline used to frame an adequate but generally unconnected set of puzzles. While it can certainly offer up an brisk challenge and the occasional surprise, it’s merely a quick diversion that fades from memory fifteen minutes after completion.
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Venue: Breakout
Location: Atlanta, GA
Number of Games: 8
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 7 people
Group Type: Private / You will not be paired with strangers.
Cost: $21.99 – $35.99 per person
