RATING: 4 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 3:44
Jigsaw loves puzzles for puzzles sake.
You wake up in a strange room handcuffed to five other people. It gets worse. Six people in an adjoining room are facing the same situation, and only one group can escape unscathed. Teams must compete against each other to be the first to solve the room’s mysteries and make their escape in 60 minutes or less.
The story here is straightforward and will be well familiar (if not overly played out) to escape enthusiasts as well as fans of one of the most successful horror franchises in history.
Emulating such a well known property, especially one that is defined by it’s main characters being locked in rooms and forced to complete a series of gruesome tasks in order to win their freedom, is certainly a savvy and economical move. Unfortunately it may also be a double edged sword, as the trade off with name recognition (no matter how loosely legally circumnavigated by adding “competition room” to the title) also means that captives are bound to compare the experience to the films. Both in terms of visuals and narrative, but also by measuring up how well the game captures the spirit of the franchise.
Much like the iconic first entry into the franchise, the Saw Competition Room finds captives confined entirely to one dingy run-down bathroom. Broken toilets, chipped tiles, and dirty mirrors surround on all sides.
Project Escape absolutely nails the Saw aesthetic in terms of overall color palette accented by pitch perfect lighting, creating a truly immersive setting for this puzzle filled death trap.
While this can be played out as a standard escape game, it also features a competition mode in which captives can go head to head against a separate group of captives located in an identical room next door, with the winning group escaping with their lives. Progress of each group is measured by a series of lights in the room that allow each team to see how far the other has gotten, albeit without ever actually laying eyes on them.
Despite a smooth and mostly intuitive game flow, the puzzles in the Saw Competition Room often appear trivial; a series of games and challenges as opposed to real world tasks involved with escaping. Yet, if there is any scenario in which puzzles for puzzles sake is appropriate, it’s when Jigsaw is involved. Hidden keys must be discovered, codes deciphered, locks opened, and life lessons must be learned.
The puzzles are, for the most part, engaging enough. Yet the room generally fails to embrace the true nature of the horrific games made famous by the Saw franchise which always incorporate an element of choice or self sacrifice. Of course, we don’t expect captives to have to decided whether or not to actually saw off their own leg or cut into their friend’s intestines to find a key, but the whole experience does seem a bit too safe and sterile.
Interestingly, when playing in competitive mode, if one group asks for a hint, the other team is also shown that hint. This allows for teams to weigh out how badly they need help, for fear of giving their opponents a boost. Unfortunately, this is the only element of interaction with the other team and points toward a wasted opportunity for the experience to embody the tough moral decisions that are imposed upon the characters in the films by allowing each team to do things that could help them while hurting others or vice versa. If it weren’t for this small bit of potential interaction, the competition mode seems nearly pointless.
If there is one pop culture touchstone that escape games are constantly compared to by the uninitiated, it’s Saw. It’s almost too much of a low hanging fruit at this point and if one is going to use the iconic imagery and narrative motivation of the franchise they’ll have to pull it off flawlessly in all departments to impress. Unfortunately Project Escape merely adopts the visuals and some basic plot elements of Saw without ever embracing the true spirit of the franchise. In a series that has come to be defined by wild plot twists and large scale ethical dilemmas, this experience just comes across as tame and unsurprising.
That being said, the Saw Competition Room is a solid middle of the road effort that just barely earns its 4 key rating by virtue of excellent scenic value coupled with smooth and relatively intuitive gameplay. Still, it is one of Project Escape’s weaker outings, lacking in the complexity and wow factor of some of their newer offerings. Although we found this to be an enjoyable experience we are also encouraged to learn that since our initial writing of this review, Project Escape has closed the Saw Competition Room in favor of creating a more exciting, all new adventure.
Given the complex and way-outside-the-box puzzles of their Vault 202 room or the lush scenic design and surprise packed adventure of their superlative Nautilus, we have no doubt that the replacement for the Saw Competition Room will be a worthy addition to the Project Escape line up.
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Venue: Project Escape
Location: Marietta, GA
Number of Games: 4
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 8 people
Group Type: Public / You may be paired with strangers.
Cost: This game is officially closed.