Haunted HouseEscapology - Marina Del ReyEscape roomIRLThis game is a mess. The room is so dark that we were told to use our phone flashlights to help us despite the safety video prohibiting it. The reading materials they give you constitute a short novel. One puzzle involving audio prompts has the promots playing over each other, and one speaker is so quiet that the audio is unintelligible. Overall, the puzzle designs feel like you need to read the mind of the puzzle designer in order to solve them (read: serious lack of clueing). In over 300 games, I don’t think I’ve ever had to use so many hints. If this game is being described as an improvement over Escapology’s other games, I can only imagine how bad the other ones are. The set design was the only redeeming quality.
Ctrl Alt RebootEscaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLThis is such a fun game with incredible large-scale sets, living up to the polish and gameplay that Escaparium Laval has become known for. Throughout the game, you are accompanied by a special friend and they were a true highlight of the game. The puzzles have a good level of difficulty and really help drive the story forward. Because the game is long I do wish that they had optional seating in and some of the later portions of the game because fatigue started to set in. I was disappointed to see that generative AI was used in the creation of the band music, as well as the TV commercial in the game. I feel it detracted from the quality of the experience.
Opus MemoriEzkapazEscape roomIRLPlaying this game at 11 PM, our team didn’t know if we would be able to make it through. But once we arrived at the Manor and Cleandre (Morgan) greeted us, we knew we were in for a treat. Morgan was one of the best actors I’ve ever encountered in an escape room. He wasn’t just an actor, he was a comedian and made us laugh throughout the game. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll just say make sure you play this game and have fun with it. Could the room be brighter so it’s easier to read certain clues? Yes. Could the ending be strengthened? Yes. But I’m willing to look past that because the game is just so much fun.
Le Plan [Escape Plan]Escaparium - MontrealEscape roomIRLI spent a considerable amount of time debating whether to give this game a thumbs down or simply leave it blank. However, after comparing my experience to that of several friends who had recently played it, I realized that my experience was significantly less engaging and interactive than theirs, which ultimately led me to give the game a thumbs down. Everyone I spoke with was encouraged to engage in creative scenarios, develop their own solutions, and make meaningful decisions throughout the game. My experience was quite different. Our actors delivered low energy, monotonous monologues, and frequently dictated our actions. Although they occasionally asked for our input, we were rarely given the opportunity to come up with innovative solutions or make meaningful decisions of our own. Instead, we were often simply told what to do. As a result, the game felt like it was on rails and lacked the creativity and player agency I expected from a social engineering game of this nature. I would have appreciated more plot twists that introduced unexpected challenges and setbacks. The game seemed to progress in a fairly predictable manner, which made it feel less engaging and exciting. While I commend Escaparium for attempting something novel with this game, the quality and delivery of the performances ultimately resulted in a disappointing experience.
Le Château du Supplice Éternel [The Castle of Eternal Suffering]Sauve Qui Peut - Saint-JeanEscape roomIRLSauve Qui Peut has seriously levelled up with The Castle of Eternal Suffering. They’ve built an immersive, fantastical world with interesting characters and beautiful environment. Every time we entered a new space it was exciting because we didn’t know where the story and gameplay was headed next. As a colourblind player, there were more colour puzzles in this game than I think I’ve ever encountered in a game. But because the puzzles were so engaging, I didn’t mind it, and my helpful teammates coached me through them, allowing me to participate.
Specter InspectorsSurf City EscapesEscape roomIRLSpecter Inspectors is undoubtedly the strongest of the three games currently open at Surf City Escapes. It has a ton of puzzles crammed into it and our team had a ton of fun trying to race against the clock trying to complete them all. This is the most difficult game at the venue, but enthusiasts should have no problem with it. If you are an experienced player who enjoys a challenge, I’d recommend prioritizing this game over the other two at this location.
Surf's UpSurf City EscapesEscape roomIRLThis is a pretty easy family-friendly game with some fun moments and a regional-specific theme. I’m giving the game a thumbs down due to a malfunction that occurred during the game and how it was handled. In the final act of the game, the game master came in and told us we’d won even though we had multiple puzzles left to solve. When we asked about the unfinished puzzles, the game master said that something had malfunctioned and he was unable to fix it without restarting the entire game. There was a significant amount of puzzling that we missed because of this. Thankfully, they gave us a full refund without asking. At other escape rooms when there are issues in the game, they can be remedied by putting the game on pause and fixing the issue. In this case they told us that was not possible. I’d encourage Surf City Escapes to rework their technology to allow for mid-game adjustments because this will undoubtedly happen again and people should not have to miss out on multiple puzzles because of it.
The Winery InfiltrationSurf City EscapesEscape roomIRLThis is a fun game on the easier side. I enjoyed that it was a theme I’d never encountered before, but some of the puzzles lean more towards following instructions and reading than they are actual puzzles. Also, some of the signposting could be improved as it is sometimes unclear when a certain puzzle is ready to be worked on.
Case '9360Out - Silver LakeEscape roomIRLI played Cartel many years ago and it was nice to see the space repurposed for a new game, but done it way that it still felt new and exciting to me. This room uses comedy in a way I haven’t often seen and a lot of the humor lands, which is rare in escape rooms. The puzzles are a good level of difficulty, though a bit on the easier side. My group had a lot of fun. I hope the owners can take a look at their speaker system because for the second half of the game, all of the speakers were incredibly hard to hear and at one point, we were in an enclosed space, and the speaker was very quiet and outside of the enclosed space. It was almost impossible to hear.
EXTERMINATED: Terror at the JunkyardEvasive Escape Rooms - SarasotaEscape roomIRLThis room was a scary great time. Shout out to Aaron for being a great game master. He put so much energy into his performance and made it a lot of fun for us.
Ink & AshesExodus Escape RoomEscape roomIRLInk & Ashes is a fantastic escape room that introduces a very novel structure of solving puzzles to solve a murder mystery, almost like a game of Clue. The puzzles are challenging, and our experienced group finished with just a minute and a half left. Our game master Emmanuel was fantastic and respected our wish to not be hinted unless we asked for it. I really respected how courteous the staff at this location were and the high quality of the game they’ve built. I’d highly recommend it! This game is non-linear so make sure you divide and conquer in order to finish everything in front of you. Having good attention to detail is very important when playing this game.
The Curse Of The Black KnightEscapeX Rooms - IrvineEscape roomIRLGreat set with lots of fun areas to explore. Some people will need to climb or crawl. The puzzles were on the easy side and we wished there was a bit more content to get through because we finished with plenty of time, left, despite not trying to rush.
Le Grand Hôtel De ParisThe One EscapeEscape roomIRLWow, just wow. This is the kind of room that I’m sad I played because it means I’ll never get to experience it for the first time again. The team at The One escape should be so proud for building this masterpiece of immersive horror entertainment. I can’t remember the last time I felt this scared.
The Live ThrillerBorderliveEscape roomIRLIncredibly immersive and scary! I’ve never done anything like this before. I loved it. We felt like we were inside an episode of Dexter or in the movie Se7en.
The John Wick ExperienceJohn Wick ExperienceEscape roomOther This is immersive theatre at its worst. You wait the entire experience for something to happen as the rooms continually build tension, but then nothing really happens. The John Wick films are known for their hand to hand combat and well choreographed shootouts. This experience has none of that. The only redeeming quality are the impressive set pieces. Most of the actors were giving nothing, save for the casino dealer, who was quick and funny with his insults. Save your money and go elsewhere in Vegas.
Stranger Things: Face the DarkNetflix House - DallasEscape roomOther I was really excited to visit Netflix House Dallas and experience Stranger Things: Face the Dark, formerly titled Escape the Dark. The name change is definitely a good move, because this is by no means an escape room. I was initially confused when I booked it and then arrived to learn it had nothing to do with puzzles or traditional escape room gameplay. What this experience does exceptionally well is scale and immersion. The sets are impressive, the use of live actors adds real intensity, and the technology and production value are ambitious. There are moments that genuinely make you feel like you’ve stepped into the world of Stranger Things. The references to the show’s lore are thoughtful, and there are some genuinely effective scares. Overall, it’s clear that Netflix is aiming high here, and much of it works. Unfortunately, my visit was significantly impacted by technical issues and poor staff response. Because of a snowstorm that day, I was the only guest in the experience, which I was okay with because it meant that the actors were playing up their performances to me directly, which was kind of fun. About 10 minutes in, my headset stopped working. Without it, I couldn’t hear critical audio prompts directing me through the show. I notified three separate staff members. Each one radioed backstage, but no action was taken to resolve the issue. Eventually, when I was physically being ushered into the next room, I verbally refused to continue on, explaining that I was missing half the experience without functioning audio. Only then did a manager appear from backstage and offer to restart the experience with a new headset. I was happy to do that, but I shouldn’t have had to advocate for myself multiple times, especially as the only guest in the building. This experience is designed for groups of 30 to 40 people. If resolving a one-person technical issue was this difficult, I can only imagine how challenging support would be during a full session. To make matters worse, the first replacement headset they gave me also didn’t work. Thankfully, we caught it before restarting. The third headset finally functioned properly. Once the technology worked, I genuinely enjoyed the experience. The performers were committed, the environments were detailed, and the overall value for money felt fair given the production scale. It’s an ambitious and fun concept. While I didn’t try the Squid Game experience at this location, I did attend the traveling Squid Game experience in Los Angeles and had a great time. I hope to return and explore more of what Netflix House has to offer.
The Bridge BetweenQuest TavernEscape roomIRLOur team enjoyed The Bridge Between for its unique theme, high volume of puzzles, and surprising ending. Overall, the room was good and could be improved with some slightly better clueing on puzzles and tweaks to gameplay flow. Certain story beats revealed themselves to only part of the group which wasn’t ideal. There is a lot to do in this game so a group of four experienced players would probably be recommended. Mega shoutout to our GM Patrick who gave the performance of a lifetime before, during, and after the game, making us laugh and smile with his infectious positive energy.
Through The Sugar GlassQuest TavernEscape roomIRLFun candy-themed game with cuteness turned up to 11. Great theming and a lot of puzzles. Mega shoutout to our GM Patrick who gave the performance of a lifetime before, during, and after the game, making us laugh and smile with his infectious positive energy.
Activate [Interactive Arcade]Activate - Culver CityEscape roomIRLFun experience for a group of 4-6 people, but absolutely brutal for people who are colorblind. Following my visit, I sent a lengthy email to their team with 5 easy suggestions they could implement to make their games much more accessible for players with color vision deficiency. It's 2026, they should do better when nearly 10% of all men are colorblind.
Wizard's Treasure60Out - HollywoodEscape roomIRLThis is a great room for two people and is appropriate for all ages. The first part of the room has a good amount of comedy which my friend and I really enjoyed. Beautiful sets and fun puzzles. I understand why people love this room now.
![Le Plan [Escape Plan]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/5b78f41b-a852-4013-9a55-5658c71abfec.jpeg)
![Le Château du Supplice Éternel [The Castle of Eternal Suffering]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/0bc0a8ad-4a2b-430a-807a-3d265b25efae.png)
![Activate [Interactive Arcade]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/056e0afa-aba8-4459-89ff-be2cae6fc9b4.webp)
