The Great Xcape Loudoun — Local services in Sterling

TLDR: Good potential, but poor execution. Pricing similar to other companies (no military discount here though, at least not at Loudon location). Beautiful aesthetics. Puzzles glitch, gamemaster inattentive and/or inexperienced. Better offerings in the area for the price. Disclaimer: I've done several rooms throughout the U.S. and overseas, so I may sound very critical, but I try to objectively focus on what will genuinely enhance/ diminish the player experience whether novice or enthusiast.

Let's start at the beginning: Our room wasn't ready when we arrived 10 minutes prior, which I've experienced before but the room would normally at least be in the prep process and almost done. Our gamemaster was just sitting in the front looking at something on her phone. While we waited for her to reset, my group explored the lobby area, which looked really cool, had lots of beautiful props, and even event space for rent, which I found interesting.

Now for the room (Lord of the Rings theme): I level-set when I saw the open ceiling in the room, knowing we'd likely hear lots of outside noise, which was fine with me. There was no intro story provided, nor the usual breakdown of how the locks work, "don't use more than blah blah amount of force", etc. Let me note that a puzzle was broken (she said it happened earlier that day) and so was a picture on the wall (which I lifted looking for clues and realized that was broken as well). Either way, we jumped right in and began. We got started easy enough but there were multiple glitches that prevented us from progressing well. They could benefit from a better clue system than walkie talkies. I also don't know if their cameras just don't work or if our game master wasn't watching because there were multiple times we asked for help and she couldn't assist without us describing how we got stuck. Most places I've been can immediately assist because they've been watching us, so we lost quit a bit of time due to this. She even came in to see exactly where we were then left to "check her notes". Eventually we just started moving things around enough to get out by chance. We had a whole box we never even opened, lol. This was like 3 minutes after the time ran out. She did not ask if we wanted a few more minutes (or say we'd have more time due to glitches), and she didn't come say "time's up, but here's what you missed". In fact, we just left out the room as she was nose-deep in her phone and looked surprised to see us come out. She did ask if we wanted a picture, to which we declined and went on...

Lots of fun, fantastic and friendly staff. Tech components that work well! Different but good game styles. Not a big fan of the noise level but it was workable.

Our family has completed most of the escape room venues nearby so I was excited to see that this one was available in Sterling. It’s not your typical escape room location or setup however.

The rooms are spacious which is great but the open ceilings on each room allow noise from other rooms as well as other players to spill into your area. This can make it more difficult to hear any ambiance in your room or communicate with your team members.

In regards to immersion, asking for a clue generally required the game master to come in and discuss the puzzle with us. We’ve experienced a variety of clue giving options, via walkie, or on the TV and by far we prefer clues that are given in writing on a screen that just give a nudge in the right direction without outright giving the answer. This setup is not like that and there were no clues given within the style or theme of the room. And they were generally just giving us the next step in detail. Not terrible but not our preference.

The rooms though! We did the Rings room and the Time Machine room in back to back days.

Both rooms had highly technical components that worked really well! The themes were well represented in the puzzles and room decor.

The Rings room was a completely different style than we have ever experienced. It was more like playing a very active board game than your typical escape room. For sure take the game master up on explaining the concept of the game before starting. We were a party of three for this one but it would have been a very neat experience with four players who were competing against each other. We enjoyed it working as a team however too. It’s a little dark and our phone flashlights were needed to see some puzzles. Moving to the second room was not obvious as there was no specific notice given that we had unlocked that area. Game master had to instruct us that we were to move Into the next room.

Time Machine was very thorough in theme. There were a good number of puzzles and it was very well lit! The opening of a cupboard or cabinet was pretty obvious when it occurred which is very appreciated but again the unlocking of the door into the next space was without any clear notification that it had unlocked.

Overall a wonderful venue with fantastic rooms and an incredible staff. We...

The worst customer service I have ever experienced. Booked a room and did not receive any form of confirmation etc . Called to confirm if it’s for the right place etc, I ran late by 5 minutes so I called to let the place know . She said that it was fine . When I arrived , the doors were locked . So my partner and I went up and down checking if we just at the wrong door if there was another entrance on the floor below and there was nothing at this point I called the number where they told me that there was a family emergency and someone had to leave so I said okay , the lady said that she needs to call someone and hung up . She then called me and told me someone will be coming and couldn’t provide an ETA where I was okay I’d like to cancel ( I had dinner reservations that would now clash seeing that I’m also not provided an eta) where I was told “you were late by 20 minutes you can wait a little longer , mind you it was only 5 minutes and I spent the rest of the time trying to figure out where’s the entrance seeing the doors were closed . I left and called about a refund no response , i had an international trip so I couldn’t call anymore so my partner called and she said that she would be refunding me . I have been in contact with the number , which was the lady that was on the phone with me and she has provided me no help . After telling me she will do the refund she asks me to give her information on my booking , I have provided this information and still no feedbacks or updates . She did explain to me that she had some stuff to take care of which I was really fine with and gave her some time but still no response . She continues to ignore me and at this point it’s been 7 days since her last response to me and I still have not received a refund or even just an update . I have exhausted myself with trying to speak to someone from there and will proceed to file a complaint...