Locked In A Room With A Zombie

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Located minutes away from the Walden Galleria mall in Buffalo, you’ll find Locked-Up Escape. Their venue is a bit difficult to find as it’s somewhat hidden in a slightly abandoned plaza pushed back from the main street… Keep your eyes open and give yourself a few extra minutes to circle around the neighbourhood as we did. On the plus side there was lots of parking and the front of the building had lots of signage letting us know we had arrived.

Once we walked in the building we knew we were either going to be mugged in horrific fashion, or the crew at Locked-Up Escape really know how to set the right atmosphere for horror based fun! To say we were a little more tense than usual would be an understatement. Trapped With A Zombie was our second room here, and we were wondering if perhaps a better pre-story was needed. The pre-room experience was less suspenseful than their serial killer room which used story and blindfolds more effectively.

Did the feeling of missing something continue with the room quality? Not at all! The room was very much what we would expect when entering a bachelor study or apartment inhabited by a zombie. No exposed wires or cheap props were used from what we noticed. Several objects including furniture were well designed and we couldn’t see anything that looked rushed during construction. Some of the locks and puzzles were a bit finicky, but not to the point it frustrated us.

The impressive room quality plus the zombie himself, translated into one of the best immersive experiences we’ve had in a long time! If feeling immersed in your environment and being emotionally invested with what’s happening around you matters, THIS is the experience for you! After the room I couldn’t help but notice how our team was talking louder and faster than normal because of all the adrenaline pumping through our veins. To say that the immersion of this room is its strong point is an understatement. The only thing that could have made it a better would’ve been to connect the puzzles to a more engaging story for people to follow and play through. Apart from the story and the silly little tasks we had to do to ‘escape’ time outs, we were engaged and invested from start to finish!

On the other side of this equation were the puzzles. For the most part they were a fairly standard selection of what we see in most escape rooms. Most of the puzzles didn’t really support the theme or story, but then again this seems to be the norm for most escape rooms in North America. Various locks needing to be solved in a linear fashion with nothing that stood out as overly impressive nor bad sums it up nicely. Overall the puzzles were decent.

And the questions we all want answered: Was this room fun and whom would enjoy it most? A resounding: “Yes! This room is incredible!” was the common answer our review team had. It’s quite rare for this reviewer to feel immersed when a story isn’t developed throughout or supported by puzzles, but there’s always a first! This room isn’t just all about the zombie either. The zombie is great, and does an incredible job of selling the urgency of getting tasks done, but the puzzles and tasks are decent enough to make it really fun when coupled with the raising anxiety levels we felt… Is it for everyone? Well no, there’s some people who should probably avoid this room including: Those with limited mobility, balance, peripheral vision, or those bringing children. This room does contain an increased risk of injury and the atmosphere may be a bit too much for children who are sensitive to scary images. Aside from those, we can’t recommend this room enough. If you’re in the Buffalo area and you like the idea of feeling increased anxiety while you try to escape a room, you’ve gotta check this one out!

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