Alien Attack

Location: Escape Entertainment; 39 West 32nd Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001

Date completed: December 2018 (2 players)

Creativity: 7.5; Difficulty: 6; Atmosphere: 5.5; Fun: 6

Requirements: 2-10 players

About: In the outer reaches of the galaxy, can you and your fellow space travelers escape from a life threatening force?

TLDR: Everything in this room is written in Russian. You are given a cell phone with translation apps and when pointed at words and symbols around the room, you can either read everything in English or hear sounds relating to the symbols. At times the apps were frustrating to work with. You don’t do much searching around the room, as everything is pretty much out in the open. There are four main puzzles to solve which range from intermediate to difficult, which made escaping difficult for two people. This one was a challenge but it was mostly frustrating rather than rewarding, due to the unique high tech involved.

Full review: Upon entering this room, you can pretty much tell that you’ll be in the one room the entire time, meaning everything you need is just about visible. You are handed cell phones that contain two apps on them that you definitely need to complete the game. One app is used to translate Russian words to English by scanning (if you know Russian, you’re in luck!), while the other app involves scanning images around the room, which triggers a sounds and clues on the app. Overall, the apps were frustrating, as sometimes words wouldn’t appear properly.

There are four main puzzles in the room, each having nothing to do with one another, so if you like breaking up into groups to solve separate puzzles but not really working together, this room is for you.

Once the four puzzles are solved, you are given blocks that were hiding under each puzzle, and you must put them together to create something that will help you escape. I won’t go into much more detail than that.

Overall, the room was OK. I appreciated it trying to be unique by using translation apps, but it just wasn’t the most ideal experience for an escape room.