Escape Reviewer

Creativity: ✭✭✭✩✩ 2.8

     Novel: 3.0

     Comprehension: 3.0

     Surprises: 2.5 

Puzzles: ✭✭✭✭✬ 4.5

     Challenge: 4.0

     Logic: 5.0

     Abstract: 4.5

The Hostel is a multi-room 60-minute escape centered around being locked in a European hostel during a trip. This description is obtained from Claustrophobia's website. We weren't given any background prior to entering the room. I encourage Claustrophobia to add to the mystery and allure of the rooms by providing an exciting background story to teams before starting. Once inside, we were greeted by a well-designed room with lots of decorations. Some of the items seemed a bit fragile and I would suggest that certain (non-puzzle) hanging items could be better bolted to the wall in order to prevent breakage. Puzzles were very creative and utilized items in interesting ways. Locks and keys were traditional, but finding how to obtain them was the fun part. In my opinion, there were a few too many red herrings and items that weren't used except to confuse. Perhaps some smaller, more linear puzzles could be used to increase the number of group achievements while simultaneously reducing the number of red herrings. Nevertheless, The Hostel was a fun experience as an average escape. 

Reviewed by Mitch on March 24, 2015

Update

I recently had the opportunity to go back to see updates made to The Hostel over 5 months since my last review. The staff really took our feedback to heart and tried to improve the overall escape experience. The most noticeable change is the decor and atmosphere. Gone are the old-looking walls, replaced instead with nicely painted backgrounds and colours. The opening area definitely looks much less cluttered with the addition of a puzzle for more brain teaser fun and less red herrings. Other small adjustments can be found throughout the game, such as less breakable objects on the walls, creating a much higher quality escape. I commend Claustrophobia on all their hard work and I've improved their scores accordingly.

Edited by Mitch on September 4, 2015