Some quick background on how we discovered this place: we had made a logistical gaffe when scheduling our trip to Tampa in that we quickly realized (after all scheduling the day off at work) that Monday’s are not really the optimal day for venues to be open. Let this be a lesson learned to us and possibly other players who are planning multi-room trips in ANY area of the country.
This is not to say that we didn’t want to visit Escape Thrill. We honestly hadn’t heard much about it when planning the trip and when viewing Google, we just weren’t looking to head BACK west (across Tampa Bay, yet again) at the end of our trip. But we’re glad we found this venue and we’re glad that we ventured back towards Clearwater.
Venue: Escape Thrill
Location: 29261 US HWY 19 N, Clearwater, FL 33761
Website: https://www.escapethrill.com/
Cost Per Person: $29.00 per player (public) or $34 per player (private)
Game: Skinned Alive
Difficulty: 3 out of 5 (per players’ perception)
Room Capacity: 4-6 allowed; 3 to 4 players seemed very optimal
Played By: John, Chris R., Sarah and Brian
Game Duration: 60 Minutes
Type: Mostly Mechanical Locks
Rooms at Venue: Currently 4 Traditional Escape Games + 1 Future Game
Rooms Completed: 60
What was Skinned Alive about?
J: You and your group have been kidnapped by serial killer, Herbert Ventor. Upon entering Herbert’s chamber/house/lair, you are presented with a video recording from your demented captor. The way you are taken into the lair is quite unique, but to avoid spoilers, I won’t elaborate. I particularly felt this entrance added to the mysterious and creepy feel of the room.
Herbert likes to toy with his victims prior to, well, um, taking their skin off (Skinned Alive). Herbert has given you and your group an hour to make his way through his chamber, which is a journey of fear and discovery, as you learn about his prior victims. If successful, not only will you foil his plans but maybe, just maybe, you’ll end his crime spree once and for all.
In my opinion, Skinned Alive felt like Silence of the Lambs vs. Saw, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Skinned Alive excelled by giving Herbert his own personality and motives, much different than those of our favorite, original escape room antagonist, Jigsaw.
Was there a stand out moment or puzzle?
J: I think there are two stand out moments: One being the introduction to the room/dungeon/lair. It was thrilling to be able to see how much work was required to escape from Herbert’s dungeon alive and yet, not be able to access that area without clearing a few warm up hurdles first.
The second has been touched upon in other reviews (and unfortunately I read it prior to experiencing the room). Thankfully it wasn’t a spoiler and yet, when we entered the room, we all kind of knew exactly what this odd/unique/creepy moment had to do with. Like previous reviewers, I won’t spill the beans on this one, but it is most definitely a first (and most likely an ONLY) for a room. And even with all of the hype and mental preparation, when it came to my turn to complete this action (because why not?) I was still a bit creeped out.
Escape Thrill really exceled by packing so much in what some seasoned players may consider a small playing area.
What type of audience is this experience geared towards?
J: In my opinion, this room may be a bit too much for younger kids. From the intro, to some of the effects, story line details and required actions taken, I would honestly recommend this, at the very youngest for teenagers.
It is obvious that adults could and should be able to handle this experience, albeit, there are some moments that even gave me the chills. So if you’re sensitive to gore/gory storylines and/or unable to over come some primal fears, this may not be the room for you.
There are no haunt-like scares though.
Did the flow of the game stay true to the story?
J: I believe there was a really good and continuous flow to the story. I believe there were two or three tracks that could be taken by players, that eventually converged into a more linear track. I also can’t comment on it much, but there was a much bigger crime puzzle to be uncovered as player’s found and discovered more pieces to the puzzles along the way. The reason I can’t comment on it much is that I personally was one of the worker bee’s, helping solve the smaller puzzles (that eventually all contributed to the larger one).
Since I was working on all of the smaller puzzles along the way, I would definitely say that there were no sticking points, no time sinks and definitely a wide variety of puzzles and locks. I wouldn’t say that any of the puzzles that I worked on, involved multiple steps which I think completely works for this room, since they all contributed to the bigger picture.
Amazingly enough, we encountered a type of mechanical lock that was new to us all. Thankfully there were no glitches or hold ups on our end or on the venue’s end.
If at all, what recommendations about any aspect could have improved the experience?
J: There weren’t many aspects that we felt should be changed. Ratings and sentiment about a room are never affected by the space used, whether it be an entire building’s worth of corridors and rooms to explore or one room set.
In the case of Skinned Alive, the latter was available and although the space didn’t hinder the experience, at one point, it felt like many of the actions to be taken and puzzles to be solved were associated with quite a few locked items on a piece of furniture in the corner. The challenges involved with allocating puzzles and locked items in an area such as the one provided in Skinned Alive is completely understood. Our team felt like several successful attempts were made to spread things out, but for the sake of a 60 minute game, maybe the limited area forced us to revisit this area several times. Again, this is not a huge deal and did not hinder our experience.
However, I loved that the barrier between the sections of the room was a chain linked fence. To me, that just adds more of a sense of urgency because you can see exactly where you need to go and the amount of work left to complete.
After a good day of driving and escaping, we managed to foil Herbert’s evil plans and possible put an end to him, for good. The story was there, the tests of fear mixed with puzzles were there and the satisfaction of escaping with all of your skin intact was there. For that, we rate Skinned Alive an 8 out of 10.
We thank Amber for being an awesome host and Game Master inside and outside of the experience. Her mannerisms and way with words added to the uncertainty felt prior to entering Skinned Alive (and that was definitely purposeful). If in the Clearwater area, we highly recommend visiting Escape Thrill.
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