Lockhill: The Sanatorium

I should start by admitting that I convinced my husband to play this with ‘day mode’. So we had the full puzzles and no live actors. This was a good opportunity for me to experience a scary room without the fear of something chasing me/jumping out. It was nice to have the opportunity to explore the expansive layout, without sweating at every turn. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t scary though! The music is timed well and they definitely knew when I was feeling confident as they would ramp up the sound bites whenever I would walk around on my own. It was easy to see how terrifying this would have been with the actors as there is no place to hide. The layout is expansive enough to feel like you could get lost, without being overwhelming. I truly felt like I was in an abandoned sanatorium, as the set-design is beautiful. I was so grateful to have full access to a fully functioning torch throughout the experience. It’s possible these aren’t available during the midnight mode, best to ask! 

The puzzles were themed well to the story and the clue-system complemented the story. For the first time in a long time, I came out of the room with many questions. We had somehow not done roughly 3 puzzles yet somehow escaped successfully. We escaped with a minimum of 20 minutes spare so we couldn’t understand why we weren’t able to complete these puzzles. I felt like it ended abruptly. The GM spent his time (still in character) explaining why it works this way, but I still don’t fully understand. I imagine with the actors and completing all the puzzles would make this a 5 star room.