ExpandedCircle

Reviews

Reviews

Cabin In The Woods

Cabin In The Woods

Locked A Rochester Escape Room - Syracuse

  • Escape room
  • IRL

π“†œπ“‹˜π“„ π“Š›π“‡™π“‹Έπ“Œ€π“Œ₯ π“Œ¦ 𓅐𓆒 𓆣 𓀉𓆀 π“†₯ π“…‘π“†˜ 𓆙 π“…’π“„™ π“„š π“„› 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 π“…” π“…• 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 π“Ž· π“„π“ŽΈπ“…– π“…½ π“…Ύ π“…Ώπ“…— π“…˜ 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 π“…š 𓁡 𓁢𓂡 𓂢𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 π“‚Ίπ“…œ �𓅝𓃄 οΏ½π“„π“…žπ“‚™ π“…Ÿπ“‚Ώ π“†œπ“‹˜π“„ π“Š›π“‡™π“‹Έπ“Œ€π“Œ₯ π“Œ¦ 𓅐𓆒 𓆣 𓀉𓆀 π“†₯ π“…‘π“†˜ 𓆙 π“…’π“„™ π“„š π“„› 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 π“…” π“…• 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 π“Ž· π“„π“ŽΈπ“…– π“…½ π“…Ύ π“…Ώπ“…— π“…˜ 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 π“…š 𓁡 𓁢𓂡 𓂢𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 π“‚Ίπ“…œ 𓂨𓅝𓃄 π“„π“…žπ“‚™ π“…Ÿπ“‚Ώ

Jurassic Tours

Jurassic Tours

NW Escape Experience

  • Escape room
  • IRL

π“†œπ“‹˜π“„ π“Š›π“‡™π“‹Έπ“Œ€π“Œ₯ π“Œ¦ 𓅐𓆒 𓆣 𓀉𓆀 π“†₯ π“…‘π“†˜ 𓆙 π“…’π“„™ π“„š π“„› 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 π“…” π“…• 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 π“Ž· π“„π“ŽΈπ“…– π“…½ π“…Ύ π“…Ώπ“…— π“…˜ 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 π“…š 𓁡 𓁢𓂡 𓂢𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 π“‚Ίπ“…œ �𓅝𓃄 οΏ½π“„π“…žπ“‚™ π“…Ÿπ“‚Ώ π“†œπ“‹˜π“„ π“Š›π“‡™π“‹Έπ“Œ€π“Œ₯ π“Œ¦ 𓅐𓆒 𓆣 𓀉𓆀 π“†₯ π“…‘π“†˜ 𓆙 π“…’π“„™ π“„š π“„› 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 π“…” π“…• 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 π“Ž· π“„π“ŽΈπ“…– π“…½ π“…Ύ π“…Ώπ“…— π“…˜ 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 π“…š 𓁡 𓁢𓂡 𓂢𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 π“‚Ίπ“…œ 𓂨𓅝𓃄 π“„π“…žπ“‚™ π“…Ÿπ“‚Ώ

Rocky Point Park

Rocky Point Park

RI Riddle Room

  • Escape room
  • IRL
As a theme park nerd, I am a bit biased here, but I really adored this room. Amidst a sea of dingy dark serial killer basements and ancient crypts, It's always a breath of fresh air to see bright, colorful, playful rooms. Although I've played a handful of amusement park themed rooms, this one stands out for being based on a local park that actually existed. I appreciate when a company can create a game that could only exist within their specific locale. The puzzles are a mix of physical tasks/games (which I personally love to see in a room) and more traditional puzzling fare. Some puzzles were incredibly rewarding to solve, though we found the final puzzle to be under-clued and lacking in that satisfaction upon solving. We played as a group of four, and there was plenty for us to do but I would not want to play with a larger group as the spaces aren't particularly large and we found ourselves bumping into each other many times. We were told that the start of the game had two different puzzle paths to complete and we could work on them in tandem, but we mainly worked in a linear fashion so we could all experience the fun and still got out with time to spare without any nudges required. That being said, if you are a group of two you will definitely need to be on your A game and keep on pace to finish the room, there is plenty to do. Having now played all four currently available games at this location, I can easily recommend any of the rooms here. Everything feels very hand crafted and put together with love and passion. There isn't a bad room here, but my personal ranking would be: 1. Imaginasium 2. Rocky Point Park 3. Forest Of Fortune 4. Vanishing At the Velmont.
Cornstalkers: Lost in the Maize

Cornstalkers: Lost in the Maize

The Escape Ventures - Orlando Waterford Lakes

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Phenomenal game and absolutely one of the best in the US! I wish I could rate this higher than a single heart because I have not been able to stop thinking about it since we finished. Escape Ventures has set a very high bar for themselves. Their set design and atmospherics are immaculate, their puzzles are intuitive, often clever, and flow extremely well. But what truly sets them apart is their storytelling and superlative customer service. Cornstalkers is no exception. This is an expansive game that has a delightfully playful first act serving to disarm you before things take a horrific turn. Chock full of fantastic character interactions that encourage you to play along and interact to your heart's delight. This game demands a lot of it's GMs, but ours, Rina, was an absolute delight. For those who have played their other games, I'd say this is the perfect marriage of the grand scale and pacing of Arctic Storm with the delightful creepiness of Neighborhood Watcher. They bill this as their most intense experience, and I would agree with that, but the disclaimers on their site may scare some people off that could likely handle this one. I would say it's on par with, or even a few knotches below, your standard local haunted house. I wouldn't mind if they cranked up the fear factor a lot more, but for the average apprehensive player they probably hit the sweet spot. I really can't recommend this game enough. While Neighborhood Watcher is my previous favorite game from this company, I think Cornstalkers may have just dethroned it. I can't wait to see what they do next!
The Satirical Miracle: A Jolly Tale Of Granny's Blackmail

The Satirical Miracle: A Jolly Tale Of Granny's Blackmail

The Escape Ventures - Orlando Waterford Lakes

  • Escape room
  • IRL
A delightful game infused with a sense of whimsy and Escape Venture's signature humor. I know this room gets the least amount of love of all their offerings at this location but if this is their "least good" room then they are still miles above SO many other companies. Great set design and atmospherics, intuitive and often fun puzzles, and a few surprise touches that elevated it above a standard xmas room. If you, like me, love a fun lighthearded colorful theme, give this one a shot!
Strange Magic

Strange Magic

Mind Masters

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This unassuming room packs a ton of delight into a small package. The set design isn't particularly flashy but works well for what it needs to do. The real reason you need to play this game is the clever use of tech, and puzzles requiring some real outside-the-box thinking. Even after 300+ rooms played, I found a few elements in this room to be new to me and I was even filled with joy and wonder at a few moments. If you're someone who has done a lot of rooms and have gotten pretty accustomed to standard escape room logic, this will really shake things up for you, as it did for our group of two well seasoned enthusiasts. This is a family run operation and we stayed for a while talking with the owners, who are deservedly very proud of what they've created here. The more we learned about how complex this room actually is, the more we were impressed! This is their first outing as designers and they've set a high bar for their next experience. Can't wait to see where they go from here.
The Attic

The Attic

NC Escape

  • Escape room
  • IRL
First off, please note that the owners of this room apparently own 4 others that all have the same rooms. One of them is Greenlight Escape in Wilmington. Upon entering the room my teammate had the sneaking suspicion she had done this room before (at the Wilmington location) and after a few puzzles that was confirmed. The staff also confirmed this after we finished. I asked what the names of the other companies were to make sure we didn’t accidentally repeat again and they both said they didn’t know and that they couldn’t easily find out. So that remains an unsolved mystery. With that out of the way, this room was perfectly cromulent. Scenic value: you are supposed to be in an attic, and beyond some visible ceiling beams there is nothing in this extremely barebones room to suggest you are actually in an attic. There are almost no visual flourishes and anything in the room will be used for a puzzle. The puzzles: although the puzzles had the veneer of thematic relevance, it mostly felt like you were thrown in a room with a bunch of random puzzles that happened to be somewhat spooky/creepy. There are some puzzles that could definitely use more signposting. We played as a group of 2. I’ve done a lot of rooms and my teammate has maybe done a dozen and we set the record for the 3rd best time, without asking for any hints (although two nudges were given to us without asking, an odd choice given that we were moving through the room pretty fast). Part of this also owed to a reset error that left one lock completely unlocked and on the ground. I am very much NOT someone who cares about setting records and generally wants to use up as much of the hour as possible, so we weren’t trying to blast through it. But it is a very linear room and I think any more than three players would be too much. Narrative: it’s the pretty perfunctory but gets the job done. There are a few moments where the room would benefit from reestablishing certain key narrative points, as it’s easily to forget or not even absorb these when delivered quickly by the GM.
Mad Scientist

Mad Scientist

Paradox Squared

  • Escape room
  • IRL

π“†œπ“‹˜π“„ π“Š›π“‡™π“‹Έπ“Œ€π“Œ₯ π“Œ¦ 𓅐𓆒 𓆣 𓀉𓆀 π“†₯ π“…‘π“†˜ 𓆙 π“…’π“„™ π“„š π“„› 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 π“…” π“…• 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 π“Ž· π“„π“ŽΈπ“…– π“…½ π“…Ύ π“…Ώπ“…— π“…˜ 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 π“…š 𓁡 𓁢𓂡 𓂢𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 π“‚Ίπ“…œ �𓅝𓃄 οΏ½π“„π“…žπ“‚™ π“…Ÿπ“‚Ώ π“†œπ“‹˜π“„ π“Š›π“‡™π“‹Έπ“Œ€π“Œ₯ π“Œ¦ 𓅐𓆒 𓆣 𓀉𓆀 π“†₯ π“…‘π“†˜ 𓆙 π“…’π“„™ π“„š π“„› 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 π“…” π“…• 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 π“Ž· π“„π“ŽΈπ“…– π“…½ π“…Ύ π“…Ώπ“…— π“…˜ 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 π“…š 𓁡 𓁢𓂡 𓂢𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 π“‚Ίπ“…œ 𓂨𓅝𓃄 π“„π“…žπ“‚™ π“…Ÿπ“‚Ώ

Caper in the Escape Room

Caper in the Escape Room

Solve Escape Rooms

  • Escape room
  • IRL
I adore this theme and it's something I've very rarely seen used by other companies. You are sent into an escape room company's building to solve a mystery. You start in their lobby and then proceed to unlock all of their various rooms which naturally play on many classic escape room tropes - pirate room, space ship room, Egyptian room. These rooms can be solved in any order, or concurrently. So if you've got a small group and want to treat it as a linear game you can do that. Or if you've got a more ambitious group full of people who don't mind missing sections of the game then you could definitely head in there and break some records.
The Casino Heist

The Casino Heist

60 to Escape - Milwaukee

  • Escape room
  • IRL
A heist theme? Been there Underwater theme? Done that Combine the tropes together? Like peanut butter and jelly. This room is another very solid entry from 60 To Escape. The set design is excellent, as always. There is a sense of fun and whimsy infused throughout. The puzzles are on the easier and more physical side but by no means is it a walk in the park. They do pull off one WOW moment that took this room to the next level and makes it worth playing for that alone.
The Death of Rasputin [Immersive theater]

The Death of Rasputin [Immersive theater] - CLOSED

The Death of Rasputin

  • Escape room
  • Other
This is not an escape room. This show has taken the mantle of "must-do immersive theatre experience in NYC" now that Sleep No More and Life & Trust are gone. However, if you've done either of those you should know that this is being produced on a much smaller and less permanent scale. The show is located on Governor's Island and you have to take the ferry to get there. Upon arrival you can either enter the first obvious door (most people line up there) or you can seek out the second entrance, located up the hill and around to the back of the building. The back entrance, which I suspect most people don't know exists, is a much shorter line and it will give you a different introductory scene once the show gets going. Unlike SNM you will not be wearing a mask, though you are encouraged to wear all black to help visibly mark you as audience. Most people followed that instruction, a few people very clearly did not. I find that without the masks, the audience seems to be a bit more courteous to each other. Like SNM you are allowed to explore the space freely and follow whatever whims pop into your head. Find one actor to follow the entire time, jump from scene to scene, or simply explore the sets, it's up to you. I personally followed one actor for the majority of the time and found that it was very easy to follow compared to some of the SNM actors. There is some interpretive dance elements but the scenes are mainly conveyed with actual dialog. I found this made is significantly easier to understand what is going on and provides a much more cohesive and complete experience. As much as I love the dream-like, and often vague, nature of SNM, I preferred the inclusion of dialog. Overall I absolutely adored this experience. I followed a character whose storyline was very emotionally affecting, even made me tear up at times. It was a mostly quiet, somber experience. I went with four other friends who all chose different paths and had wildly different experiences. Some had largely action filled, high drama experience, others were treated with an abundance of humor. Although there are only about 12-15 actors and not nearly as much plot to cover as SNM, this still made me want to revisit and make different decisions. My biggest complaint is that the show is listed as 90 minutes, when it's really much closer to about 65. And you only get one run through of the story. I have not been to very many immersive theatre shows, but I suspect SNM has spoiled audiences in terms of expectation for what you'll get for the price. Go in with the right expectations and I think you'll have a blast. Just don't expect a massive 5 story warehouse with impeccable scenic design and dozens of actors. I've been to SNM twice, and I found DoR to be a much more cohesive and complete experience. In many ways it is hard and unfair to compare the two. But if I had an option to go to either one for another performance, I suspect I would choose DoR.
The Haunted Hotel

The Haunted Hotel

BrainXcape Escape Room NYC

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This place is an extremely mixed bag. It did enough right that it would feel wrong to give them a thumbs down but man this place is juuust barely earning this thumbs up. TLDR: looks fantastic, plays terribly. The sets are beautifully crafted. I had read that they were designed by the scenic team at Sleep No More, so no surprise there. Everything feels old, grimey, gross, and perhaps even a little bit haunted. There was one particular prop that looked brand new and felt very anachronistic as well as a few other props that could use some maintenance. The atmosphere is excellent. From the second you step off the elevator you enter into a different world and your adventure starts right away. Unfortunately that is where the good stuff ends. The puzzles REALLY drag this place down. I personally prize sets and immersion high above puzzles but damn did this place remind me how important good, logical, intuitive puzzle flow is to creating a satisfying, and fun, experience. For context, we played as a group of three. Experience ranging from 60 rooms to 290. We played on hard mode, which means you get three clues total, standard stuff. If you choose easy or medium, they will automatically feed you clues at set time intervals. I have no pride or shame in receiving clues, I'm just here for a good time and if I need some nudges along the way that is more than welcomed. The puzzles were largely unintuitive and some required some great logic leaps. There were several puzzles we got hung up on, and asked for clues and were given information that was not signposted anywhere in the room. When you get a clue you want to feel like "Oh duh, OF COURSE it's that. That is so clever!" not "wait... how were we supposed to get that?" We never were able to get into a good flow and build momentum. We completed about 70% of the room within the hour. Our GM told us that they only have a 30% success rate and the majority of teams that fail make it about as far as we did or slightly before. Whether that is true or he was just trying to make us feel better, who knows. Typically when a place brags about low escape rates that is a red flag for bad room design, and sadly I think that is the case here. Perhaps more brains to try and make the tenuous connections between clues would be beneficial. I don't think having a larger team would have helped much as we spent long stretches standing around searching the room over and over again trying to figure out what we missed. At the conclusion of the room our GM told us that we could be entered to win a free room if we leave a 5 STAR review on Google. The drawing is once a month. I hate when companies try to bribe people like this and it's another reason why it is hard to trust google reviews. Praise be unto Morty!
Zoltar Spreekt [Zoltar Speaks]

Zoltar Spreekt [Zoltar Speaks]

Escape Cafe Hilversum

  • Escape room
  • IRL
I expect this room is going to make some big TERPECA waves now that it has been made available in English. Stunning scenic value from start to finish, absolutely packed with details. The gameplay is intuitive and often downright fun. The finale is *so close* to being a master stroke and I can’t believe I haven’t seen something like that in an escape room before. It would be a complete home run if they found a way to more actively involve the entire team as opposed to highlighting one player during this moment. I think this could easily be done. But this room is an absolute must play in the Netherlands!!
The Non Believers

The Non Believers

Your Escape

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This game contains one of the most wildly impressive build outs I’ve ever experienced. It was truly unpredictable and we had no idea where the adventure would physically take us next. This is the main reason you should play this game. I am in awe of what they have created here. That being said, the puzzling was not to my taste and I imagine it drags down many other players as well. Several verrrry long tedious process puzzles. During one especially long puzzle I was scared perhaps we missed one move and would need to recheck our work and I don’t know if I had the heart to do it all over again if that was the case. I would love to see Your Escape lean more into what makes them great, their sense of wonder and adventure. Most puzzles could be 50-70% shorter and it would only strengthen the experience. Regardless, this puts Your Escape on the map for me and I am absolutely interested to play anything else they create.
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