It’s not every day you get to save the world. But, that is exactly what happened when I visited Get The F Out’s next generation escape room, The Virus. Given 60 minutes, my team and I were whisked to a secret underground base where we had to create a cure for the Red Plague, which was devastating the nation. Thankfully, it is no longer an issue, since we figured it out. At least, until, the next team comes in to try to figure out The Virus.

Located in a non-descript studio space in Burbank, Get The F Out offers its guests a pretty unique take on escape rooms. Not only are their set design and puzzles state of the art, with the talent of top Hollywood artists, theme park designers, actors, and a submarine engineer behind it, but it was features something that I’ve never seen before in an escape room: a virtual reality introduction.

That’s right; in order to really get you into the story of The Virus, Get The F Out employs a wonderful virtual reality film before the room starts that tells the tale of the Red Plague, and actually transports you, via elevator, down to the secret lab. Using the Oculus Rift-like headsets, you can look around, hear, and pretty much feel like you are in the story. It’s a pretty incredible way to get immersed into the story, and while just an additional effect, really does add a lot to the overall room.

As for the room itself, it had a few surprises up its sleeve as well. The eight players are given the roles of scientists, and along with the guard (who is in the room with you at all times), have to find the cure. Your first task is to extract a sample from an infected source (a dead mouse, in this case) to help facilitate the process. However, if you fail, you all become infected, the lab locks, and begins its anti-contamination process, which will eliminate all sources of the virus in the room at the end of 60 minutes time. Of course, that’s where the true escape room begins.

I was incredibly impressed by the caliber of puzzles in the room, as they were all pretty brain-y in nature. While you do have your standard puzzles that appear in other rooms, this one takes it up a notch, and relies on a scientific nature to really challenge you. While some puzzles are relatively low-fi (though no less challenging), there are some surprising high-tech ones that caught me by surprise, and really added to the experience. While tough, we did bring our 13-year-old son along (his first escape room, ever), and he had a blast, especially with some of the more technological based ones. It was fun for the entire family, clearly, and a great bonding experience as well.

Of course, if you are running into difficulty, there is a friendly scientist on hand who is able to (gently) steer you in the right direction again. While helpful, it’s never overbearing, and always a small hint that you still need to think about before you get any closer. Speaking of the scientist, the acting is pretty great here as well. They REALLY get into their roles, and between the VR introduction and their constant presence in the room, it makes the whole ordeal pretty believable.

Though it’s in their press release (which, silly me, didn’t read before hand), they added an addition element to help raise the tension in the room aside from just the ticking clock. The walls, which are pretty spread out when you begin the game, slowly begin to move in as time goes on. Imagine my surprise when, standing by a cabinet, I couldn’t understand why my foot kept getting slightly stuck underneath it.

“Is the room getting smaller?” I asked, while trying to focus on a puzzle. With the rumbling of the cabinets and unopened locks around us, my friend said, “Yes, you dummy!” before diving back into what we were doing. While a small thing, the enclosing walls and the constant alarm letting you know how much time you have left really does an effective job of making you nervous, rattling you just a bit to perhaps through off your puzzle solving skills.

I was also very impressed with the amount of special effects, lighting, and sounds they crammed into the room. It was incredibly well produced, and you can absolutely tell that the team behind it were true professionals in the industry, and brought all their skills to the table here.

At the end of the day, Get The F Out created a one-of-a-kind experience with the Virus Room, and even true escape room aficionados will find a challenge in it. It’s not your standard, run-of-the-mill room, and the team really put their best foot forward in making it the best damn room they could.

Congratulations to the entire Get The F Out team on a job well done. Though we escaped The Virus, we did so with only 29 seconds to spare, the closest call that the room has seen thus far. It truly was an exciting, last minute escape.

If you’re in Southern California, and looking for a new type of escape room escape, I absolutely recommend The Virus.

Tickets are $36 a person for people 13 years and older. Shows run 5pm, 7pm, and 9pm on Thursdays and Fridays. On Saturdays and Sundays shows run every two hours from 10am until 10pm.

For more information, and to purchase tickets to The Virus, visit their website at www.getthefoutroom.com