The Return: Tides & TribesExit Lab Houston [prev. Exit Zone Houston]Escape roomIRLtl;dr the room isn’t without its problems, but it’s an enjoyable experience overall. Definitely worth checking out! This room is technically two rooms, so the time allotted is 90 minutes to complete the two. It is an escape oriented room rather than a story focused room. Puzzles in the first room are very well thought out and progress in a logical way. The second room is unfortunately weaker. Puzzles don’t consistently give clear feedback that you’re progressing appropriately or if you’ve solved them. Perhaps the biggest issue in the second room is that you can solve certain puzzles out of order, which can lead to a room breaking experience. Our GM was attentive and warned us when we were approaching this point. It seems like something they could easily avoid by better puzzle gating. Based on our conversation with the GM, it seems that a lot of players don’t escape the room, so this issue might not have come up enough for them to notice it’s a problem. Overall, we enjoyed our time in this room and would recommend it to the more puzzle oriented players.
The StorykeeperLocurioEscape roomIRLWe had a great time with The Storykeeper! Did this as a group of two and we were appropriately prompted towards solutions when needed. Only used a couple of hints; the storybook hint system is a nice touch. Theming is great and transitions between rooms are very well done. We enjoyed Jak’s eccentricity.
School After Hours: The Final RushArmadillo Escape Room AdventuresEscape roomIRLThis room is much better from a storytelling perspective than the other room at this location. The atmosphere is convincing! We’ve got to get our homework turned in to avoid getting grounded for the summer. Something we noted as a common theme at these escape rooms is the love for puzzles that involve tedious busywork. You can know the exact direction you need to take to solve a puzzle, but it’s a very long path of pure transcription. That doesn’t make for fun gameplay! Several puzzles required us to guess the answer through trial and error, which is apparently an intentional choice made by the designers for expert mode. When there are at least four potential solutions to a problem, it’s only natural to think we missed a crucial piece of information. Turns out, it means that the GM takes in-game signposts out. Had we known this is what expert mode is, we likely would not have opted for this experience. Having done a great number of rooms with sliding difficulty scales, choosing a higher difficulty in a good room means you have more puzzles to complete in the allotted time. The cyber room accomplishes this, so it’s unfortunate that this room fails in this way.
Project Dark Cyber: Permanent Backdoor ShutdownArmadillo Escape Room AdventuresEscape roomIRLThis room (it’s in a trailer outside) is an exercise in frustration. To start, the opening narration in the room is unintelligible, so what little story there is falls to the wayside as we gave up trying to interpret the narration. Next up, the puzzles. There is a ton of information to sort through. Reams of it. Once you sort through it and pick a direction, you’ll find that not everything works properly, some things are poorly lit or too brightly lit to see, and a number of puzzles are pure busywork. Solving a puzzle isn’t satisfying. In many ways, it’s like checking a box. Sadly, I wouldn’t recommend this room.
The HeistThe Escape Game - CityCentreEscape roomIRLThis is a good heist room. Puzzles are quite straightforward and the theming is great. Our experienced group only needed one hint and that was due to something opening that wasn’t obvious at all.
Timeliner: Train Through TimeThe Escape Game - CityCentreEscape roomIRLIt’s a train room, which can be hard to pull off in a satisfactory way. This one doesn’t quite make it all the way, unfortunately. Some of the time travel portions are over just as quickly as they start, and the theming suffers for it. a dexterity puzzle frustrated our group quite a bit. It’s not a bad room, though it’s not a great room.
7 Deadly SinsEscapology - WoodlandsEscape roomIRLThis was a bit of a difficult room and we almost didn’t finish. Most of the puzzles are straightforward enough, though towards the end of the room there are certain leaps of logic you need to make. I think my biggest complaint about the room is how little the theme relates to the puzzles.
Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Castle AdventureEscapology - WoodlandsEscape roomIRLThis is a delightful room. The puzzles are very approachable and the theming and ambience are on point. Our group of four was a mix of very seasoned escape room appreciators and a beginner, and we think any more would crowd the room. Overall, we had a great time this room. I’d also recommend this as a great first time escape room for anyone.
The Sherlock HomeSolve The Sherlock HomeEscape roomOther This is an incredible experience. I’ve never slept in an escape room, so this was a first. Almost the entire home is used for the puzzling. There were seven of us, which is right on the edge of being too many, and we had a blast solving puzzles and searching the house for clues. We estimated that it took us around 3.5 hours to finish the experience. This was a group of experienced players, so plan accordingly if you book. Which you should if you get the chance. The atmosphere in the home is superb: lighting, decor, scents, music are all above and beyond. The puzzles are fantastic. What they’ve managed to pull off without a GM in the house is jaw dropping.
Your DedGet Out Of My Escape RoomEscape roomIRLIt’s a half hour one room escape room where you find yourself trapped by an insane grammarian in their murder bathroom classroom. If you’ve got a firm grasp of English grammar rules and are decent at searching, this room will be a breeze.
The Purrfect PlanGet Out Of My Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThis room was cute and the story was fun! We struggled with a few puzzles and had to use some hints, but that was mostly due to searching error. A couple clues in the room are misleading, which led us down a few rabbit holes. Overall I’d recommend!
Rock the 90'sGet Out Of My Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThis was a decent single room escape. Locks are the name of the game in this room. Outside of a fussy audio clue, everything flows nicely to lead players to logical solutions.
Society ZeroExtreme Escape - Stone OakEscape roomIRLIt’s a disappointing room because it has potential, it’s just squandered. There is one true puzzle in the first room and, once you’ve solved that puzzle, the room tells you the solution to the next puzzle via a laminated piece of printer paper. This continues until you leave the first room. Like other reviews mentioned, I’m not sure how the puzzles beyond the first room relate to the premise. These puzzles are also an exercise in frustration as there are multiple decorations in the room that could conceivably be used to solve a lock.
Royale Casino HeistNovel EscapeEscape roomIRLWe did this room immediately after doing their 20,000 Leagues room. It’s a smaller room with a live actor (the GM). Our group had a great time in this room playing off the GM and dilly dallying. The room may be 70 minutes long to accommodate that? Otherwise we thought it might be too long of a duration since the opening set of puzzles are a bit one note. We eventually came to a puzzle that slowed us down, and when we asked how much time we had left we learned it was 40 minutes! Finished with plenty of time to spare and thought the ending was somewhat abrupt. This is a new room so I’m hopeful they’ll improve upon the puzzles as they get more folks through the room and receive feedback.
