If you ask any escape room enthusiast in the L.A or surrounding area what their favorite escape room is, chances are The Basement LA is going to be the first one mentioned. It has three great rooms that tell the story of its antagonist, Edward Tandy. But recently Basement LA did away with its smaller room, The Boiler Room, and introduced the Elevator Shaft. The new room still continues with the Edward Tandy storyline, but now just gives its players a slightly altered narrative. The Basement LA invited us out to give its new room a try, so we gathered our group and headed out to Sylmar, CA, to see if it gets our seal of approval or whether it will end up getting the “shaft.”
Right off the bat, Basement’s new room is wonderfully designed, just like the other ones. It does a great job of making you feel as if you’re inside the elevator shaft of an old decrepit building. The room is small and with a group of six, it can get tight. With the limited space, the room at times can get loud. Just trying to communicate with your teammates felt like we were yelling at each other. Crawlspaces we discovered were also small and tight, only allowing one person at a time to make their way through.
When it comes to immersion, this room does not disappoint. There are times where water would come spewing out, steam pumps out of pipes and vents. There were also times when one of our teammates thought he was getting shocked by an exposed electrical panel. I mean, if that’s not immersive enough for you, then I don’t know what is.
The puzzles in the room are linear. You solve one and it leads you to the next one. Linear puzzles are not a favorite of mine, but with a room like Elevator Shaft, it makes complete sense. The puzzles I would say are of moderate difficulty, but with our group, they at times became very difficult. If you come into the Elevator Shaft with a clear and calm demeanor, the puzzles would easily make sense, and you can breeze right through them. But that’s the kicker since the room does a great job of disrupting you and making you panic. And this makes the puzzles seem much more difficult. There’s no real visible clock in the room that shows you what your time is, so you never really know how well you’re doing. There is an indication in the room that happens that sort of tells you to hurry things along.
One downside we found is that because the room is small, at times some of our group members were not participating. It wasn’t because they boring people who we just dragged along, but it was because some puzzles needed only two people to complete, leaving the rest of the team to check out the sweet decor of the room. Sure we can make the argument and say they can lend the helping hand, and that’s true for the most part, but we still found that the right two people can easily solve the puzzle and move us along much faster.
Overall, the Elevator Shaft is quite possibly the most elaborate and advance room we’ve ever seen. It sets a new precedent on how immersive an escape room can truly be. It can easily take a seasoned escape room group and turn them into novices by creating high levels of stress and panic. The Basement LA has continued its great run of giving the players an inventive and challenging room with the addition of the Elevator Shaft. Regardless if you’re new or seasoned, the Elevator Shaft is a refreshing take on the world of escape rooms
Book your tickets now to the Elevator Shaft along with Basement LA’s other rooms at http://ift.tt/1xUx1BC.
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