Zoe

You have been called to an abandoned house through your dreams, presumably by the spirit of the little girl Zoe, who disappeared in the house. Her body was never found. If you find her doll, and find the way out, you can set her spirit free. But how much do you know about Zoe? As you continue through the house, you learn more about this innocent little girl. Do you even want her free? And do you have a choice?

Props & Decor:

Most of the props were in decent condition, broken only if they were meant to be….with the exception of a small one in the first puzzle. It was one of the first inklings that the actors were setting off the results of a successful puzzle instead of the gag itself, but more on that later. They did stay consistent with the creepy bloody theme. I loved the props in Zoe’s room in particular, as lots of thought was put into the drawings on the walls, they almost told a story in themselves.

Puzzles:

The puzzles themselves had a decent variety of puzzle styles and were mostly intuitive. However, the results of a “success” for each puzzle left a bit to be lacking. They were almost always a key, and those keys seemed to sometimes come from nowhere logical as if they were being dropped or thrown towards us. Also, one puzzle was out of play and the actors were left to chase us away from it instead of it being blocked off or removed. I got the idea that maybe the room was kept up better before it shut down for the pandemic, and instead of making sure it was in top repair to reopen, the company just went straight to building their new room that we were told to open soon. A little sad, in my opinion, as I had heard wonderful things about this whole experience before 2020.

The Dragon’s 2 Cents

I loved everything about this game but the puzzles. The Bat touched on it a bit in terms of the puzzles felt more like the actors/game masters were flagging them as solved, this was a bit annoying because I didn’t know if I had done the puzzle correctly or not until I would loudly proclaim “I think I got it!” and then suddenly we were rewarded. It didn’t help that a few of the puzzle elements were broken so I wasn’t sure which clues were relevant to the puzzles we were able to try and solve.

Theme:

Amazing horror theme carried throughout the venue, even to the bathrooms and entry area. Once entering the escape room area itself, I am not sure how much of the creep factor is based on the idea that the lighting is very dim through most of the experience, but in this case that was the correct lighting choice for the atmosphere. Also, in the more well-lit rooms, the creepy wall décor definitely did not disappoint. The actors involved, from the actually present menacing actor chasing us room to room to the creepy voice that sometimes helped and sometimes was just creepy, did a wonderful job of adding to the haunted house factor of the escape room. And, something very important to someone from a haunted attraction background, they never broke character.

Overall:

I would give Zoe more points as a haunted attraction than an escape room. The sets, acting, and theme were very well put together. However, the puzzles and their resulting key drops were a bit mediocre, and the time we spent in the rooms during the time it took to solve the puzzles revealed several issues in need of repair. Rumors on the internet say that the room was much better pre-COVID-19, and I really hope for the owner’s sake that it can be returned to its former glory, as it definitely has potential.