90s Time Travel Adventure

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One year ago the escape room phenomenon was strong and still growing in places like Toronto, Southern Ontario, and parts of the USA. Other cities like Buffalo, NY were considerably behind the trend and didn’t have too many offerings unless you crossed the border into Canada or headed to cities like Chicago & NYC. Fast forward one year to present day and look at Buffalo now… several companies are now open to the public and people are flocking from all over the Greater Buffalo area to come see what the hype is about! And you know what that means… the reviewers and consultants on the Esc Room Addict team had to see it for ourselves!

Speaking of travelling back in time, Gen-X’ers and those who loved Back To The Future will be happy to know Queen City Escapes figured out a way to send you back to the 90s to fix some things that went horribly, horribly, wrong! The 90s Time Travel Adventure was a fun trip back in time for many of us, although some on our team were noticeably worried their parents were about to break into the room and start yelling to turn that Rick Astley music down!

The customer service was incredible at Queen City Escapes. From the moment we walked in the door we were warmly greeted and felt connected to the staff. Admittedly the location was a bit sketchy and the signage is poor (entrance is from the north side of the building), but after spending a few minutes getting to know the staff most of us forgot about our initial misgivings. The waiting area was a bit small and old fashioned, but again, our team didn’t feel this impacted our overall impression of the pre-room experience.

The room quality was fairly average with no obvious weaknesses. It’s a fairly simple single room experience but does a good job at not feeling cheap. We were most thankful that most of the props used were authentic to the theme and there weren’t any dollar store items. The construction was solid and there weren’t any visible wires or excessive amounts of “do not touch” signs. The set design did fall a bit short in consistently reminding us of where we were supposed to be because of the amount of “stuff” that was mashed together in the room.

Immersion is the one area our team agreed this room needs the most help. Somewhere between the fun theme, the creative puzzles, and the great customer service, we felt disconnected from the story and purpose of being in the room. There wasn’t really a sense of urgency to complete our tasks and the story wasn’t carried throughout the playing experience. We enjoyed the theme consistency from start to finish, but we were definitely feeling a lack of engagement and hoped there would be more than a series of puzzles. Without giving any spoilers, the very end of our time travelling experience was more immersive than at any other part and we really enjoyed how connected we felt to the story at that moment in time.

Were the puzzles good? Yes, for the most part they were. We liked the creativity of the puzzles, the lack of ambiguity as to which clues went with which puzzles, and most of all the lack of excessive locked boxes (although with it being a first generation style escape room you’ll still find a couple locked boxes). One thing in particular we enjoyed is the semi-open, semi-linear fashion of the game. This allowed for more than one puzzle to be worked on at any given time. Our one critique here would be the lack of a team building component. However, the puzzles stayed in theme and context the whole time which was impressive.

So what’s my final thoughts on this room? Would I recommend it? As is usually the case, it depends what you’re looking for… First time players or those who are relatively new to escape rooms should definitely check this room out. Even moreso if you’re a Gen-X’er or a fan of the 90s! Hardcore enthusiasts and those who need a strong sense of immersion would probably not enjoy this room as much however. The ERA team was definitely excited to meet the team at Queen City Escapes and we predict great things for them, and the city of Buffalo, in the near future!

As always, happy escaping!