The Basement Amazes Guests with Engineering Realism In The Elevator Shaft

Toxic fumes fill the room. You collapse onto the cold hard concrete. The last thing you see before your eyes close is the cannibalistic serial killer Edward Tandy’s assistant, Toby, dragging you out of the room. You awake in a small enclosed space no bigger than a walk-in closet. Metal screeches overhead and a ten ton antique steel elevator begins to descend. You failed in Tandy’s basement; now do you have what it takes to escape the Elevator Shaft before your bones are crushed into dust?

The Elevator Shaft is the newest addition to the three rooms at The Basement in Sylmar, CA. It serves as Chapter 2 in the ongoing saga of Edward Tandy and his need to play with his food. Elevator Shaft replaces Tandy’s boiler room with impressive engineering feats, water works, and a climax that puts control in the hands of the player.

The Elevator Shaft uses mechanics in a way that has never been done before and embodies the greatest engineering achievement that I have ever seen in an escape room. As you frantically search for clues that ensure you and your team mates’ safety, the ceiling literally begin to close in on you. Rather than using your clock as a guide to the amount of time left, participants’ focus is shifted to the very real threat of the ceiling constricting their head-space. Although Elevator Shaft plays with themes of claustrophobia, they do so in a way that doesn’t threaten participants physical safety. In addition to the ceiling, Elevator Shaft uses clever water features to help immerse participants in Tandy’s maniacal contraption. Participants go against their mother’s advice and are forced to use electricity in water adding to their fear and discomfort. Clever use of lighting, sound, and fog, capitalize on participants senses to create a lasting impression on first time and veteran escape room fans.

As for the puzzles, Elevator Shaft offered diversity in their game play that provided opportunity for participants to showcase their unique strengths. With a suggested 6 players, there is opportunity for participants to utilize their math skills, mechanical savvy, communication skills, and bravery to escape in time. The puzzles felt organic and natural in their given environment: participants were not solving puzzles but rather utilizing the circuitry, crawling in access shafts, and doing some good old-fashioned hacking to override the system. If you get stuck, there may be someone whispering through a pipe to help you out as well. But with the elevator looming over head, can you take back control in time?

The team at The Basement have accomplished the unthinkable: they have immersed audiences in as realistic elevator shaft that moans, groans, and moves better than the real thing. With clever nods to previous and future rooms, The Elevator Shaft fits narratively and  thematically into the current The Basement lineup. The Basement continues to redefine the escape room industry with each room–and this one furthers that trend. It’s not one to miss!

For more information, check out The Basement’s website, and give their Facebook and Instagram a follow! For more Escape Room reviews from Haunting, click here.

Also, keep an eye out for their 4th experience, opening in early 2018 at the Sylmar location. This will be the 4th chapter in the Edward Tandy saga known as “The Courtyard”.