Uncle Salem’s Curio ShopUnhinged EscapesEscape roomIRLWe had the pleasure of arriving from Atlanta on Unhinged's opening day their first official customer. Bri was super awesome with accommodating our team at a special time, and we are so grateful because this room was soooo much fun! The set design was super immersive, whimsical, and cute! I loved the theme and the storyline. And the gameplay flowed very well and all the puzzles made sense. We were a team of 5 enthusiasts and escaped with plenty of time to spare (don't remember the exact time left but I think it was at least 20 min), so keep in mind that the puzzles are on the easier side to remain accessible to all. But the whole experience was so unique and fun and we were all amazed with each reveal. Even the lobby and bathroom were super cool! Unhinged truly has developed something special, and I am SO excited to see what the future holds for them. With some slight tweaks and an increase in difficulty, I honestly believe they have the potential to create some TERPECA ranked games in the future! P.S. don't be afraid to flip some switches in the bathroom for a neat surprise!
Strange MagicMind MastersEscape roomIRLSuch a hidden gem and an unexpected joy of a room! Having done some truly mind bogglingly immersive rooms all over the world, I wasn't expecting much when I first went inside the room. But the gameplay and novel puzzles soon pushed all that aside. The 3 of us escaped with 3:35 left on the clock. We all had a blast! The puzzles were challenging but made sense, and there were no physical locks, which helped immersion. You can tell the owner is passionate about what he does, we loved hearing all the Easter eggs he put into the puzzles. Highly recommend!
Cornstalkers: Lost in the MaizeThe Escape Ventures - Orlando Waterford LakesEscape roomIRLBest room of our 11 room trip to Orlando! Absolutely awesome immersion, set design, and definite scare factor. We were a team of 7 experienced enthusiasts (over 100 rooms each) and we got out with just under 3 minutes to spare on the hardest difficulty (according to our game master). Ashley was our influencer and she was hilarious! Absolutely recommend this room, regardless of you're a scaredy cat (like me) or not. Unique and engaging gameplay, and everything flowed and made sense.
The Black JewelDaytona Escape Room ExperienceEscape roomIRLImmersive set design with some challenging puzzles. There is a LOT to do in this room. We barely made it out with 2 people and it required a lot of nudges from the gamemaster to get us to the end, not due to the difficulty necessarily but just because of how overwhelming it was to keep all the half-solved puzzles and clues together with just 2 of us. This is NOT a linear room, and there is plenty to keep 4-6 people busy the entire time. Set is definitely showing its age, and there are a ton of locks to open (not high tech), but it's still worth doing and was a lot of fun. All the puzzles were intuitive (although there was one particularly difficult one we struggled with). Note, there is some crawling involved that you can't get around. Would recommend checking out along with Crying Cactus (my favorite) and Disturbance in Elmwood (#2).
The Crying CactusDaytona Escape Room ExperienceEscape roomIRLVery immersive, awesome set design, unique theme, and overall a ton of fun! Unfortunately we were unable to experience the room at it's best due to either technical or gamemaster training issues, but what we did experience was top tier. The puzzles (particularly in the 2nd room) were challenging, although intuitive for the most part. We did this room with just 2 people and made it close to the end, but were unable to escape due to all the issues we experienced (unsure if we would have escaped if things ran smoothly). But it really is a challenge for just 2 people. 3 people is ideal in my opinion and 4 is really pushing it. Any more than that and it's going to feel crowded and there may not be enough to keep everyone busy the whole time as its a linear room. Would absolutely recommend experiencing this room with an experienced gamemaster, Mike (the owner) did an awesome job with this one. Love all the Easter eggs and humorous parts!
CarnevilExtreme Escape - Stone OakEscape roomIRLAwesome atmosphere and fairly interesting games (some puzzles unique and much better than others). Gameplay was only hampered by several frustrating technological issues with puzzles triggering (a common theme here unfortunately). If you didn't perform action at the perfect speed or sensitivity you wasted several minutes trying again and again thinking you had it wrong. If that was fixed room would be 5 stars.
Witch Hunter - CLOSEDParanoia Quest - BufordEscape roomIRLI echo everything in Jessy's review. I wish I had known before playing it that it was almost identical to Spellbound at 13th Gate Escape. If you've never been to 13th Gate and don't plan to go anytime soon I would definitely suggest playing this room. Awesome atmosphere, great puzzles, very enjoyable gameplay and unique storyline. Great caliber room for the Atlanta area.
The Study - CLOSEDParanoia Quest - AtlantaEscape roomIRLThis was our first experience at this venue and it was very disappointing. Even for first time escape room players the room introduction would have been very underwhelming. We pretty much just got "Your purpose is to find the Professor, good luck." That's it. No video with backstory, no explanation as to where we are or how we got here, nothing. The room itself had seen better days. One lock was broken so the box was already open when we got to it (not a huge deal bc we had the code) and others were hard to read because the numbers/letters were so worn down. Set design was basic and immersion was low. Puzzles were very easy. We played at a super laid back pace and still got out in 25 min. Would barely recommend this room for a team of 2 beginners, so it's definitely not for enthusiasts. The fact that this is one of their highest rated rooms dissuaded us from trying any of their other ones. Desperately hoping their Buford location is world's better.
Secrets of the PharaohsEscape Room @ Barceló Grand Maya ResortEscape roomIRLGreat set design and much better than I expected for being an escape room in a resort! Cannot book online, must book at the resort (so I assume only guests can do this room). Puzzles flowed well and the hint system helped maintain immersion. We didn't escape but we were close. And pricing was good. Definitely worth checking out while you're staying at Barcelo!
Legends of El DoradoPandora Experience - Kuta BaliEscape roomIRLAwesome set design and had some super cool immersive elements I've rarely seen in rooms. Very physical though, so be warned. Escaped with only two people, but there was a lot of running back and forth involved and crawling. Puzzles overall were good, although there was one that were pretty frustrating and could use a redesign. But would definitely recommend while you're in Bali.
CartelMind Busting Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLIt was honestly rather meh. Wasn't the worst room I've done and definitely wasn't the best. The gamemaster ended up taking a piece we needed with her and we were stuck until she realized we didn't have it and she had to come in and give it to us. Had some technical issues in the room as well. Some puzzles didn't really make sense to be there (broke immersion). For a non-enthusiast I suppose it would be decent without the issues we experienced.
