In a world of entertainment, which 5 Wits adventure comes out on top?

overview

In this episode of the competition series, we pit all the 5 Wits games against each other. (Note: We've chosen to use the Foxboro 60 minute version of Espionage rather than the 30 minute version.)

Through five different categories, we'll award points to each adventure, and in the end, see which one is truly the icon of them all. 

Disclaimer: due to the structure of this review, the best game may not be the game that wins. Read the individual reviews for each of these games for our overall thoughts. 

Let's begin. 

category 1: introduction

This category will rank each of the adventures' introductions. For the 30 minute versions, this means the scene before/entering the first room. For the 60 minute versions, this means the first room and its experience, as both of them treat their entire first room as their own introduction. 

Starting with the 60 minute games, 20,000 Leagues puts adventurers into a Jules Verne nautical museum. Secrets are revealed, and while the transition is very cool, it's far from an exciting opening. It really does feel like walking around a museum, for better or for worse. 

Espionage has secret agents entering a rug shop that they soon learn is bugged. Before getting their real mission, the room has to be disabled of all its hidden bugs, which seem to be everywhere. I haven't played the 30 minute version of Espionage, but I am quite confident in saying that this introduction is superior. 

Moving onto the 30 minute games, Deep Space has players watch a short video before being put into a small teleportation chamber. Without spoiling it, the energy buzzes and the lights get brighter before you're teleported aboard a spaceship. It's one of the coolest transitions I've ever seen. 

Drago's Castle brings players to a small alcove with a bookshelf, some trinkets, and a big storybook, which lights up via a projector and tells a fairy tale. When things go wrong, the dragon escapes the pages of the book, and causes real physical destruction before you enter the adventure to go after him. 

Tomb starts in a small tomb entryway, with crates and support beams holding up the structure. Hieroglyphs cover the walls, and a stone door bars the way into the tomb itself. A quick search around the area should allow players to open the door and head inside.

POINT TALLY:

20,000 Leagues: 1 point. The museum doesn't end up being interesting enough for the first couple minutes of the adventure, and feels very filler. 

Tomb: 2 points. Although players do have to complete a task, it's very easy, and there's not much pre-show like all the other adventures. 

Drago's Castle: 3 points. The storybook is a very effective way of telling the story, and the whole intro is witty and charming.

Espionage: 4 points. Completely in storyworld and fun all the way through, the rug shop offers quite a fun introduction to get into the world of spies. 

Deep Space: 5 points. A beautifully constructed transition works just magically to immerse every space traveler into its deeply crafted world. 

category 2: characters

Each of the 5 Wits adventures has a character coming along with you through the adventure, through voice or physically. In the case of the 30 minute adventures, the characters are reliably themselves. In the 60 minute adventures, you have actors, who can be drastically different from one another. We'll take the best experiences we personally had with the actors to make up for this. 

Let's get the complicated actor stuff out of the way and start with 20,000 Leagues. Although there are recordings of Captain Nemo throughout the adventure, he's not the main person engaging with you. Your museum tour guide is dumbfounded to find a hidden submarine right next to his gallery. Unfortunately, there's not a lot for them to do once you're actually inside. While you're solving puzzles, they're mostly just standing around. 

Espionage took a completely different direction to this. Your handler is always using some high-tech gadget to work on opening the next door or disabling security for the next room while you focus on your task in the current one. It works so well and makes the entire experience that much more immersive. 

The recorded characters, on the other hand, are always reliable. In Drago's Castle, the princess from the fairy tale joins you on your adventure through the castle. Although you don't see her throughout the adventure, you can hear her. However, she can sometimes be a bit of an annoying character, nagging you to do something you're already doing. 

Your trip through Deep Space is guided by the ship's Artificial Intelligence system. She is often... extremely unhelpful, telling you about incoming asteroids way too late. But that's a part of her character, and it's more funny than annoying. Towards the end, she has a bit of a change of heart, providing an unexpected challenge and creating some beautiful character development. 

The Pharaoh who inhabits the Tomb makes it VERY clear that you're not here under his permission, and he is not happy. A grumpy king with a lot of charm, his threats of death and beheading are always appreciated and funny. When you do well, it's always entertaining to see him struggle to admit it. 

POINT TALLY:

20,000 Leagues: 1 point. Even if your tour guide is a good actor, there's not much for them to do other than to look around the ship as you solve puzzles. 

Drago's Castle: 2 points. The princess doesn't offer much help, and can make you feel stupid, but she's decently voiced and is overall fine. 

Espionage: 3 points. Your handler always has something to do, and whether or not you need help, they're doing something to help the mission. 

Deep Space: 4 points. The Artificial Intelligence is also unhelpful, but in a good way, and has the most character arc out of anyone in the 5 Wits universe. 

Tomb: 5 points. The Pharaoh is charming, disapproving, and utterly hilarious. His lack of compassion towards intruders just makes him more cute. 

category 3: theming

We'll be focusing on the sets in this category. All of the 5 Wits sets are beautifully crafted and look amazing, so this category will focus more on the contrast between rooms and the attention to detail within them. 

Starting with the 60 minute adventures, 20,000 Leagues has some of the best theming you'll ever see in any escape room, maybe ever. Each of the sub's rooms are beautifully themed, interactive (even when it's not part of the game), and stunning overall. Every single room is unique and well built, offering jaw dropping sets the whole way through. 

Espionage, again, is an amazing piece of art. Every room is exquisitely detailed, and they feel much more real than any other escape rooms have felt. The sets do get a bit more bland as the game goes on, but they still look beautiful, and all of that is made up for by the final room. 

Entering the realm of 30 minute games, Deep Space is the most incredible spaceship I've ever stepped foot on. Thousands of color-changing LEDs help to light up the beautifully built space, with buttons and knobs in every corner. Progressing through the adventure, each room looks absolutely stunning in its futuristic glory, and each room is unique. 

Drago's Castle takes adventurers through three very different parts of a castle, going from a dark dungeon to a throne room. Each of the spaces are well themed and use genuine materials to further immerse players. It should come as no surprise that this is another great set. However, it isn't as impressive as some of the other things 5 Wits has done. 

Tomb has easily the most impressive Egypt set I've seen. Everything feels real, from the hieroglyphs on the wall to the massive statues across the room. The ceiling is fitted with tons of LEDs, allowing for some true magic to happen. The only downside is that all of the rooms look very similar, and there's not a lot of scenic difference. 

POINT TALLY:

Tomb: 1 point. Even though the sets are well built, there's not a lot of variety to see, which can  happen when you build a game based on a tomb. 

Drago's Castle: 2 points. The adventure has some very good scenic that rivals most escape rooms. However, 5 Wits has built even better looking games. 

Espionage: 3 points. Throughout your secret mission, you'll encounter jaw dropping sets. But even with the revolutionary final room, there's a couple of bland-ish rooms that prevent this from scoring higher. 

20,000 Leagues: 4 points. Very close to first place, this undersea adventure features theme park quality sets that never disappoint.

Deep Space: 5 points. Every inch of the space is painstakingly detailed, making this sci-fi adventure one that you will never forget. 

category 4: challenges

Are the challenges unique? Are they fun? Are they a nice amount of difficulty? That's what we're focusing on in this category. 

20,000 Leagues has beautifully crafted challenges that are inventive and replayable. Throughout the adventure, you're getting the sub's systems back up and running so you can return to the surface, while unknowingly creating a deadly enemy. The only gripe I have with this one is that the first challenge requires the ability to read music, requiring outside knowledge. This was unexpected, but rest assured the rest of the challenges completely make up for it. 

Espionage's challenges are continuously creative and fun. Through 5 Wits' careful design, you'll be able to experience stuff you've never experienced before. 5 Wits even built a setting that provides the only good red-herring search segment I've ever seen. Espionage's challenges work well in the environment, and are just fun overall. 

Drago's Castle features very polished challenges, ranging from tactile puzzles to logic riddles. Everything works within the confines of the castle, and every bit of it is fun. It feels very different from traditional 5 Wits challenges, in a better way. 

Deep Space's challenges truly make you feel like you're in outer space. From finding specific buttons among a massive console to blowing up asteroids with lasers, everything fits into the game nicely and helps to grow the story. The middle segment is probably the weakest of the puzzles, but it's still incredibly fun. 

Tomb has challenges set by Pharaoh, who wants to continually test your wits to see if you're worthy of survival. Each of the challenges is well thought-out and built seamlessly into the space. 5 Wits really minded every detail with these challenges, and they are as intense as they are fun. 

POINT TALLY:

20,000 Leagues: 1 point. Even with their amazing challenges, some weaker segments make this one fall behind the rest. 

Deep Space: 2 points. The video game style gameplay is incredibly strong, but the middle segment falls a bit short. 

Espionage: 3 points. With some ingenious interactions, Espionage is thrilling the whole way through, even if some of the challenges are less interesting. 

Drago's Castle: 4 points. The unusual style of the puzzles in this castle just make the adventure even more special. 

Tomb: 5 points. Continually spooky and clever, the Pharaoh presents thrilling challenges that will test multiple senses in your body. 

category 5: ending

5 Wits knows how to make an incredible experience start to finish, so each of the 5 Wits adventures features a pretty spectacular ending. Time to explore the finale of all adventures. 

The Foxboro location has closed, which means I can spoil the endings of these 60 minute adventures. 20,000 Leagues has explorers board a motion simulated escape pod that's attacked by a giant squid halfway to salvation. The whole sub shakes, steam comes out of pipes, water is dripping everywhere as you're being squeezed, and working together with the guide, players manage to electrocute the squid to get away. It's an incredible ending rivaling theme park rides. 

Espionage features an ending that might just be more spectacular. Spies will attempt to defuse a bomb, but as the timer ticks down, they realize it's futile. They get into the adjacent bunker as the bomb explodes. After solving a final challenge to get power to the bunker, the same doors they entered from open up, revealing a completely destroyed room. Ceiling tiles are cracked and crumbling, the concrete pillars are destroyed, and there's a massive crater where the bomb used to be. 

Deep Space's final challenge takes place in a very futuristic room. This final boss battle makes very good use of LEDs, and is fun the whole way through. Other than the LEDs, though, it's not that impressive of an ending. It's still incredible, but compared to what 5 Wits can do, it doesn't stand out too much. 

Tomb's finale takes place in the Pharaoh's burial chamber. After solving a couple of challenges in this room, the Pharaoh can finally move on in peace. It's a very cinematic ending to the game, but similar to Deep Space, there's no wow factor like in the 60 minute adventures. Still, it's a nice ending to a very well made game. 

Drago's Castle, of course, has an ending centered around its main pull: the dragon. Calling him back to the castle, players will actually get a chance to meet him, for better or for worse. Lose or win, players will still get an exciting ending that is most certainly a step above the rest of the 30 minute games. 

POINT TALLY:

Deep Space: 1 point. Although the final challenges are very fun, the ending lacks a wow moment, and I've seen people unsure if they finished or not. 

Tomb: 2 points. Although it's quite beautiful, again, there's not really a big finale for this one. It's more quiet and cinematic. 

Drago's Castle: 3 points. A step above the rest of the 30 minute adventures, Drago's Castle packs a punch in its final act. 

20,000 Leagues: 4 points. The shaking submarine pod is one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in a game, and is truly revolutionary. 

Espionage: 5 points. With an entire bunker built on a turntable, this has to be the coolest ending to any game I've ever seen in my life. 

final tally

Right before we get into this, I have to remind you that this was for fun and does not indicate which adventure is truly the best. There's plenty of incredible features I didn't get to mention, so read each individual room to find out which adventures we prefer most. 

That being said... here are the final tallies. 

5th Place: 20,000 Leagues (11 points)

20,000 Leagues features some incredible scenery and insane interactions, which are coupled with an absolutely crazy ending. The unnecessary tour guide and some of the weaker challenges hold this adventure back from its full potential. 

4th Place: Drago's Castle (14 points)

Drago's Castle is certainly the most polished of all the games, featuring impressive sets and some clever challenges. The one thing missing from this game is something to make it stand out, as all of its aspects are great, but not amazing. 

3rd Place: Tomb (15 points)

Tomb was 5 Wits' original adventure back in Boston, and the remodeling made for a great game, with fun and challenging puzzles in a spooky environment with an amazing character. However, the intro and ending leave a bit to be desired, and the sets don't change much throughout the game. 

2nd Place: Deep Space (17 points)

Deep Space has a mind blowing introduction to the space, a fantastic set featuring thousands of LEDs, and a very vintage sci-fi feel to the whole game. Although the ending could pack a little more punch, the adventure is one of the best you'll find. 

1st Place: Espionage (18 points)

Absolutely incredible from start to finish, Espionage immerses secret agents from the very beginning and doesn't slow down the entire way through. Arguably one of the most immersive and fun experiences in the world, Espionage features insane interactions, sets on a massive scale, and an explosive ending to the world's best spy story.