20,000 Leagues Under the SeaNovel EscapeEscape roomIRLThis was probably the best utilisation of a low budget room I've seen yet. Very 1st generation escape room, but the mechanical nature made sense with the theme. Very enjoyable room despite all these "shortcomings". Now why didn't I give this place a heart? There was a specific puzzle our group found quite obtuse even after finishing the room. It took quite a long time to get and solve which really broke the entire flow. I think my group was actually more off put by this than I was even. Aside from that specific puzzle, all the other puzzles were good. The hint system was absolutely delightful and so on theme. Set design was again low budget, but everything there contributed well to the theme. I do really like what Novel Escapes is trying to achieve by playing around with the novel theme and even incorporating the theme into the lobby. I'm excited to see what's in store next here.
A Christmas UnrememberedEscape Hour AustinEscape roomIRLI really think this room is worthy of just being a permanent addition rather than a seasonal room (I enjoyed this more than Dead Man's Cove for what it's worth). Great puzzles and technology. This room has such a fun and light-hearted theme. Harder than you would think for sure though.
A Knight to EscapeThe Escape EffectEscape roomIRLI loved this room, but it could've been incredible had there been a couple of different design choices. The first gripe is that the courtyard/knight side had a severe lack of things to do until the 2nd room was opened. Reviews are not exaggerating when they say one side has to wait around a lot for the dungeon/prisoner side to solve things. My recommendation would be to put your strongest players on the dungeon side to help alleviate this, but even more, I would hope that The Escape Effect would update the room to eliminate this situation entirely. My second gripe is that the final puzzle is just way too complex for the average person. We were able to still beat the room, but it was only because one person was able to put the entire team on his back like LeBron James and solve a puzzle completely on his own with his incredible memory skills. To tack on to my distaste for the final puzzle, it actually incorporates modern day technology for input which was pretty immersion breaking. The ending was a bit lackluster as well. One minor gripe is that some of the puzzles felt disjointed to the theme. I'm really not sure why there's a Sudoku puzzle (very minor spoiler) in a medieval theme, and I'm saying this as someone who loves Sudoku. The prisoner side was also a bit dark even with the included lantern, but our teammates on that side didn't seem to make too much of a fuss about it. With all these gripes out the way (which do seem to be a lot), I still enjoyed the room a lot. The quality of the set design was great. Everything visible (aside from the Sudoku) really fit the theme well, and there were some nice surprises that were on brand with the theming. Once the 2nd room on the hero side was open, there was never a lack of things to do. I'm also a huge fan of split starts, and this is by far the most extended split start I've ever had. I don't think we even met up with the other side until well into an hour into the game. Overall, if you're looking for a big challenge in a medieval setting, I can recommend this room. For the average escape room enjoyer, I might be a bit more hesitant to recommend it if these caveats sound like a dealbreaker.
Alice In Wonderland60Out - MelroseEscape roomIRLThis was one of my least favourite rooms I've ever done. There was one puzzle that relied on colours, but there were two colours with very similar tones that had our group stuck for a long time even though we knew how to solve the puzzle. One of puzzles was hard to physically see so there was a lot of guess work there too. There was also a mechanic that was interesting at first, but got old fast. Finally, the final "puzzle" was by far the stupidest thing I've ever had to do for an escape room. It was basically Beatmania and had zero puzzle aspect to it. Our gamemaster was also pretty meh and not very helpful when called for which just compounded on all the other issues to make this an unenjoyable experience.
Alien ConspiracyThe Puzzle ParlourEscape roomIRLThe alien theming here fell very flat for me, but it was still a solid puzzle driven experience with a few nice set pieces. The flow of the room suffered at points because it was very hard to tell what exactly we needed to do at times. Some better clueing would've done wonders for a few of these puzzles. The game was also very linear so when these moments happened, it really dragged. While I'm far from hating the room, I just feel this room is so underutilised. There could have been so much more done with the alien theme as it really felt like an afterthought which is unacceptable for a room that has "alien" in the name. One of the nicest set pieces here had very little interaction overall.
A Night In Greyside ManorThe Escape CompanyEscape roomIRLThis room was an exercise in frustration, and I really think it boils down to management. There were lots of artificial difficulty throughout whether it be from the dim lighting, to a puzzle that requires you to read an entire page of text meticulously in CURSIVE, a red herring, terrible maintenance to the point of not being able to read the locks, etc. One box just had two locks to open it because why not? No theming or thought behind it. I'm pretty sure the gamemaster was not watching us at all because when we asked for a hint, she literally asked what we had done already. There was also a part where she started giving a hint for a puzzle we had already completed. Because they use a walkie talkie to deliver hints, we had to wait for her to finish the entire schpiel which was annoying as well. I literally just checked out of the game halfway through because I was just annoyed with all these compounding things. The sad thing is, I actually think this room has a lot of potential, but my experience doing this and another room here makes me feel that management doesn't actually care about the escape room experience whatsoever. The maintenance and gamemaster experience MUST be addressed if this company wants to be taken seriously at all as an escape room destination. Perhaps, the bar is really just the main draw with the escape room as a side thought which in that case, they can ignore my advice freely. I highly recommend escape room enthusiasts to stay away from this establishment until majour changes are made.
Back To The Fourth GradeGreat Escape Of Central Texas - KilleenEscape roomIRLI'm sorry, but this room has got to go. This is very reminiscent of the first escape rooms where it's just a room of full of locks, and you just gotta solve puzzles to unlock them. They did incorporate the school theme well here rather than just having a random office building, but that is nowhere near enough to save the gameplay here. Very few tech elements but endless amounts of combination locks to open. I really hate to bag on this room so much as I actually loved another one here at this location, but there is just no place for these kinds of rooms in today's age of escape rooms.
BattleshipUnreal EscapesEscape roomIRLThe commitment to authenticity here has still not been matched for me out of all the escape rooms I've ever played. Every last bit of the set design in this room was carefully thought out to provide the most authentic battleship experience in an escape room possible. This had the most hefty prop interactions I've had to date as well, and they were so much fun to interact with. There were multiple sequences and interactions here that left us in awe. I really cannot praise the theming and set design more here. Where this room falls short of excellence for me is the gameplay. There are a lot of instructions to read, and if you want to stay in line with the story, you need to fulfill these tasks in a certain order. There was one particular puzzle that got a bit frustrating for us because of the lack of visual clarity. The integration of the puzzle with the set piece was amazing, but the graininess cause a lot of guess and check which got old fast. The overall flow was disjointed, and with so much to do (yet needing to be done in a certain order for the story's sake), it was difficult to know exactly what we should be doing at times. I still think the puzzles were adequate overall, and they should not stop someone from playing this fantastic room.
Before MoonriseEscape New HavenEscape roomIRLI'm writing this review over a year later, but even in the 100+ rooms I've done to date, I still think of this room incredibly fondly. This room truly had an impact on me, and it did so without a live actor which is a feat in itself these days considering how many of the top rooms utilise live actors. I consistently felt engaged with the story, and the incredible voice acting really added gravitas to the situation. Narrative engagement is something I feel like a lot of escape rooms struggle with which can be alleviated with live actors/interactive gamemasters, but for this room to utilise neither and still keep our party invested is a true feat that I haven't come across again yet. The atmosphere and set design were top notch, and there are several visual and audio sound cues that add authenticity to the environment. Even the hint system is extremely well incorporated into the theme. The tech and puzzle density Escape New Haven was able to cram in here is truly impressive. This was definitely a challenging room, but everything made sense. At one point, you are left to make a pivotal decision that will alter the ending of your game. Because I felt invested in the characters, I chose to do a little more work to achieve the desired ending. I really cannot gush about this room enough. It's a shame that this room hasn't gotten much buzz since 2022 on TERPECA, but I'm glad they got their flowers with a Best of Morty 2024. I've been patiently waiting for Escape New Haven's next project and will definitely be making the trek to Connecticut for their next game.
Beware the YetiEscape Zone Long IslandEscape roomIRLThis had a really well built set that even incorporated the artic elements with how cold they set the room haha. There was one puzzle that was basically a reskin of another puzzle they used in a game at one of their other locations so that was a bit disappointing. Our group did find a couple of the puzzles to be overly tedious, and at one point, the game master (thankfully) told us we can just take a picture of one of the cipher because it was taking way too long to go back and forth. Overall, I still really enjoyed the room because I loved the set design and theming, but tweaking a couple of the puzzle choices would really elevate the experience.
