The Quest for the Golden Remote
Location: Boston, MA
Date Played: January 12, 2023
Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 3-5
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $35 per player for 5+ players to $45 per player for 2 players
Ticketing: Private
Accessibility Consideration: Players must traverse small passageways, but there is a way around.
Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
REA Reaction
The premise for Room Escapers' Streaming was instantly intriguing: we were told that we'd been sucked into a collection of mashed-together TV shows and had to find our way out before the shows were canceled and we were stuck there forever.
While the environments we experienced throughout Streaming were cheery and playful, their connections to the purported story felt tenuous. Little of the intermediate theming screamed "TV show," and a handful of references to specific shows largely felt extraneous. I appreciated some abrupt transitions between contrasting spaces, but this felt more like a journey through Escape Room Theme Land than through Streaming Land.
Thematic incoherence aside, the core gameplay was whimsical and contained some fun ahas. However, we also encountered some recurring issues throughout the puzzle design. Certain puzzles were overclued, with multiple redundant solution paths leading to the same answer or clues leading to the locations of other clues that were discoverable on their own — all of which ultimately muddied the flow. Other interactions were underclued, especially when it came to object placement. A smattering of data we collected throughout our game wasn't used until later on, which could have been a reasonable meta layer if not for unclear lock mapping along the way.
We still had a blast playing Streaming. The passion and artistry put into this game came through strongly, and given the intended fever-dream aesthetic, many of my critiques of the theming only became salient looking back on the game.
I've seen what Room Escapers is capable of creating with their delightful older game Panacea, and many similarly wonderful elements already exist in Streaming — but the gameplay hadn't quite found its flow yet. We played shortly after the game opened, and they were still iterating on many of the puzzles. I truly hope Room Escapers can zoom out and tighten up the narrative and gameplay so that Streaming can stay on air for seasons to come.
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