I'll start off by saying that I consider myself to be a budding escape room enthusiast, with about 20-25 rooms done so far. I had previously done the Upside-Down Room and the Tornado Room (v.2) here; most recently I returned to do the Submarine Room. Aside from the Upside-Down Room (which I think has been retired), I would rank the rooms in my top-third of rooms so far. I'm going to talk about my experience with the Submarine Room below, since that was my most recent experience.
Production: 5 stars. Where Can U Xcape really excels is in theming and production. The submarine room feels like a real submarine. The materials feel like solid, quality materials that you would find on a submarine. There were videos used in the room that, aside from some of the acting, were nicely done. It doesn't feel like any corners were cut. This was a quality build.
Immersion: 5 stars. This was a very immersive experience. The tech used in the room fit really nicely with the theme. I don't recall there being any number-code locks at all. Clues were given mostly through a computer screen, which fit really well with being on a submarine. Occasionally, clues were given via an intercom. While on-theme, they were really hard to hear. This room is also a little loud. It made it difficult to communicate, and it made it nearly impossible to hear the intercom hints.
Prop/Room conditions: 4 stars. Most items in this room are built to last, and I don't see that changing. There are a couple of items that were laminated that have seen some wear, but that didn't really affect overall experience. The one problem I had in this area was in the use of tech. There is a puzzle that is really touchy. We found out in the de-brief that we had the solution right the first time, but that the sensors were finicky. There was no feedback to indicate that we had it right or wrong. We ended up trying the exact same solution a second time, and it worked. To be fair, the gamemaster had already added time for us to compensate for the fact that the tech didn't work as expected.
Gamemaster: 5 stars. The gamemaster was great. He was responsive, he gave hints at just the right time, and the hints were actually useful. (Sometimes, you get hints that are incredibly vague and, frankly, more confusing than helpful.) He kept us on task and prevented us from getting frustrated in a more challenging room. I should note that there were only two of us who did this room, and the gamemaster indicated that we were the best team of two he had seen do the room, but we owe much of our success to him.
Puzzles and Room Flow: 3 stars. I would say that the puzzles and room flow are the weakest components here. When I see a room with a low escape rate, I usually wonder whether it is a symptom of bad room design, rather than just being intentionally challenging. I would say that the first two-thirds of the room are really great, puzzle-wise. The tech was nicely integrated with the puzzle solutions, and there were some puzzles that I hadn't seen before. There were also some nice "a-ha!" moments, which makes for a very satisfying experience. The variety of puzzle types was lacking a bit, but that tends to happen in tech-heavy rooms.
There were some things I didn't like about the puzzle design. First, we needed outside knowledge. We needed to identify something in the room and we had no idea what the item was. There were no documents or pictures in the room to tell us what those items were. We asked the GM to describe it to us, and we ended up just getting the puzzle solution. There were also two things we had to do in the room that go explicitly against typical ER rules. One was a "never do this" and the other was a "never touch this." The room also required some physicality that was not mentioned on the booking information. When you're only booking with 2 people, that becomes a potential problem.
Overall: 4 stars. I know the Yelp rating says 5 stars, but there is no need to reduce the rating in Yelp. Compared to the vast majority of escape rooms, this facility is much better. My 4-star rating is just comparing to the ideal rooms I have done. A bit more user testing would make this a 5-star room. The puzzle design toward the end is really what dropped the experience a bit. Having said that, we had a great time. There's something to be said when you don't get out of a room but still have an amazing time. The immersion and gamemaster really made everything work. We were only something like 2 steps away from getting out of the room, which I think isn't too bad for a team of two in a tough room. We've driven 1.5 hours twice to go to this facility, and we will definitely go back to do Mineshaft and Tornado 3.0. As a final note, they really seem to care at this facility. The proof is in the details. I'm in the Harrisburg area, but I would say that this facility is, overall, better than about 80% of the rooms around here. It's definitely worth a visit! read more