Zacnsox

Reviews

Reviews

Hope End

Hope End

The Ministry Of Peculiarities

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Words can’t even describe how amazing this experience is. From the minute your group walks in you are immersed in the world of the ministry of peculiarities. And the transition from intro to game is seamless. I found myself becoming engrossed in the story unfolding at Hope End and as the game continued and the immersive theater elements continued to shine and blow me and my group away, I quickly came to realize that this is the best escape room / immersive experience I’ve ever played. There isn’t anything like this room and I’ll most definitely be thinking about this one for a while.
Lab Rat

Lab Rat

Hatch Escapes

  • Escape room
  • IRL
An amazing experience front to end. Lab rat is one of the most unique escape rooms I’ve ever had the chance of playing. With a great puzzle flow and set at its core, Lab Rat never once had me questioning why something happened. While the room itself is clearly very old. With visual wear and tear. To the point where some props and set piece are peeling off the wall. I still think the charm of this room supersedes any of those issues I have with wear and tear and this game is one I’ll surely remember for years to come. A wonderful game from hatch!
The Ladder

The Ladder

Hatch Escapes

  • Escape room
  • IRL
I really wanted to thumbs up this game. In some aspects it is insanely impressive. set, and visual quality are at the top of their game and yet, it doesn’t save them from a poor pricing model, tone deaf themes, and lackluster gameplay/ending. While in the moment I thoroughly enjoyed most of the game. The ladder is not like most escape rooms. More of a live action video game. combining games and puzzles throughout. Games give you money that progress towards your end goal. And puzzles add an extra flair to the lore and experience of the room. (You want to finish puzzles. You’ll feel more fulfilled). My gripe is not with the difficulty but instead with how the game is designed to make use of the replayability feature. We dedicated almost all of our time to these puzzles and only finished 1 of them. At the end of the game, you are given a breakdown of how you did and where your ending fell in the grand scheme of things. We fell in the bottom half. Expectant of a first time group to this replayable experience. But to return I still have to pay over 300+ dollars to do so. The small discount they give you after to come back is nice but not nearly enough to incentivize me to play a replayable game. If the ladder wasn’t built upon replayablity I wouldn’t have such an issue with the pricing. A replayable game about corporate America asks its players to dump hundreds if not thousands of dollars into it should you want the whole experience. In my opinion that’s tone deaf of the designers to price the game in this way. (Totally get real estate isn’t cheap and escape rooms are leisure activities but I’d genuinely come back and play if I didn’t have to spend so much to come back each time.) Overall it’s an interesting concept. Just racked with issues though. Games were fun, our janitor great, effects cool, but I left feeling like I got 50% of the experience and if I just payed them more money, I’d get the extra 50%. So much for climbing the whole ladder.
Recon: The Final Hour

Recon: The Final Hour

Paranoia Quest - Tempe

  • Escape room
  • IRL
A solid room all around. You can tell paranoia Quest strives for immersion for its players and they succeed. While the arrival tasks could use some sort of reveal as they feel busy work-y I enjoyed the theming nonetheless. The room itself had good puzzles, theming, scares (which I knew were bound to come but wasn’t told about beforehand by the person who booked the experience.). I do wish the props had more of an immersive feel to them. Most were laminated and fixed in place. And the indication when to use something was unfortunately poorly indicated. I still had fun though! And will definitely be back to check out their other rooms!
The U-Boat

The U-Boat

Red Fox Escapes

  • Escape room
  • IRL
From the deepfake Patrick Stewart who set the stage to me hitting my head extremely hard on the parascope. This game falls flat. Especially in comparison to their other rooms. The puzzles are underwhelming and the gameplay flow is super lackluster. Our GM didn’t really give too much enthusiasm and after our game ushered us out very quickly. Would’ve been nice to be offered some water and a place to sit after hitting my head so hard. Play something else here. This game should be axed.
Henchmen’s Heist

Henchmen’s Heist

The Nemesis Club

  • 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 Heist

The Heist

Red Fox Escapes

  • Escape room
  • IRL
A very fun and well put together heist room. I loved how the gameplay (puzzles) flowed with having many “choose you own adventure” part and some linear parts. The set, while simplistic in some places was well dressed and lit providing a believable museum/art gallery Where I think this game suffers is in a logistical story narrative. My least favorite thing in escape rooms is when the reason for a puzzle existing is “because escape room”. For example, at the start of the game you are told you must prepare for the heist by gathering tools in your hideout. An interesting premise but after some thought I immediately asked myself, “why can’t we (the thieves) access our own tools from the get-go.” Feeling as though the puzzles in place to get these tools were placed to add bulk in the puzzle department. This was not the sole example, later I thought the same thing in regard to (almost ) every art instillation in the museum having a dedicated safe/lock. Overall “The Heist” is a great heist room with great puzzles, though if you come for the story (which few do) you may leave asking for more. I cant wait to come back to try their other rooms!
Spellbound

Spellbound - CLOSED

Great Room Escape - Tempe

  • 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

Speakeasy

Speakeasy

The Room Escape Games

  • 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

Bam Kazam

Bam Kazam

Bam Kazam Games

  • Escape room
  • IRL
I’ve come here twice and both times I had a fun time. Why I’m giving a thumbs down is because of a few issues. 1. You most definitely need to play with someone who has gone before to get the most out of your experience. Having them function as someone who can guide you along in each room is very helpful. Otherwise you could spend 30minutes on one room when there are multiple to see (some of which are pretty cool) 2. Sometimes the games break down. While this is bound to happen on occasion, they aren’t the best at communicating that to you right away. You could play a broken room 3 times before they tell you that the room is broken. 3. The staff is very rude and difficult to communicate with. Now don’t get me wrong there are employees who are very nice and very obviously want to help but, more often than not, when asking for help they’ll tell you very vague hints or just tell you to try again. Which at first makes sense until you go back and they give you the exact same advice. They try to make you feel stupid. For example, once my group had an error occur in one of the rooms where we won but couldn’t progress (a green light shows up above the door signaling you won with victory music. It’s very hard to not realize you won). Since we couldn’t progress we had to exit through the the losing door. We approached a staff member and told them the room booted us. They immediately responded with, “well did you say the green light” we said, “yes” to which they told us, “when the green light shows up it means we won and if the door is locked then we didn’t win and obviously didn’t see the green light.” No big deal we could try again. After it did this a second time we approached another staff member who told us basically the same thing. That we were wrong and their room was right. It is a chore to try and get help at Bam Kazam. Overall, Bam Kazam is a unique concept and you can definitely have fun but the staff aren’t very friendly and sometimes belittle you which is not fun at all. If you do end up coming here do so on a weekday when you don’t have to wait in such long lines. And bring a friend who has played before. They’ll treat you much nicer than any of the staff I encountered while there.
Storyteller's Secret

Storyteller's Secret

Boxaroo

  • 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

EVIL Robots

EVIL Robots

The Nemesis Club

  • 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

Return of the Pharaohs

Return of the Pharaohs

Paragon Escape Games

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Recently replayed this game and I’m happy to say it’s still one of my favorites in the valley. Beautiful set design with great puzzles and tense moments. Even though my group had no hints it was still a very challenging room. My only gripe is the distance. It was almost an hour drive both too and from Paragon and I live very close to the Central Phoenix area. My recommendation is to wait for their second room to open if you’re worried about the distance (which hopefully is soon!). That said let it be known that if you do make the drive you are truly in for something special!
Conundrum Museum

Conundrum Museum

Boxaroo

  • 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