Constraints lead to creativity.
When the world shut down in March 2020, escape room creators all around the world were forced to discover new ways to share their experiential art from afar and keep their businesses afloat. What resulted were hundreds, if not thousands, of online escape rooms that experimented with new formats and new technology, and which were accessible to players anywhere. Some of these games were scrappy approximations of an in-person escape room; others were polished masterpieces that were only possible in this new format.
By most counts, the heyday of online escape rooms has passed. The REA Hivemind went from reviewing over a hundred live-hosted online escape rooms in 2020 and 2021 to a mere handful in the subsequent years. TERPECA also eliminated the Top Online Rooms category back in 2022.
Many — but not all — of our favorite live experiences in this genre now exist only in our memories.
Of note, Headlocked Escape Rooms will stop running their Golden Lock Award-winning games at the end of August 2024. So if you haven't played The Keeper & the Fungus Among Us or Rise of the Fungi (the newer prequel!), book them today!
The Keeper & the Fungus Among Us
Even though we may no longer have to play online escape rooms, there are a number of reasons why we may still want to. There is much to be learned from the evolution of online escape rooms over the past 4 years, and I believe that many such experiences will continue to provide unique value in the right contexts and for the right audiences.
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