The Medieval Prison

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Medieval Prison was the second of three escape rooms we had the honour of playing at Trapped in Mississauga, (a western suburb of Toronto). Our team had just completed a fairly positive experience in The Ancient Pyramid and now we were hungry for more. Would the Medieval Prison be able to finally capture and hold our ERA team, or would we once again escape and live to tell the tale?

As mentioned in our previous reviews about Trapped Mississauga, the pre-room experience was solid! Great customer service, an owner who genuinely cares about the customer’s experience, and friendly staff who were always smiling! This was in addition to what we consider the basics (lots of available seating, an attractive lobby with refreshments, plenty of visible signage from the road, and lots of parking spots). It’s at times like these we often find ourselves questioning why more companies don’t see the value of putting the customer experience first. Thankfully it’s no longer as common as it once was, but we still we hear the occasional designer or owner claim the pre-room experience doesn’t make a difference in how good their company is. It’s no wonder when a room that would otherwise be considered amazing, is considered merely ‘’pretty good’’ or the opposite (a room that would only be considered ‘’ok’’ gets people excited because they were treated very well before the room started). Trapped Mississauga gets it, and thankfully they reap the rewards of being genuinely good people. Having said this, there were a couple little touches we’d love to see added over time. A bigger selection of entertainment (puzzles, games, videos) would be a welcome addition to their lobby. And with the staff being younger, they could work on being a bit more animated and assertive when introducing the room. Aside from those, it was pretty much all we could ask. The blindfolded start was definitely a nice touch however…. We’re off to a good start!

The room quality was also strong. Thanks to the blindfold lead in at the beginning of the game you get to observe and experience everything without the broken ‘transition’ from the outside to inside game environment. This, plus the dim lighting, helped greatly in hiding some décor quality aspects like wallpaper being used throughout. At the same time, you’ll find higher quality materials like solid wood, metal, and concrete used for props and scenery in a manner you’d expect for medieval prison cells. Two particular pieces of furniture/props stood out to us (we won’t say what they were to keep the suspense alive), but one was very impressive, the other was odd and out of place…

The puzzles and immersion go hand in hand with The Medieval Prison. It’s hard to separate these two because much of what we experienced in the puzzles was interwoven with the surrounding atmosphere. This room is designed to put a smile on the face of those who enjoy solid integration between the ‘game’ and the ‘immersive experience’ of an escape room. A few weaknesses in the room caught our attention: One piece of furniture was noticeably out of place, the story wasn’t developed in the game (a common lament of ours), and there was a puzzle which intentionally incorporates red herrings (a modern day no-no for escape rooms). Thankfully these missteps were overshadowed by the positives in the room like: A solid soundtrack, consistent theme integration, inclusive puzzles, an open (non-linear) puzzle path, and one clever puzzle many enthusiasts might get tripped up on (like we did) because it takes something commonly seen and changes it a little… Both the immersion and puzzles were decent with some noticeable strengths and weaknesses, but overall they fit into the average of what you can expect to see in an escape room nowadays.

Did we have fun? Yes. Would we recommend this for another group? Well that depends (doesn’t it always?)… As we said the environment and integration between all the immersive and puzzle elements is fun. The staff are great, and the blindfolded lead in is a perfect way to start this room. At the same time, a couple missteps on puzzle design might be hard for some puzzle enthusiasts to accept. Overall, we enjoyed the room but this would be the type of room you’ll want to encourage your non-enthusiast friends & family to go check out. It’s a great room to get them excited about what an escape room is all about, and to have them be included in the process of going through the room because of the inclusive nature of the puzzle path… We’d suggest a group size of 3-6 people depending on the amount of hands on involvement you’d like to have. You’ll also want a good mix of experienced players and new players in order to maximize the strengths of both… The best part of the experience for us personally was the interaction we had with the staff and owner of Trapped Mississauga. If you get the chance to visit, it’s worth the time to come a bit early and talk with them to learn about some of the interesting art & design work that went into creating their lobby and rooms.

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!