Earlier today I went through the Roosevelt Escape Room with some friends and I had a great time! It was supposed to be pretty challenging but we finished it in 72 minutes (18 minutes to spare) and many groups don’t finish at all. 

I’ve had mixed experiences with escape room games. The ones I’ve tried in the past tend to have disparate puzzles that aren’t particularly elegant and don’t integrate into any larger narrative – I often cite escape rooms when defining Ludonarrative Dissonance. Roosevelt Escape room was a strong exception to this trend.

The production values were impressive – we went through a series of rooms that had thematic, interesting visuals. The puzzles were well integrated into the space and featured very cool use of electronics / physical components. The theme / story was fine enough, though I could have used a little more self-awareness around sending folks off to die in WWI.

I highly recommend checking it out and I’ll likely go back some time to check out the other room by the same group, The Great Houdini Escape Room.