Yakuza: Escape The Serpent / Undercover: Escape The Safehouse

The owner already responded to my negative review on yelp if you would like to view his response. I really wasn’t a fan of this room. I'm always hesitant to leave a negative review for an escape room, as I understand the amount of time and effort that goes into creating these experiences. However, I cannot recommend this one when there are numerous other more immersive, engaging, and enjoyable escape rooms in the area. **TL;DR:** Poor immersion, limited and unintuitive puzzles, mostly empty and unused space in the room, and a botched ending by the game master. There were several aspects of the room that felt underwhelming, but the biggest disappointment came at the end of the game. We were on the last puzzle (no spoilers, don't worry), following a series of eight specific steps. After completing only four steps, the congratulations music played, and the game master entered to congratulate us. We hadn't even finished the puzzle, and there were still 10 minutes left - an anticlimactic moment that could have been epic. We only tried the "Undercover" room, so I can't speak for the other rooms. Here's a rundown of our experience: 1. The price was higher than most other locations in the area. A higher price would be justifiable if the experience matched the cost, but based on our rating, it didn't. 2. The immersion was lacking throughout the hour. The game master didn't enter character or create an engaging introduction, which is something I've come to expect from escape rooms. 3. Puzzle design was a major issue. The puzzles were unintuitive, and most of the room was filled with empty space and various objects that served no purpose. These objects didn't feel like red herrings, but rather like the result of an uninspired room design. 4. There were few puzzles that were satisfying or enjoyable to solve. Despite our group having tried 14 different escape rooms, we unanimously agreed that this was our least favorite. On a positive note, the story was interesting and consistent, which initially drew us in. Unfortunately, the execution of the room left much to be desired. EDIT: in response to the owner Firstly, could've cut out the middle few paragraphs and had a very dignified, professional, NOT passive aggressive response. Clarifying the unintuitive puzzles: there werent many puzzles(one of my gripes) so we finished quickly, and although several key puzzles lacked clarity, we were able to brute force trial and error because we've done quite a few escape rooms. Finishing early and finding the puzzles unintuitive is not contradictory, and it shows that my issues with the puzzles wasn't rooted in being a sore loser. It's a little disappointing that the owner didn't even attempt to understand my perspective regarding puzzle improvement. It's hard to describe exactly how the puzzles weren't intuitive without giving them away, but the another big part of my reasoning had to do with all of the extraneous props in the room that didn't serve a purpose. I apologize for thinking the ending was triggered by the game master and placing the blame on them, but now it's even more strange that the ending was solved early. That's a defect in that particular puzzle that it's able to trigger an ending several steps before it should. It was not simply "the final step" or even the second or third to final step. Escaping the room and the ending tends to be the most exciting part of each room! And getting halfway through a puzzle just to hear that you won would be disappointing for most. Pricing: I'm just gonna let people visit the boss play website and notice see you're wrong

Good theme, quick room with puzzles. Could have had more in depth puzzles, but the puzzles it had were fun! Recommend 3 people.

A good room for beginners or small groups of experienced players. There were some unique aspects of this room I really enjoyed. The props and theming I though were fun. I don’t have anything bad to say about it.

Solid escape room. The theming doesn’t speak to me the way Atlantis does, which likely is why I didn’t love it. But overall a fun game.

It was a bit too short and easy and there were only 3 of us. Some cool different elements but generally better for beginners/newbies.

The room was good. But not as good as they hype about it. One particular puzzle bothered me in that there were several equally valid ways to progress, and you had to guess which one the designer had in mind.

My group and I had a great time at Top Tier! I had a few newer players in my group, and this seemed like a good medium-difficulty room; it ended up being the perfect level of difficulty for the team. The game master was nice, the business was clean and easy to find, and the puzzles were a blast to solve! There were some unconventional elements which I enjoyed, but nothing too outlandish or unreasonable. Can’t wait to come back and try Atlantis!

A diamond in the ruff game

Probably the most fun and immersive escape room I’ve ever been in. Puzzles go above and beyond, and aren’t like anything else you’ve seen before!

Really fun non-linear room. Lots of tactile puzzles, well put together room, and very friendly staff