La Cathédrale Oubliée [The Forgotten Cathedral]Escaparium - LavalEscape roomIRL"Sorry, does this game have subtitles?" Technical masterpiece with immersion-breaking audio flaws... Undoubtedly, a technical masterpiece filled with "wow" moments and unique puzzles, this game's convoluted plot coupled with garbled audio left me questioning at several points why we were doing the things we were doing (...and otherwise shouting to others "what did he just say?!") It is nevertheless an unforgettable experience and is probably one of the reasons you're in Montreal (...right?). So, I don't need to convince you to play this. :) Sadly, the audio was a real immersion breaker for me and really should be fixed (other reviews on here mentioned similar issues, so it's a known issue). It left me feeling unimmersed at a number of key moments and left the puzzles feeling disconnected from the story (our GM's voice was not only garbled, the music often drowned out the voice). The actor is also playing a character with an accent making it even further difficult to make out the words. A bummer because most everything else was firing on all cylinders.
Le Grand Hôtel De ParisThe One EscapeEscape roomIRL10/10 on every metric. No critiques. Easily the best horror game I've played - and in my top 5 all around. The most memorable storytelling mechanic I've seen in the game. Nothing else to say other than: play this ASAP.
The Man From BeyondStrange Bird ImmersiveEscape roomIRLThis is THE reason to come to Houston. Highly immersive experience which is not to be missed. Puzzles are more "standard" than expected, but they're good. It's the story and acting that bring this alive. I appreciate that there's acting which does not depend on saying the right thing to elicit the solutions to a puzzle - those types of puzzles always seem to overstay their welcome or relay on some precise verbiage that one must improv over and over until it works. This is just superb acting -- engaging and immersive. Definitely recommend! And do the "full" experience - the drink is small but sets the mood, and there is a nonalcoholic option.
Molly's GameUntold Stories Experiences [prev. Down the Hatch]Escape roomIRL10/10 puzzles 10/10 story 10/10 set design 10/10 wow moments. "No notes." I've never played an experience which has so successfully nailed every aspect of an escape room. The puzzles, story and set are all, individually, unforgettable, and they come together to create a true masterpiece in immersive gaming. An absolute spectacle, a must-do, and my current favorite game ever.
Dark LullabyEscape Artist Greenville - Hampton StationEscape roomIRLSecond in the Chimera Corp series, this was also my second favorite of the trilogy, but it had the most memorable moment. The puzzles were good, but it's the plot and actor interactions which make this one shine.
The Starlight MotelEscape Artist Greenville - DowntownEscape roomIRLWell-paced light horror game with a few jumpscares and tense moments. Puzzles are decent, but the set is great and the actor interactions are fantastic (Eden was awesome!). The best game at EA Greenville's downtown location (although I still prefer the quirkiness of Classified). My personal ranking of the 5 games at the downtown location as of August '25: 1. Classified: Operation Nine Lives (just too silly not to be my #1 here. No flaws, but it's too easy with 4, I think.) 2. Starlight Motel (excellent flow and plotting, tight with good acting moments, puzzles were just OK - a superior game to Classified, but silliness wins :) ) 3. Yuletide Magic (fun, surprisingly good puzzles and Christmasy vibes) 4. Dr. Fratelli's Cabin (Very (too) easy! A great puzzle toward the end. Good beginner game... or solo game. We finished in 24 mins as 4 people. Skippable if you're low on time) 5. Inventor's Enigma (A unique puzzle at the end, but most puzzles were a bit simple. Relatively easy overall, might be a good beginner room. Skippable if you're low on time.)
PrayEscape Room KatwijkEscape roomIRLThe set here is great, but the puzzles don't make real sense in-world, and the story is... far-fetched to say the least! I'm in the minority, but this was a big disappointment after such an awesome game in Here I Am.
Birth MachineMad MachinesEscape roomIRL𓆜𓋘𓄁 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 𓅟𓂿This review contains spoilers.Unscramble𓀗
Die Legende vom herzlosen Piraten [The Tale of the Heartless Pirate]Dream LabsEscape roomIRL"Don't touch that thing" isn't a fun thing to hear in an escape room (especially when you know you're supposed to touch that thing...) The danger of a game that relies too heavily on actor interaction: if the actor isn't engaging or isn't matching the vibe, the whole game falls apart. The actor told us after she was deliberately trying to slow us down and steer us away from the solutions because we were going too fast, which made for an awkward unfun slog of a playthrough. (If you're not giving a performance that is captivating... why can't we just solve the puzzles?) Some puzzles, particularly in the final room, are good, but the puzzles in the rest of the game are random, even leading us to accidentally solve some puzzles out of order by touching something in the room. It was fun... but not a great escape room (at least as I experienced it). If you play this, know that it's a love letter to point-and-click PC games from the 90s (Monkey Island). If I had known that ahead of time, I probably would've gone in with a different mindset and done some point-and-click refresh research for the fun of it. Overall, this was a surprise post-Metropolis which is awesome (though that one needs a few more puzzles!)
Quest For The Temple of LightThe Keepers of BalanceEscape roomIRLThis is a tough game to rate. On the one hand, the adventure is a blast, the acting was dynamic, and the set design is superior to anything I've seen in 325+ rooms - it's straight out of Universal Studios. On the other, the puzzles ("tasks"?) are so simple that it's barely an escape game at all. I love a nice action-adventure, but this isn't quite enough action to be a "live-action video game," not enough acting to be immersive theater and not enough puzzles to be a [good] escape room. I understand pipelining requires a faster pace, but it must be possible to create nondifficult puzzles which are nonetheless still creative and fun (see The Escape Ventures in Florida). At some point, Keepers made the choice to implement puzzles akin to "place X on X" and "see Y, press Y". Perhaps, they wanted to keep their first room more accessible to non-enthusiasts and are holding back their puzzles for game 2? As it stands, it's a must-do for the adventure if you're in the area, but it's also hard to say it's a good escape game. This place has the potential to be a new business model for the industry in the US, which is, until now, lacking the scale achieved by many games in Europe - and was brilliantly executed here by Keepers. Here's to hoping they succeed and that their future adventures can incorporate better puzzling. I'll definitely be back for their second and third games.
![La Cathédrale Oubliée [The Forgotten Cathedral]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/2c2890dd-87b6-4712-8136-8403e436ec72.jpg)
![Die Legende vom herzlosen Piraten [The Tale of the Heartless Pirate]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/955e8ea2-fe59-4eb2-8e3d-d8f2be7d7b45.png)
