Andrew Woods
- Sep 23, 2023
- 6 min read

RevoEscape - "The Lab: Lockdown"

Updated: Apr 22

LOCATION:  Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Photo above is property of RevoEscape

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: The Lab: Lockdown
📅 DATE PLAYED: June 24, 2023
🎬 GENRE: Prison/Lab Escape, Realistic Design
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 3 Players): 9/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 3-8 PPL
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 80 Mins.
💰 PRICE: CAD $168 (3PPL), Reduced PP cost with more people
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: YES

📖 THE STORY

Code red, code red...You awake in your cell to the voice on the p.a. alarming you that in eighty minutes the research lab will self-destruct. It is the two hundred and sixth day of your life in captivity as a human guinea pig. You were abducted by a secretive government agency as a virus research test subject, a purpose that has slowly become clear after the many operations you have been subjected to. And now it seems as if you have finally been callously abandoned to die while those bastards escape. How did all this happen you wonder as you look frantically around the room. Something must have gone terribly wrong. The other test subjects are up as well and already trying to find a way to get out. You are calling out to each other, trying to make sense of it all. Is someone missing? One of the cells looks broken out of, but there is no sign of anybody else, except the guard, who is now lying face down and unresponsive in the middle of the floor. You spot his keys and strain through the bars to reach them but they are just beyond your grasp. If we don't get those keys we are going to die here, but how...Code red, code red, this lab will self-destruct in seventy five minutes...

Video above is property of RevoEscape

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

As with their other room, "Bunker: AI Martyrdom", this one was a genius of mimetic design. I am a huge proponent - though not an absolutist - of the realistic and true to life puzzle design philosophy. In fact the game didn't even feel like a series of puzzles per se but more like a scenario, with objectives and obstacles that presented themselves organically. From figuring out how to get out of your cell to working your way through the lab lockdown procedures, it all felt pretty natural and plausible. There were none of the corny and classic escape room puzzle tropes. You aren't going to be counting the number of rivets bolting the toilet seat to figure out the door code, or getting computer passcodes by solving some cryptic anagram strangely and improbably left just for you. In mimetic design the world and the puzzles, their logic and their solution, are one. A good mimetic puzzle is a lot harder to design since it must be true to life and our real world experience. It cannot simply impute some fantastical and external schema. The scenario must originate logically from the idea of the real world within the relative context presented - in this case a research lab - and be resolved only by what would realistically be ready at hand in that context. When well done it is a work of art. The players feel the awe of engaging with a novel world just like their own but which challenges them to expand their mind and their abilities to encompass the new experiential paradigm that confronts them.
The scenario was incredibly well designed, from the natural flow of the stages and their logic, to the uniqueness of the puzzles and their solutions, to just the whole weirdness of the scenario itself. What happens when this perfectly controlled and contained test site goes sideways. It was truly a realistic simulation of what it might be like to have to escape from a research lab.
The space and the props are so good that they bring the scenario to life as one seamless reality. You enter a room and its magic, there's very little direction given but it all naturally makes sense. You instinctively explore and deduce what it is you have to set about doing. The freedom to explore and piece together a world of all these strange and interesting props is immensely exciting.
On top of all this they actually created an interesting and meaningful narrative - which is oftentimes in other rooms treated as an afterthought to the puzzles - in which you are living subjects, with your own backgrounds, who must learn about themselves as a component of their successful escape. You are even given barcodes, like real test subjects!
There is some fun physical stuff as well which the big kid in me really loved.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

I think most people who have played the room probably have a love-hate relationship with the first part. On the one hand it takes a classic scenario - breaking out of a jail cell - and turns it into a genius level puzzle with a plausible and ingenious solution. On the other hand it is also potentially massively frustrating, challenging the players conceptual thinking as well as their ability to execute the solution to the point where you could easily spend a lot of your game time just in that initial room trying to figure it out and make it work. This then leads you to being rushed and not fully able to savor and enjoy the later part of the game. That's what happened to us at least. There also seems to me to be the very real possibility that a group could completely scuttle their chances of solving the puzzle - and then what? That being said I wouldn't have them change a thing about the core structure of the puzzle, but I do feel like beyond asking for hints they have to maybe give the player a nudge in some way, or make the whole process slightly easier and less potentially time consuming. This all being said, it is the fact that the situation is so novel and generates such a visceral and wonderful sense of trepidation in the players that makes it the stand out puzzle of the game.

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

Definitely. Experience the absolute thrill of a well done mimetically designed experience. Its rare to find such a well thought out escape room, and to my mind Revo's are the best in Toronto. It is the Mount Everest of escape rooms, the ultimate challenge. This is not your average escape room, and it will not be your average escape room experience. You don't play it as much as you are thrown into it. To finally pull that cliché out: you really do have to think outside the box. It has its frustration, but it's all part of the fun of having oneself be pushed to one's limits. The bigger the challenge the bigger the payoff. I wish that lab could wipe my mind so I could play the thing again. Overall It's really a unique experience, and one you should savor fully. My advice is to come prepared. You're gonna need a good team of four to five people. It's going to be challenging but do not give up. Pay attention to the story, you are not just a player but a character in the game itself. Stay tuned, because when their new room - The Lost Temple - finally opens I will be first in line to report back on it.

🔎 HINT

It is all possible although it may not seem so at first. Do not despair. Stop panicking and think. Don't waste time doing things when it quickly becomes apparent that they are not going to work. Go back to the drawing board, logically work through the problem and try to come up with innovative solutions.

ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO

Lots of free parking. They have a nice little waiting room with some board games to keep you occupied in case you might have to wait. They have free lockers for you to put your stuff in. In terms of preparation for playing the game itself you should be ready to get physical, and be capable of making some athletic/acrobatic checks. Wear functional clothing.

Photos above are property of RevoEscape

BOOK NOW

(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 RevoEscape for offering us a media discount for our tickets to this game. Although a media discount was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.