RATING: 1 Key RESULT: Win REMAINING: 3:26
Detectives, there’s been a murder. Better look under the couch cushions!
This Victorian-themed room is based on actual events – a perplexing murder that took place in rural England in the late 1800’s. This was at a time when detectives just started to become a mainstay of any police department. Your goal is to find all the clues hidden within the room, then use your detective skills to solve the case and correctly identify the murderer. Think you’re up for the task?
There’s no time to lose – get to the bottom of the case of the mysterious murder! Certainly clues as to the criminal’s identity must be hidden and locked away in the details of an ornate sitting room, precisely where England’s finest detectives have come together.
As if searching for fingerprints but without the powder, eagle-eyed sleuths must carefully inspect from photos to furniture, from chests to chairs, and from lamps to letters to get every lead they can. As with any investigation, a blizzard of information can leave even the cleverest clueseeker dizzy with the possibilities of what pieces fit together (or the question of whether it’s even relevant at all).
Ultimately there’s only one shot at deciding on the correct suspect, so get it right! Otherwise the wrong person will be locked away for a crime they didn’t commit, leaving the evildoer free to roam the streets of England, perhaps to kill again.
With its bold maroon walls, ornate woven carpet, and stained wood furniture, the Victorian Room lives up to its name in the sense that the space is pulled back in time. While the delicate doilies, tasseled lamps, and buttoned beige sofa evoke more of a “grandma’s living room” feel, the setting at least makes it clear that it’s not set in modern times.
Throughout the room, investigators are met with far more locks than one would expect (grandma must’ve been very secretive), but shouldn’t dismay as long as the private eyes turn their sights to sepia-toned pictures and pamphlets primed for progression. Also installed in the space is a cabinet that holds the primary suspect board that Holmes-hopefuls must approach at the end to try to catch the murderer. Though a bit of a non-sequitur, it at least saves a trip back to headquarters when time is of the essence!
Get ready for plenty of physical locks! Cracking the case requires a lot of search-and-associate skills, and the more ground that can be covered quickly, the more clues that can be unearthed. Divide-and-conquer tactics are likely a must in this murder mystery. Leave no stone unturned when it comes to figuring out which locked container pairs with a newly discovered piece of information.
At the end of the investigation, all the evidence must be put together to arrive at a decision as to who exactly committed the crime. Running out of time may leave inspectors stuck without all the insight to make a fully educated guess. And some might even say that it could be impossible to pin it down beyond a reasonable doubt, no matter how well the hunt goes. Regardless, as hired detectives, the job isn’t complete until someone is blamed for the crime. Will it be the right choice for justice?
Ultimately, the Victorian Room checks off all the basic boxes for an escape room exemplary of the early days: a lot of locked containers, a search-heavy gameplay, and a moderately decorated set, all wrapped up under a loose theme with a 60-minute timer. The twist of making the important decision to convict someone for the murder is unique, but making the choice without feeling like all the necessary data has been obtained can feel unnecessarily punishing if wrong or unfairly lucky if correct.
It feels evident that Troubled Puzzles inherited this experience from a period of a previous paradigm of escape game design. But at the end of the day, if opening a bunch of locks by searching for and solving puzzles is a good enough definition of a great time, go for it, gumshoes!
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Venue: Troubled Puzzles
Location: Naperville, Illinois
Number of Games: 4
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 10 people
Group Type: Private / You will not be paired with strangers.
Cost: $35-40 per person (depending on total group size)
