You’ve been specially invited to Dino Kingdom for an exclusive VIP behind-the-scenes experience. But beyond the gates, something has gone terribly wrong… Now alarms are blaring, systems are failing and a violent storm is closing in on the island. With the park on the brink of disaster, the fate of Dino Kingdom is in your hands. And if you fail, the dinosaurs won’t stay contained for long…
Room No.129 – ESCAPED in 52m30s
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
💃 “Hostess with the Mostess” Award
🎄 “Immersive Set Design” Award
Hosting
Our final room gave host Georgia more opportunity to show off her acting skills, with her full in-character introduction immediately helping to establish the story and sense of urgency. As Clue Cracker’s newest room, Georgia was also open about the fact that some elements were still being refined. We particularly appreciated the lengthy debrief afterwards, where we could discuss individual puzzles and some of the difficulties we’d encountered.
Theming
The game begins in an office before opening into a clever ‘outdoor’ environment, complete with rain, wind and lightning giving incredible immersion. Some props still felt slightly like placeholders (which is perhaps understandable for a new room) and we couldn’t help wishing there had been a few more actual dinosaurs in our Dino Kingdom!
Puzzling
There were plenty of clever ideas throughout, but this was where Dino Kingdom felt less polished than the other rooms. The opening section took us a while to get moving, with less obvious signposting and some red-herring set pieces creating uncertainty about what could actually be used. Things improved considerably once we reached the storm, where our objectives became much clearer, while the effects created a genuine sense of pressure. The finale didn’t land quite as strongly as those in the previous games, with a lengthy, muddled outro and slightly muddled final piece of storytelling diluted the crescendo.
Dino Kingdom is an ambitious room with some excellent ideas, impressive effects and plenty of enjoyable puzzles, but it currently feels as though it could benefit from some streamlining and refinement. Even so, it completed a fantastic trio of games at Clue Cracker, and we’ll happily return when they unleash their next creation.
