The Nest

This is a review of the Escape Room “The Nest” offered by Hatch Escapes in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • ⭐️ 9/10
  • 🌡 Medium
  • ⏳ 60 Minutes
  • 👥 1 – 4 Person

The Nest created a lot of discussion within our team, mainly as to whether it’s an escape room or an immersive experience, and it appears we weren’t the only ones to ponder this as The Nest has the most abstentions in this year’s TERPECA’s. Yes, there are escape room puzzles in there, but they are only a part of the experience. I suppose it’s up to each individual to decide what the minimum number of puzzles and tasks are required for an experience to be categorised as an escape room.

I wasn’t planning on writing a review for this room, but for the last few weeks, The Nest has kept popping into my mind at random moments. Sometimes an image of the experience, sometimes a snippet of the narration but mostly a wave of the emotion it invoked. This is because when we entered, I had no idea of the subject matter of The Nest, so I wasn’t prepared. The subject is something I’d recently experienced with a family member and The Nest was letting me experience it from another perspective.

The build is impressive, the design feels chaotic and claustrophobic, and with each step deeper into the space you discover more and more. One thing to note is that the narrative is accessed on a series of cassette tapes, and there is a significant amount of listening to do. Bear this in mind if your ear for accents isn’t good or English isn’t your primary language as you will have to really concentrate to properly follow the story.

I did like that there is time at the end to process your experience. There is a poignant moment at the end where you’re given time to reflect on your experience and write your thoughts down to include with all the other notes from previous players.

Personally, I didn’t rate this high as an escape room, the puzzles were average and were easily executed, but as an emotive experience, I’d give it top marks as I went through the same feelings as Josie from confusion to fear right through to heartbreak and loss. If you want puzzles then play Lab Rat, but if you want to try an emotive experience then head upstairs to The Nest.

Picture of Jackie Catterall

Jackie Catterall