LOCATION: Portland, Maine, USA
Photo above is property of Maine Escape Games
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
📝 ETR DECODER
🔑 GAME: Alien Invasion
📅 DATE PLAYED: August 18, 2023
🎬 GENRE: Sci-Fi
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 PPL): 5/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-6 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins
💰 PRICE: $35/PP (more on weekends)
☎️ BOOKINGTYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes (32:00)
📖 THE STORY
An alien spacecraft has crash landed into the escape room, flooding the area with dangerous levels of radiation. With just an hour left until the dose becomes lethal, you and your team must gain access to the ship and operate the otherworldly mechanisms within to patch up the leak. Should you fail, it’s not just your own lives that will be on the line!
🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE
The inside of the spaceship is chock full of technology custom-built by the designers, all of which runs smoothly despite some impressively complicated designs.
Puzzles inside the ship feel distinctly alien in their construction and function, matching the theme nicely.
The ship is very impressive to look at, and is sure to amaze players, especially if they’re new to escape rooms.
🧩 MISSED THE MARK
The first third of this room is a little plain, though that is likely by design in order to contrast the otherworldliness of the spaceship’s interior.
🏹 TAKE A SHOT?
Like the rest of its peers at Maine Escape Games, "Alien Invasion" is clearly a labor of love by its designers that starts with a strong concept and goes all-in on it. Though its first area is a little simple in terms of aesthetics, all of that changes the moment the player gains access to the spaceship. From here on, Alien Invasion boasts an impressive roster of puzzles with strong integration of electronic elements, making the room feel distinctly high-tech, as a spaceship should. There are some truly impressive custom puzzle elements inside this room, all of which run smoothly and are fun to use.
The room does an excellent job not only of showing off its tech, but also of challenging players to figure out how the alien technology works without the help of written instructions or recognizable terrestrial elements like locks or passwords. This self-imposed limitation takes the puzzle design in some interesting directions, with fairly simple solutions made more interesting to players by the added step of intuiting what is being asked of them in the first place. Once players have figured out the rules of a puzzle, the solution is usually easy to achieve, making this room somewhat easy for groups with lots of experience, but ideal for newcomers to the hobby.
"Alien Invasion" is a great room that’s consistently fun to interact with and look at. Its theming is impressive both in terms of visual style and puzzle design, making it a solid experience all around. While an experienced team might be better served by other Maine Escape Games rooms with higher difficulty, I still had a great time in Alien Invasion, and I think it would be an ideal place to introduce new players to escape rooms.
Photos above are property of Maine Escape Games
ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO
Plenty of parking available just outside the front door.
Merchandise available for purchase in the lobby.
The building itself is handicap accessible, but not all the rooms are. Double check before booking!
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Maine Escape Games for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion of the review whatsoever.
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