The Escaporium: Area 51 1/2 (Halifax)

The puzzles are out there

Well known alien hunter and conspiracy theorist, Professor Ross Well lives at 51½ George Street.  After years spent collecting, and hunting evidence of extra-terrestrial life, he got his lucky break and came across a crash site up on the moors, complete with a live alien!  He brought the alien back to his house with the intention of keeping him, but the mothership has tracked their friend down and arrived to collect him!

You begin your mission outside Professor Ross Well’s house – what you will find in there is anyone’s guess! But what you do know is that you only have one hour to return the alien back to the mothership, or our planet will be destroyed!

Your excellent investigative observation skills will be put to the test in Area 51½!

Of all the games at The Escaporium in Halifax, Area 51 ½ is probably the one we had heard the most about, and for me, definitely the one I was most looking forward to – especially after the fun we had in the other games at The Escaporium that fly a little bit under the radar .

Area 51 ½ is located in The Escaporium’s second venue, The Mill, just a short walk from their other location in The Piece Hall, along with Operation Moonshine and A Christmas Advent-ure (and soon to be more!) We had just completed those games along with our teammates Amy and Ian, but for Area 51 ½, we would be playing as a team of two. Of course, this game is actually recommended for teams of four to six, but we’ve never shied away from a challenge. Thankfully, The Escaporium offer a little extra time in Area 51 ½ for smaller teams to offer a better chance for completion, but we were determined not to need it.

The reception area in The Mill is comfy, with plenty of space to spread out. Having already been well acquainted with the types of locks we might encounter in Area 51 ½ thanks to the previous four games we had played with at The Escaporium, we settled in for a slightly curtailed briefing that instead touched on only the things that were specifically important for this game (and let’s face it, was mostly just chatting anyway, because that’s what we do.)

With the formalities out of the way, we made our way to the entrance to Area 51 ½, stepped through the door, and found ourselves… out on the street.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Okay, no not really out on the street, but definitely in a space that had been designed to look very convincingly like an alleyway. Area 51 is the newest game at The Escaporium, and it’s clear to see that the team have taken what they learned about set design from previous games, and then taken it one step further, and this only becomes more evident as you progress through the game. When the door shut behind us, a screen flickered to life, and we received a message from the professor himself, charging us with the task of breaking into his lab to save the world – no big deal.

From there, the game just flowed. The non-linear design makes it well suited to the larger teams The Escaporium recommend, but also great for smaller, but experienced teams. (Of course, the extra time for those smaller teams doesn’t hurt either.)

Area 51 ½ is filled with so many easter eggs, and nods to pop culture, not to mention big names in the escape room industry, that they’re practically slapping you in the face. Between these little references, the well lit spaces, and the bright colours, the game has an almost whimsical feel to it, although this is slightly overshadowed by the sheer volume of content contained within the space. But those little references just made the whole experience fun, and we found plenty of reasons to geek out, or just have a giggle as we went about saving an alien (and the world!)

PUZZLES

Beautiful set design aside, where the games at The Escaporium truly shine is in their puzzle design. And Area 51 ½ is no exception. By this point, thanks to the previous four games we had played with the company, we had a good idea how the team behind The Escaporium think and the puzzles were, quite simply, a delight to solve. Whatever the task, each challenge we came across fit perfectly within the narrative, and just made sense, both in the context of the game, and in the logic of its execution.

Codes, alien language translation, tactile challenges, and so much more, there really were puzzle types to suit everyone. Challenges sometimes required logical thought, and other times, a bit of outside the box thinking, but were always invariably fair. Even things that we got stuck on, were down to us making assumptions, rather than actually paying attention to what was right in front of us.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Angela returned as our GM, accompanied by Amy and Ian in the control room (as they had recently played the game). As with every other game we played at The Escaporium, the hosting was on point. While we could request a clue at any point, so long as we remembered the intergalactic call for help, we’re notoriously stubborn, and Angela knew just when to chime in to avoid any loss of momentum due to our own stupidity.

Nudges were expertly timed, accompanied by that same intergalactic call for help so we would know to look, and were just enough to get us back on track, appearing on the screens placed throughout the space, replacing the remaining time until the mothership destroyed the planet.

ANYTHING ELSE

There’s a reason everyone is talking about The Escaporium in general, and Area 51 ½ in particular, and it’s not just because people love aliens. Area 51 ½ is charming, beautifully designed, and full of puzzle perfection.

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – escaped in 59:35

Address:The Mill, Ground Floor, Berwick St Mills, 23 Square Rd, Halifax, HX1 1QG

Website: https://www.theescaporium.com/

*Disclaimer: we weren’t charged for this experience, but this has not influenced our review