Location: Columbia, SC
Players: 2-8 (We recommend 4-5)
Price: $25 per person (Tues, Wed, Thurs) or $28 per person (Fri, Sat, Sun)
Time to Escape: 60 minutes
The Pact is sealed with blood!
Theme:
You’ve been kidnapped by a fanatical cult, intent on using you as a human sacrifice in their next dark ritual! You and your fellow kidnappees have only one hour to figure out how to get out of the dark holding cell before they come back for you to complete their evil work, summoning forth who knows what vile creatures!
First Impressions:
For The Sacrifice, there are two versions, standard and advanced; we played the advanced version. The offering to increase the difficulty is a nice touch, and fun for enthusiasts looking for a greater challenge! As we were led to another masterfully themed briefing room, we could already smell incense in the air. It was a great touch to get us excited for our 3rd room of the day, and was yet another small detail that helped up the immersion factor of the room. There was a good, if lighter, introduction to this room and afterwards we were left in our cell to rot.
High Points:
As we had come to expect from The Final Door by now, barring one major hiccup, the room’s puzzles connected incredibly well from one to the next, and an evolving story that tied everything to the theme was woven throughout. The progression from the early to mid and late game felt natural, and the set evolved to reflect our progress. Another great out of the ordinary hint system was in place, keeping everything within the universe of the room. Fantastic interactions that rose above and beyond locks and keys, (or even basic technological interactions,) enveloped us in the narrative and made for some amazing storytelling. The penultimate puzzle pulled everyone together to finish the room with a thrilling and appropriate culmination, capping off an amazing run of escapes from The Final Door.
Low Points:
The room stumbled quite a bit at the beginning. Our initial excitement became frustration as we worked out the solution for a puzzle, but were unable physically to complete it, causing us to spend an overly long time uncomfortably attempting over and over to finally get past it (with a wee bit of assistance from our fantastic GM,) and onto the rest of the room. (After our visit, I was told that the game flow has been reworked to alleviate the frustration of this particular puzzle, and though I cannot comment on its effectiveness, I think it is definitely a positive change!) It was, fortunately, all uphill from there. The room itself was very well designed, but felt a bit less complex than Blackout and The Vampyr. That being said, it was still head and shoulders above most other rooms in terms of presentation.
Verdict:
It says a lot that even though it wasn’t my favorite room at The Final Door, The Sacrifice was one of the best I’ve played. The business as a whole is one of the greatest I’ve ever seen, with only one puzzle I didn’t like during the course of three rooms, which speaks volumes about their amazing design! If you are looking for a place that combines all the best elements of escape rooms and elevates game design from craft to art, this is the place to go. I highly recommend anyone check out one or all of the rooms here, The Sacrifice included. Book your time with the cult here!
9/10 (Excellent)
Full Disclosure: The Final Door provided Media discounted tickets to our team.
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