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Mystery Mansion Escape Rooms presents...
"THE DETECTIVE'S OFFICE"
(REMOTE)
✧ Played In Jul 2020 • Team of 4 Players • Success! ✧
► VENUE & GAME FACT SHEET ◄
🏢 COMPANY: Mystery Mansion Escape Rooms
💻 WEBSITE: Company | Online Games
🏘️ ADDRESS: 2333 Albert St, Regina, SK S4P 2V8 | Google Map
🗾 COUNTRY: Canada
🕒 TIME ZONE: To Check Time Zone
🕹️ GAME: The Detective's Office (Remote)
💻 WEBSITE: Game Info | To Book This Game
⏲️ TIME DURATION: 75 Minutes 💬 DIFFICULTY: 5/10 (Official) | Easy To Slightly Medium (Mattster)
👨👩👧👦 CAPACITY: Minimum Of 2 Players
🔐 GAME TYPE: Private
💰 PRICING: $26.25 (CAD) Per Person
► PREMISE & OBJECTIVES ◄
Official Premise (from Mystery Mansion Escape Rooms):
In 1951, Private Investigator Rick Murphy was investigating a case involving a stolen necklace. Suddenly, Rick vanished without a trace. Step into his office and find out what happened to him. (This is the first of THREE story rooms that involve the Case of the Stolen Necklace.)
► "GAME AT A GLANCE" SUMMARY ◄
📚 NARRATIVE: Detective searches for missing necklace, then he goes missing himself
👀 VISUAL: Realistic, adequate, but not a standout production
🧩 PUZZLE: Very enjoyable from experts' standpoint, a good mix of classic & tech variety
🧠 IMMERSION: Average immersion supported by a detailed backstory
🎮 REMOTE INTERFACE: Telescape Live inventory system, smooth running
💁♂️ STAFF: Same as always, Mystery Mansion's Mitch is always a pleasure to work with
💭 OVERALL: One of my better rated "office space" escape games, very fair pricing
🎟️ BEST FIT FOR: If you enjoy puzzles in an escape room, this one's worth a try
🎫 IDEAL TEAM SIZE: 4 worked out well for us, but even 3 may pull it off
snooped around, collected clues, and cleared the first of three stages.
"The Detective's Office" officially joins the "Recommended" rank!
DO YOU LIKE DETECTIVE SHOWS?
Playing "The Detective's Office" is much like starring in one. Take this 3-part episode special from Mystery Mansion Escape Rooms for example:
We have an unsolved case. A necklace of great value goes missing, and many people who have come into contact with it end up either passing away or disappearing, including private investigator Rick Murphy. Is the necklace cursed, or is something more sinister afoot?
The truth won't surface easily, but we as his associates gotta start somewhere--his office seems like the logical start. Episode 1, scene 1, action! Cue the theme music!
YUP, THAT'S AN OFFICE
Remote escape room or not, it's often very difficult to make an office space astonishingly breathtaking. Only in Hollywood movies does a detective's work place look glamorous. Without special lighting, the set comes across as adequate but realistic.
The real charm derives not from a visual standpoint, but rather, the secrets hidden all over this ordinary looking space. Early on, it was revealed that this exact same room once housed valuables, so many secret compartments and security measures are scattered throughout to ensure their safety.
And that means we get to sniff them out one by one. Yasss.
At first glance, you'd really think this is a pure gen 1 room, guarded by padlocks and combo passwords exclusively. As we advanced though, it became apparent that was not the case. There were more than a handful of unexpected tech automation--they the drawers just start popping open left and right, hah, lovely.
immersion aspect
As to how immersed I felt in the story, this effect greatly depended on our game master, aka avatar. Due to the matter-of-fact nature of the story, my host attempted his best to be interesting, enthusiastic, and humorous with the subjects.
I would fairly say, some jokes landed, some did not, but I felt the passion.
And it wasn't for a lack of trying. The story was actually well composed, narrated through a series of found letters left behind by our PI, and moderately interesting.
Nevertheless, because the theme leaned more towards solving a mystery rather than resolving an urgent matter, especially for remote play, it would be a challenge to evoke deep emotions.
On a plot level, I felt ok; but on a game play aspect, I found myself invested to clear as many puzzles as quickly as possible, and therefore feeling accomplished. I was also happy for genuinely enjoying some good solid puzzles.
SMOOTH & SATISFYING PLAYTHROUGH
Very often, the topic of detective profession lends itself to a more logic and mental based game, and "The Detective's Office" falls precisely in this category.
The general audience is given 75 minutes to complete this escape game, instead of the usual 60, so imagine the amount of brainteasers one may find in Murphy's office.
The answer is "a lot", in case your sleuthing skills is a bit rusty. And I love "a lot". A lot means more to do, more to play with, more challenging good times.
My team, consisting of myself, Christine ("The Haunt Girl"), and "Escape The Roomers" duo Cici and Brandon, is no average players composition, however. Off the top of my head, I can't recall any puzzle, sans maybe one, that escaped our collective ability to rapid fire back an answer within a brief moment. Our stint as junior detectives concluded after roughly 50 minutes.
Though our victory was swift, the entire task force unanimously agreed that the puzzles were well written, carefully thought out, appropriately executed, and offered very solid mind puzzle fun.
Everything made good sense, nothing needed any leap in logic.
To add a cherry on top, there's a very wide range of format among the brainteasers. Because there is no single player that is good at every type of puzzle, this grants every participant the fair chance to become the coveted "first one!" to solve a riddle.
TELESCAPE LIVE SUPPORT
Much like the company's other killer offering "Cut-Throat", "Detective" uses the same live video escape room inventory system supported by Telescape Live.
Inventory page features overview of room, selected close up shot (marked by icon "i" for info), and items collected/revealed via password trigger.
Teammates can also see each other's mouse cursors, enabling one to show another a specific portion of interest on a photo or a passage. A useful feature to consider during all games.
I love such exciting stories and games! By the way, we at Office Technology also like to organize something like this to bring our team together. As it turned out, this increases the efficiency of our joint work and significantly stimulates the emergence of creative ideas and solutions.