Hold onto your heads
Location: Killeen, TX
Date Played: July 6, 2023
Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $29 per player
Ticketing: Private
Accessibility Consideration: N/A
Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit
Physical Restraints: [B] Mechanical Release
REA Reaction
To someone (like me!) who hasn't played many horror rooms, The Cellar may well serve as a gateway to the genre. Reservedly gruesome, pretendingly dangerous, and well-executed throughout, this room encouraged me to consider what might be fun about being scared without pushing me too far. It was my favorite of the six games I played at Great Escape of Central Texas (as of July 2023), and my whole mixed-experience team had a blast.
It's hard to pinpoint the room's best feature because all of its elements formed a coherent whole. The basement scenario was full of realistic props and set pieces, but it was always clear what was in play. The puzzles made good use of these props rather than relying only on locks and codes, making us feel like we were realistically manipulating our environment to escape our predicament. On top of that, the game flow was impeccable, incorporating enough structure to guide our focus without undermining our sense of figuring things out for ourselves. It was clear from early in the game what we would get to interact with and why it was blocked. This effectively built anticipation toward when we would "unlock" each of these experiences and sustained the momentum throughout the game.
The highlights of this room were actions that we would never do in real life but were offered as absurd tasks in this creepy world. This is a tricky balance for horror-themed rooms: to mimic questionable activities while conveying the safety of a controlled environment. Overall, The Cellar executed this well, leading to lots of nervous laughter and fun moments to retell later. There was only one puzzle that bordered on too realistic. We approve of its existence; it was clever and thematically appropriate. We just wanted it to be slightly clearer that we weren't going to electrocute ourselves.
Overall, the Cellar incorporated all the fundamentals of a fun escape room: a motivating goal, an immersive space, interesting puzzles, evocative interactions, and the necessary guideposts to hold it all together. For me, it was on par with the best rooms in the nearby Austin market. If you can tolerate horror rooms, plan your trip to Killeen around this one.
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