MagnificoEscaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLNumber 1 for a reason. Incredibly immersive, amazing sets, really create the feel of being there. The cast and acting were INCREDIBLE. I see worse acting in Oscar winning films and marvel movies. What a plot. What an experience. Tech far far above and beyond. However, there's always room for improvement. A few notes: there's a puzzle where a single team member has to yell nuanced instructions from another room through THICK walls. It's extremely difficult to hear if the one randomly chosen is soft spoken. Some of the puzzles were tier 1 - made sense in universe to do. But some were tier 2 - just a puzzle that's heavily themed in universe. No tier 3 -unthemed puzzles. But there were one or two tier 4 - puzzles they are themed but actively counteracted what would make sense in universe. The main note is just that they were quite liberal with hints, often before we got a chance to solve it or while we were already actively doing what they were about to say, which marginally diminished the feeling of autonomy or accomplishment. It's also unclear which instructions you're supposed to follow as a player. Some characters you're supposed to obey, or you get corrected. Others you're SUPPOSED to defy, or you get corrected. And it can be a smidge difficult to tell those apart, especially for the socially awkward. 6 people was too many. People were in each other's way, but only 2 or 3 would be too few, imo.4 or 5 is probably the sweet spot. Overall great music great themeing, solid puzzles, exceptional performances, and an unbelievable set. It's a must see. And it'll knock you dead .
Armoire à Vendre [Wardrobe for Sale]Escaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLMagnifico, it is not. It's still a decent room, but it feels like an earlier version of a build style they perfected later. The best part? Your puppet companion and guide throughout, always at the ready. Notes: One main puzzle room had what appeared to be 10 or so parallel puzzles, but they were actually linear - each one giving a missing piece to the next, which was a bit analysis paralysis and also makes it hard to have everyone help if it's a group. They say the minimum is 4, but we did it with 2 and I don't know what everyone else would be doing. There's a puzzle involving ants I found really kind of random and hard to "solve" conceptually - like it could have meant a lot of things. There's what WOULD be an immersive themed experience between 2 rooms, but the motor that powers it is INCREDIBLY loud whirring and breaks immersion hard. There are prerecorded scenes, so if, say, the French one accidentally plays, it can be very confusing for the players if this is supposed to happen, what are we supposed to do, and the actor has no good way to get out of the scene and fix it until it's done. In the second main puzzle room, there's a lot of devices and I think a couple labels or names would make what one is supposed to do with which part a bit more clear. Nothing a couple puppet hints wouldn't solve, but "hey what if you go back and try that again but slower" doesn't feel as good as the thing you tried magically working. Heck, even the very first puzzle was a bit misleading. What if a secret door had instructions guiding you away from itself? But maybe we're just obtuse on that one. Don't get me wrong - it was a good room and s good experience, but for the ratings accolades and awards it has, especially sharing the same location as Magnifico, it just left us a bit underwhelmed by comparison. The slightly janky precursor. But the puzzles are still creative, heavily themed, mostly sensible and solvable, and a good time. They get you interacting and engaging, and the setting is adorable. Wonderful acting and puppeteering for our show.
Dragon RealmMile High Escape OpsEscape roomIRLWonderfully charming and immersive with INCREDIBLY creative puzzle design. I just played some of the best rated rooms in the world last week, and honestly some of these puzzles were much better. No Boring padlocks or arbitrary codes here. In an unassuming suburban strip mall with "escape room" over the door, your never expect this level of originality and obvious love for puzzle making and immersive experiences. You'll interact in new whimsical ways, all heavily validated in the theme, and you'll probably wonder how some of the effects were done. This is what happens when puzzle lovers have money to make puzzles.
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