You’re the new Temp at an office, and what a first day! The office supplies have gone missing. One of your co-workers has locked everyone in their offices. He thinks everyone is a suspect. It’s up to you to work together with your new co-workers to solve puzzles and get to the bottom of this alleged mystery.
Rating: Light-Hearted!
Completion Time: 45 minutes
Date Played: 18th March 2021
Party Size: 1
Recommended For: Playing together in the same room, and fans of The Office (US)!!
An Office ESC Room Misadventure (herein known as Office ESC Room to save on typing, haha!) was SO MUCH FUN! A really, super light hearted story with puzzles ranging from the “I solved it before the video was finished” all the way to the other end of the scale with “How do I solve this?!”. I also think it would absolutely delight fans of a particular US TV show… *cough cough The Office cough*
I ended up playing Office ESC Room as a solo puzzler. I did plan to play this one in a team of 2 with a friend from another household, but actually I think it actually worked really well in a ‘team’ of 1! Or at least, that is to say I’d recommend playing An Office ESC room with people in the same household, as there’s a fair amount of video content to watch which gets hard to co-ordinate online with a large team!
So how did I get on? Let’s get into it:
The Story
It’s your first day of the job as an office temp worker and the whole team have been nothing but warm and welcoming. The best part? It’s also SNACK DAY *screams*. But wait, what was that? An alarm suddenly blares and Wyatt steps forward- he has locked you in!
There’s a scandal afoot and he’s determined to get to the bottom of it through the medium of… Escape rooms! It’s up to you to prove yourself and assist each of the team members in unlocking their office and escaping as quickly as possible. You’ve also got to help Wyatt get to the bottom of the mystery by helping him solve puzzles and rummaging through receipts (yep you heard that correctly). But hey, everyone loves a good team building activity, don’t they?
The Experience
Office ESC Room is played completely in-browser and follows a very straightforward format that can be summarised with the following bullet points:
- You’re presented with a puzzle in the form of a video, which you need to watch carefully!
- In most cases there’s also an additional image, helping with the puzzle.
- At the bottom of each page is a password box to proceed, oh and hints too if you get stuck!
- Once a correct password has been entered, a short 30 second video appears before you click to the next puzzle.
The real stand-out about this experience is the video content for sure! The whole thing is done in an 8-bit video game style complete with poppy electronic music and bright colours.
I’ve mentioned already but fans of the US TV show The Office will enjoy this game as it takes a lot of inspiration from it, as well as in-jokes and references which… Unfortunately went a little over my head as a Brit (we have our own version of The Office and it’s quite different, haha!). But of course, cultural references such as Bears, Beets and Battlestar Galactica, or staplers being inside jelly (I had to Google that one actually) will still resonate with an international audience. I’m sure everyone recognises the memes! Haha.
Again, I’m not sure how easy this would be to play with friends in another location. My own experience with video content via Zoom is that everyone either needs to mute themselves at the same time and hit play at the same time, or one person should share their screen. Both ways have pros and cons, but to avoid any technical issue I’d just recommend this be played in the same location. Bonus if you can HDMI your laptop into the TV and watch the videos on the big screen too!
The Puzzles
Just like a previous game I’ve played by the same creator, Office ESC Room starts off with straightforward puzzles to get you into the game. The kind of puzzles you’ll probably solve whilst the introduction video is still playing and telling you what to do.
Is this a false sense of security? MAYBE! Haha. Towards the end it gets really hard! And then the intro video says to take notes in a notebook – they mean it. You’ll have to draw things out, make notes of things that come back later in the game, and just generally have your wits about you.
Furthermore, with more than 15 distinct puzzles to solve, this game is meaty and could take the average up to 2 hours! A lot of puzzles for your buck! There’s also a very clear part 1 and part 2, so just when you think you’re coming to the end the game goes “Aha! Not so fast” and in you go for even more puzzles. I kinda love this?!
In terms of what those puzzles are, players can expect to encounter a wide range! There are puzzles with substitution ciphers, number puzzles, logical and lateral thinking puzzles… Like, there’s a lot! Throughout the game I used around 4 hints on 3 different puzzles, and one puzzle I’m still not 100% sure how I solved it but heck, I got the answer right so I’m not complaining. The takeaway is that there’s something for everyone to get stuck into, no matter how your brain works.
Overall
I aced it! I think 45 minutes it a super respectable time, given how tricky it got towards the end, and I’m glad to be accepted by the office team as not only a valuable temp but *gasp* Employee of the Year too?! The honour!
I enjoyed this game a lot and I think the right team would also absolutely love it! There’s also nothing quite like this experience on the market. If you like US sitcoms from the mid-00s and escape rooms, funny insider jokes and office humour… You’ll love it! I know I did, and I’ve never even seen The Office (US).
The charming 8-bit animation, catchy music, and upbeat vibes make this game a wholesome gem, and definitely one to check out yourself!
An Office ESC Room Misadventure can be purchased for $9.99 USD on Queen City Escape’s website here! Though I also recommend checking out their Twitter where they often post ✨ secret sales ✨
