VeganGameGuy

Reviews

Reviews

Paradox Project 3: Το Ωδείον [The Music Academy]

Paradox Project 3: Το Ωδείον [The Music Academy]

Paradox Project

  • Escape room
  • IRL
A puzzle-packed breath of fresh air in haunt-dominated Athens, this was a mind-wracking treat and a perfect 600th game!! While not loaded with puzzles, each puzzle can take up to 30 or 45 minutes to solve, which was a unique experience in itself. Absolutely buy a coffee (or two) beforehand (you can bring them in) - kick off your shoes (there will be no running - I wore flip flops), and prepare to be stumped. [Full Review coming later]
Παρεκκλήσι & Κατακόμβες [Chapel & Catacombs]

Παρεκκλήσι & Κατακόμβες [Chapel & Catacombs]

Lockhill - Nea Ionia

  • Escape room
  • IRL
A "meh" from me, this is a large-scale haunted house with a few very simple puzzles. The chapel is the standout room here set-wise with the only great puzzle in the game - the rest of the room was expansive but largely cheap black walls (the word janky was used several times in our group), the puzzles were basic, and the Cthulhu mythos was painfully underutilized. (When the actor warns you about "monsters" - lower your expectations. Cthulhu monsters these are not!). The beginning and end of the game with the actors were great and I do wonder if that's why this is ranked so highly? I'd play this if you want some backstory before House on the Hill, but if you can only play one here, skip this and go right to House.
Evil Dead

Evil Dead

Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This is a truly good escape room with lots of good jumpscares and the (purposefully gimmicky) splatter - wear white if you can. This is first escape room in Athens I played where I felt they nailed the puzzles in addition to the scares - and a game which knew it was gimmicky and played into it. While I've been surprised by how highly most of the escape rooms in Athens are ranked, and this isn't an exception to that, I can see the argument here: it's a blast...literally. Don't travel to Athens for this, but play it while you're here.
Obsessed

Obsessed

Dark Riddles

  • Escape room
  • IRL
A near-perfect blend of puzzling, acting and scares, this is a new top 5 in horror for me. While the plot got a little convoluted for my tastes (unnecessarily in my opinion - much had to be explained after), this is generally a game firing on all cylinders. This retains a number of silly Greece-style escape tropes (bring earplugs!), it is refreshing to find a horror game that uses scares to push the plot forward and still seamlessly delivers quality puzzling. An easy high recommend from me!
The Maid

The Maid

Vansa Escape Room

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Really nice traditional puzzle room and a nice break from the haunted houses at every other escape place. One thing holding back this game is the cluing/signposting. One example: we got stuck on a puzzle because a certain colored light was directed to two things and we spent 8 minutes trying to solve the wrong thing - ultimately this is a rare occasion I wouldve preferred an earlier nudge. For what these puzzles were (mostly standard puzzles), this also felt overlong. This is a 90-minute escape room that for some reason they made into a 150-minute escape room. Ultimately, decent puzzles with a few quite good ones - but is it worth the opportunity cost?
Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer

Neverland Escape Rooms

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This has very few puzzles, all of which are good, and the acting was top-tier, but the subject matter made this more of a brutal experience than a positive one - leaving me questioning if real serial killers should ever be the focus of an escape room. I do wonder if the explicit violent (forced) sex scenes were intended to be more for show, and a "yay congratulations!" at the end felt completely out of place. Plotwise, you're investigators working with police, but theres no way a real trained officer would sit back and watch someone being abused without calling for help or intervening, so the story felt quite unnatural. Also: terribly loud audio, inaudible walkie talkies (because of said audio) and real handcuffs with no safety release...
Maestro

Maestro

Horror Productions

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This is a great nonhorror room that for some reason has a horror veneer. The constant horror-y elements, screams and scares are fun but detract from the story being told and are never quite explained or justified. Puzzles are mostly good though very easy. And the theme and setting are awesome. Where this room shines is in exploration of the space - the set is SUPERB - and in the storytelling, which (with the exception of the random horror-ness about it) is logical and unravels coherently. Not sure if this is just an Athens thing, but the audio was comically loud and melodramatic. When you start the intensity at 90% there's not much progression to 100. This would be much more coherent and enjoyable if it started, say, around 30% and built to a climax. Acting was excellent and I'd highly recommend this room!
Hide N Seek

Hide N Seek

Braniac Escape Rooms

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Some really good stuff here, despite this being one of my least favorite themes. The acting was outstanding, the puzzles were largely interesting, and it has one of the coolest beginnings of any room I've played (... caffeine for extra jitters, anyone?). The scares, however, seemed to drag on to the point of actively interrupting gameplay, which isn't a feeling I like. I love a game where actor interaction (or figuring out how to avoid them) itself becomes a puzzle, but here running and hiding really is the only name of the game, and any puzzle that repeats can get dull. An excellent cinematic also overstayed its welcome and didn't feel entirely safe in the moment. A warning: the actor WILL harm you (though mildly) if you're caught. This didnt bother me much but it was quite surprising when I was caught the first time - we're not in Spain or the Netherlands anymore folks...
Arbreville

Arbreville

De Gouden Kooi

  • Escape room
  • IRL

𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 �𓅝𓃄 �𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿 𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 𓂨𓅝𓃄 𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿

Henry's Birthday

Henry's Birthday

The Missing Link

  • Escape room
  • IRL

𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 �𓅝𓃄 �𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿 𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 𓂨𓅝𓃄 𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿

The Asylum

The Asylum

Silent Town

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Nice set and glad I got to play before it closed. Overall this is a very good asylum game (not my favorite genre), but the feel was a bit "one note" for me - perhaps I've played too many other asylum games(??) - and this has all the tropes! Unlike Asylum of Fear in Wuppertal (incredible), the actor interactions here were a bit same-y throughout, and an almost intentionally dangerous set layout prevented things from getting as intense as they could (should?) be - running is impossible. Finally, the game never seemed to ramp up, and instead the tension was dispersed relatively early on, making the end of the game a bit anticlimactic. Overall, a very good game which I'm glad will find new life with the owners (albeit as a less scary version).
Zoltar Spreekt [Zoltar Speaks]

Zoltar Spreekt [Zoltar Speaks]

Escape Cafe Hilversum

  • Escape room
  • IRL

𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 �𓅝𓃄 �𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿 𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 𓂨𓅝𓃄 𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿

Curiosa

Curiosa

Epic Escape

  • Escape room
  • IRL
An ending fit for a theme park attraction and worthy of this company's name: EPIC. Buckle up and keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times: This is theme park-fanatic approved! While I always could use a few more puzzles (true of most games), this company knows how to have fun with the space and you really get your money's worth - we used every minute (a lot of which was just enjoying the silliness). The story is coherent, unravels cleanly and delivers on the plot. Several moments had us cracking up and even inspired a bit of unexpected relaxation and chitchat (...tea, anyone?) - an unforgettable game and absolutely worth a trip!
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