Online Game Review: Prison

Storyline

A strong shove in the back and you’re pushed into a tiny prison cell. The cold iron door clangs shut. You hear yourself pleading that this has all been a terrible mistake. You haven’t done anything wrong. You’ve been set up to take the fall for someone else. You’ve been framed. But all your pleas fall on deaf ears. The key turns, locking your cell door firmly shut. The sound of the guard’s echoing footsteps fades into the darkness. You sit heavily on your thin mattress. Of course you’re innocent. But you’ll need to escape from this prison to be able to prove it. Standing up in front of the bars, you try and look one way and then the other down the corridor. There appears to be no one else here in this wing. The air is heavy with expectation. And dread. There’s something else going on here. The guard will return in one hour. You need to move yourself and find all the clues that’ll lead to the key and freedom.

Review

The online Prison escape is a game master-hosted room. The game master initiated a Zoom room and was equipped with a mic and camera. The players (for us an experienced team of 4) guided the game master to different areas of the room and asked him to examine or interact with items (look under table, open cabinet, etc.) A mic is required for each player but webcams were optional. This is good because not everyone has high-speed internet.

Overall we enjoyed the game. The theme was good and well executed. We saw some things we hadn’t seen done before, and also a few twists on old favorites that were a pleasant surprise and well in keeping with the theme.

Really good for online play was the use of puzzle codes, which gave us all access via the webpage to game pieces as found. For example, if the team finds a map, it will have a code that one of the players can enter into the webpage. Then all can see it in an inventory. Click on the item to open it, and use a “magnifying glass” to enlarge areas if needed. It was very easy to do a side-by-side view, especially if you have two monitors, or to toggle between Zoom and the webpage if you have just a laptop.

The room was hosted in a different country, but the game master spoke English fluently, so there was no trouble communicating. The room started a little late, but considering we were on opposite sides of the globe, we allowed ourselves extra time in case there were any issues, and this was extremely minor.

It’s hard to specify things we liked without giving away too much about the room, but just as IRL, the smart and funny game master was a plus. The camera use was practiced – steady and not zipping around. The room is a solid GEN2 type, which we still enjoy.

Suggestions for Potential Improvement

• Install a dropcam in the upper corner of the room(s) and then log it in as a separate player. It gives players an option to see the entire field of play or to look around while the game master is being directed to solve a puzzle by others.
• Maybe the game master could wear the camera on the chest (like a GoPro) so that it could be more hands free. When we asked him to take an action requiring two hands, he would have to put the camera down to do it and we couldn’t see the action. (I guess just ensuring the camera had a shelf he could use to place/point it toward those tasks would work, too.)
• List an estimated difficulty level for each room. Our team has a good mix of skills and strengths, and we have done a lot of IRL escape rooms, so we found the Prison a bit easy. It was definitely a good one to get our feet wet in the online way to play.