LOST

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You’re on a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, and a mysterious uncharted island pulls you crashing down to your death… but wait, you and your fellow passengers have survived and are hoping like heck Matthew Fox is with you! This is the backdrop for one of Escape Game Hamilton’s newest additions to the marketplace. Did the ERA team thwart the evil objectives of Project Dharma and successfully escape the smoke monster? Does Lost deserve some airmiles or should it be avoided like the red-eye discount flight?

The pre-room and customer experience was excellent as it related to the staff. With this location being near the heart of downtown Hamilton, parking availability can be an issue during daytime business hours, but thankfully Escape Canada wisely validates parking for their customers. We were greeted with open arms, a friendly smile, and most of all a desire to make our experience a top priority. For a neat visual experience, make sure you take the elevator down to the entrance in the basement. Most enthusiasts will probably notice the absence of lobby space, amenities, or dynamic pre-room presentation. The lobby is cozy but small. There is a nice tv/monitor on the wall but it wasn’t used for visual entertainment nor the pre-show which seems like a missed opportunity to impress customers. Our team was also hoping for more of an engaging backstory in the pre-room presentation. As a fan of the tv show, I admittedly loved the theme before even entering the room, but again the backstory here didn’t provide much build up or anticipation about what our objective was. The opening instructions and information came from a laminated piece of paper which further took us away from a sense of anticipation and immersion… In short, great staff, but the pre-story needs some work.

The room quality was decent, but again seemed to just get by in terms of providing what we would hope to see. The props were fairly good quality, but the odd mix of items confused members of our review team who weren’t familiar with the show. Our favourite part of the room was how true to the show they managed to keep the experience despite the limited space. Our largest concern however is in how awkward and potentially dangerous some of the construction was. There were a number of confined spaces, rough edges, and generally awkward areas to access to the point some of our team members didn’t wish to enter in/out because it was too uncomfortable. Those who struggle with agility and/or mobility should be advised in advance.

The immersion for LOST was both our team’s most debatable, and for this reviewer most enjoyable area to score. Again, this room is best experienced if you were a fan of the television show like I am. If you have no knowledge of the show, there’s admittedly some potential frustration with the immersive experience. Those who were huge fans of the show (such as myself) assured everyone the atmosphere and use of puzzles fit well within the theme and design, but sadly it seemed more difficult as we went along to encourage others to see this room in this regard. Those who didn’t care to know more about the television show were frustrated to the point of disengaging from the experience. I might even advise those wanting to check out this room to find a quick “Lost explained in 30mins” video online so you have a general feel for the scenario and backstory…

From the strongest part of this room to the unanimous weakest part… the puzzles. When we gather a review team for rooms we’re conscious that different people with varying experience levels will inevitably feel different about a room. For this reason we always bring our experienced ERA members (some with more than 100 rooms under their belts) alongside people who are playing only their first or second escape room. In this case, both the newbies and the experienced veterans felt the puzzles were a bit weak. With the large collection of random odds and ends, it was frustrating not to have more point to point direction. This left the team constantly feeling ‘lost’ (pun intended), and confused on what needed to be done. There were also multiple sources of time consuming red herrings which is always a guaranteed way to frustrate people.

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Is this room fun, and would we recommend it? As always it depends… If you happen to have a group of friends who enjoyed LOST and now like doing things together, then yes this room would probably scratch your nostalgic itch. At the same time, escape room connoisseurs, and those who have no knowledge of the tv show might find this room a bit less enjoyable.

We want to hear your thoughts also! Be sure to comment in the section below or send us a message via email, our Facebook page, or on Twitter… As always, happy escaping!