In April, I went on a press visit to the new StoryRoom from Two Bit Circus. Billed as Space Squad in Spaaaaace, and hosted inside the entertainment chain Dave & Busters in Milpitas, CA, the experience was fun, cleanly produced, and left me wishing it were longer. Here’s a short review.

With all the clamoring that I’ve been hearing for more narrative in escape room scenarios, I’m surprised that the premise of StoryRoom isn’t already more widespread. I’m also convinced that when we talk about narrative, what we’re really looking for is a sense of theming. We want to see coherence between the various elements of the space, performance, whatever; we want to see a layer on top of the mechanics of the space.

StoryRoom did that quite well, casting the players as Space Squad in a tongue-in-cheek sci-fi mission. The set pieces were well crafted and satisfyingly tactile. On closer inspection, they were built much like a sleek arcade cabinet might be, which may be no mistake, because that’s what the experience ends up feeling like: a 20 minute arcade, albeit one that you get to move around in, and sometimes have to run around in frantically.

A nice touch was the addition of a unique website you receive at the end of your game, where you can find a couple of photos of your team that are discreetly snapped during the gameplay. It’s reminiscent of the roller coaster photo that’s snapped, and allows for a nice souvenir to take home. Here were the ones they gave us.

It doesn’t quite feel like it has the artistic boldness of a theater piece of the sort that I usually look for, but as it’s designed to be plugged into entertainment centers like the Dave & Busters it’s in, it’s not surprising that it would be broader, more entertainment focused. I certainly had fun, but from the perspective of the run-of-the-mill immersive fan, the combination of price (~$15/head for 20 minutes) and distance from major urban centers (Milpitas is about an hour from SF or Oakland, just 15 from San Jose), as well as having to go inside of a Dave & Busters, the threshold is high.

For the medium at large, I’m glad to see it pop up in a new kind of venue. It shows that immersivity is going to spread and stick around. If you happen to find yourself in Milpitas with some time to kill and 3–5 friends in tow, give it a visit.