Bob's Lost: The Boy of Painting [Immersive Experience]Bywater GamesEscape roomIRLCreativity is a 10/10! Things I enjoyed: - The scrappy, homemade feel to the set! - The interactions with the audiovisual equipment - The unique storyline - The ability to lean into silliness - Puppets!!! The gameplay itself was a little bit rough at times. The environment was a bit overstimulating for me, and could have benefited from a little more signposting. There is a lot of reading in this room, which I typically don’t care for, but I was vibing with the story so I didn’t mind too much. I played shortly after this room opened, so the designers are still making some tweaks. I’m sure once some of the kinks are ironed out, things will run more smoothly! This was unlike any escape room I’ve played to date. A memorable experience!
Vault: SurvivalFantasmiaEscape roomIRLUnlike any other escape room in the GTA! The gameplay consists of fun, physical interactions and the use of cool props. After the first few puzzles, you start to get a feel for the type of thinking this game requires. We had some very minor hiccups in executing some tasks, but for the most part I thought the game flowed well. The game master was very attentive during our playthrough, which is necessary for the type of game this is. Some props were quite heavy, and a fair amount of strength was required for some parts of the game. I personally never felt unsafe in the room, however, this is the type of room where it is very important to play smart so as not to hurt yourself. The owner was extremely nice, and I’m excited for their other rooms to open!
Lost and FoundPerplexity Escape Games BramptonEscape roomIRLI was pleasantly surprised with my experience at Perplexity. I played The Elevator almost a decade ago, and the experience was kind of meh, so I never prioritized coming back to this company. I’m so happy I gave Perplexity another chance. I really enjoyed playing Lost and Found! I was going back and forth between giving this room a like vs. a heart, but the heart won out! Was it a perfect room? No! But it had just the right amount of cool moments that makes for a heart-worthy experience in my book! This room had: - A mix of tech & lock and key - A great set! - An interesting, relatively easy to follow storyline - Some cool puzzles Shout out to the staff at Perplexity! Super duper friendly folks! The room minimum is 3, but I played as a duo 👩🏽🐰👩🏻
The Show Must Go OnEscape Manor - HamiltonEscape roomIRLThe show MUST go on!!! Shout out to Myles for being a FANTASTIC host. He absolutely nailed the introduction to the game. This room had all of my favourite escape room elements: - Good mix of tech + lock and key - Just enough actor interaction to set the mood - A smaller, more intimate set - The ability to lean into silliness! Loved the vintage theatre space! The puzzles were on theme, and great fun. I absolutely adored this room 🪄🎩
Zen RoomHintHunt Escape Games MississaugaEscape roomIRLZen Room is a traditional lock and key escape room, which is a nice palate cleanser in an age of tech forward experiences! Like a lot of the other reviews have mentioned, attention to detail is a must in this room. However, the actual puzzles themselves aren’t super challenging.
Memory Retrieval AgencyEscaptopiaEscape roomIRLThe Puzzles? Fun! The story? Questionable. The room is small, but they did a good job filling the space with puzzle content. I played as a duo. I wouldn’t recommend a group much larger than that due to the fact that the space is small and the game flow is linear.
Shades of GreyLockwood ImmersiveEscape roomIRLPlaying this room was so refreshing! The space is on the smaller side, but it packs quite the punch in terms of puzzle content. The puzzles were extremely creative and such a joy to solve! Loved the aesthetic. Loved the small details. Loved the storyline. This room proves that you don’t need a large space and a massive budget to create experiences that are oodles and oodles of fun! It’s so nice to see escape room creators doing unique and interesting things, and the folks at Lockwood definitely ate with this one!
Le Château du Supplice Éternel [The Castle of Eternal Suffering]Sauve Qui Peut - Saint-JeanEscape roomIRLThe Castle of Eternal Suffering has an extremely physical portion of the gameplay. Definitely chat with the company to discuss if this experience may be right for you if you have any questions about the physicality required to fully participate in the game. If you have back problems, I highly recommend that you skip this experience altogether. This room is extremely narrative heavy. The story is quite interesting, and it is relayed quite beautifully through the environment. If you’re a ‘No Long Talk’ sort of player, this may be an area of friction for you. With regards to the horror aspect, I would consider it quite tame. The presence of the live actor was a great addition to add spookiness and a little bit of tension into the space, but it was done in a way where you’d have a decent idea of knowing when they’d show up, so you could mentally prepare yourself if necessary. The puzzles were the things I liked least about the experience. They weren’t awful, and I definitely enjoyed solving some of them. It’s just that overall, I didn’t have a strong connection to them; they didn’t scratch the puzzle itch in my brain. This room, however, definitely had one of my favourite transitions I’ve experienced to date. Overall, I had a great time playing Castle of Eternal Suffering, and the staff were lovely and accommodating. Played as a duo 👩🏽🐰👩🏻
Brimley ManorDaydream Adventures - BrimleyEscape roomIRLDaydream Adventures always knocks it out of the park when it comes to their sets. Their signature style that we’ve come to know and love is very much present in this room. The puzzles themselves were relatively straightforward; there weren’t any layered solves. Great audio and visual feedback that let you know if you were solving a puzzle correctly. This room was narrative heavy. Parts of the narration guide you on to your next task. If you don’t hear it the first time, there is no way to replay it, so you may need to ask the game master to tell you the information that was missed. There were also some surfaces that were interactive that weren’t immediately clear to us. Aside from those extremely minor hiccups, we had oodles and oodles of fun! Played as a duo 👩🏽🐰👩🏻
Chaos KitchenOmventure - MississaugaEscape roomIRLChaos Kitchen is a puzzle fest! There is an overabundance of puzzles, so if that’s your jam, you’ll have a great time in this room. If you’re the type of person who loves to be involved in seeing and solving every puzzle, you may not be satisfied with a single visit. At the end of the experience we were shown a leaderboard, and most (if not all) of the teams on top of the leaderboard got their position after replaying the room. This was one of the few escape rooms that provided enough puzzles for everyone in the group to be actively involved in solving things simultaneously. The gameplay of this room was quite different from what’s found in traditional escape rooms. Even with instructions it took a moment for my group to understand the structure of the gameplay, but found our flow shortly afterwards.
Echoes WithinTrapped - ScarboroughEscape roomIRLTrapped dropped the ball on what would have otherwise been a really cool room. Loved the theme. Despised the execution. The set was the saving grace of this room. The puzzles also matched the theme, which I can appreciate, but it was uninspiring push this, press that, place item here sort of puzzles. The staff were nice though!
Whatever Happened To The Garretts?Maze Rooms - West LAEscape roomIRLWhatever Happened To The Garretts was such a delight! This room had: - An easy to follow story that was reinforced through the gameplay - A polished set that was a faithful representation of the story being told - A clean, linear puzzle flow that still offered layered solves. I played as a duo, which I thought was the perfect amount given the linear nature of the room.
The 4th FloorINBLACK Escape Room - UnionvilleEscape roomIRLInBlack has transitioned to a public booking system, so we ended up being grouped with strangers. Thankfully they were a joy to play with! They were collaborative, funny, kind, and helped elevate the experience. Had we been paired with an uncooperative group, the experience would have suffered immensely. While I did enjoy the vibes and atmosphere of the room, I wished there were more substantial puzzles. I enjoyed the space that InBlack created, but felt that it was severely under utilized with regard to puzzle content. I didn’t find the experience particularly scary, but that’s partly because I played in a large group with folks who were funny. I spent more time laughing than screaming in fear! The biggest annoyance for me was that we were given one electric candle to share amongst the group. The room was dark for a portion of the game, and since we were provided with one light source, we were forced to move as a single unit to search the space. Reading was required for some of the puzzles, which was difficult to do in low light. The staff were nice, attentive, and did a good job monitoring the game.
Botanica GreenhouseDaydream Adventures - BrimleyEscape roomIRLThe folks at Daydream Adventures make the most beautiful escape room sets in the city 😍 The storyline in Botanica Greenhouse was so much fun! I loved how they managed to incorporate moments of humour into the experience. Loved the characters! I played as a duo, although I think they had to bypass one puzzle since we didn’t have a third set of hands to activate something. Aside from that, everything was manageable to do as a pair.
PrayEscape Room KatwijkEscape roomIRLABSOLUTELY SUPERB! A well crafted experience from beginning to end. A beautiful set, fun puzzles, and interesting storytelling. One of the game designers was the GM for our game. After the experience, he gave us a behind the scenes look at the space, which really underscored all the thought and detail that went into making sure the game was the best it could be.
Rest Easy MotelThe Escape TheoryEscape roomIRLI enjoyed my time playing this room! Always great to see new escape room facilities popping up. There was a good amount of puzzle content and a variety of puzzle types. We had some issues with the flow. We almost sequence broke a puzzle, and I’m unsure how we would have progressed through the game if we had. Aside from that, most things went smoothly. The set was true to the name and room description. I felt like I was in an eerie, sketchy roadside motel. Mostly locks and keys, but there was tech in the form of lighting and sound effects. Staff were nice. The facility was bright and clean. Looking forward to playing the rest of the rooms!
Lost & FoundTrapped MidtownEscape roomIRLLost & Found was a cute, albeit cheesey, escape room. It felt like I was a part of a Hallmark movie. The puzzles were typical and quite straightforward. The gameplay felt a tad bit short, and the ending was a little anticlimactic. I enjoyed the theme, but wish it was executed a little better. The set design was fine. Everything in the space had its purpose. It was giving an Imagine Cinemas vibe and aesthetic. This Trapped location said we were only allowed 2 hints. Not sure how strict they are with that policy, but experienced escape room players shouldn’t run into problems in this room where they would need many hints.
Zodiac CafeEscaptopiaEscape roomIRLZodiac Cafe was cute and cozy ☕️♒️ All of the main puzzles were tech based. There was a slight delay between completing some puzzles and having the next part of the gameplay activate, but everything worked smoothly for the most part. Signposting was great. It was abundantly clear what needed to be worked on, and how many puzzles you had remaining. The hint system was interesting. You had to solve side puzzles to obtain coins, which you would then put into a machine to have a hint pop up on the screen. Not sure how strict their policy was on receiving hints that way. The one time we needed assistance, we just used the walkie talkie, and the GM helped us accordingly. I played as a duo, which I found was the perfect amount of people since the space was on the smaller side, the puzzle flow was linear, and the puzzles were fairly straightforward. Note: The sign outside of the store said Addiction Reality Entertainment. I didn’t see any additional signage that said Escaptopia, even though that is how the company is listed on Google.
BRKFREE [Interactive Arcade]BRKFREEEscape roomOther Hooray for a new addition to the challenge arcade space in the GTA! BRKFREE is a franchise location of Prison Island. So if you’ve played at a Prison Island location in Europe, then you will be familiar with most, if not all of the offerings at BRKFREE. If you’ve been to and enjoyed Activate, then there’s a good chance you will enjoy BRKFREE as well. However, there are some key differences to note between both companies. BRKFREE does not provide instructions on how to play the rooms. Part of the challenge is figuring out how you’re supposed to progress through the game. The games are categorized as being physical, mental, skills based, or any combination of the 3. In my opinion, the replayability at BRKFREE is quite limited in comparison to Activate. At BRKFREE, some rooms felt very one and done, whereas at Activate each room has multiple games, and each game has multiple levels. BRKFREE has no built in queuing system for the games. If your game is over, you can pop out and rescan your bracelet to replay. I went on a weekday, so this wasn’t an issue for my group. However, I can see this being a problem during busier times if there are groups who feel no social shame and rescan their bracelet despite the fact that other people are in line. There is an area to buy food and drinks called the BRKROOM. I bought a soft pretzel. It was awful. I can’t speak to the other food items on the menu. I played as a trio, which I thought was the perfect number of people. We stayed for 90 minutes, but never got the chance to play all the available rooms. We had a great time and are looking forward to returning again to play the rooms that we missed.
Midnight ArcadeTrappedEscape roomIRL🕹️ Midnight Arcade is pretty mid. I didn’t hate the room, hence the thumbs up, but it was more of a ‘meh’ experience. 🧩 As the name indicates, this room is an arcade, and that is incorporated into some of the gameplay. You need a bit of outside knowledge to solve one puzzle, which has the potential to be frustrating for some groups. The game is mostly linear, however there is one section where it is possible to split up. 🏠The set design is 2 notches above the bare minimum. It was functional, but felt a bit bare. 👯♀️ I played as a duo, moved through the game at an enjoyable pace, and escaped with time still left on the clock.
![Bob's Lost: The Boy of Painting [Immersive Experience]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/36afbde1-4942-4ce7-80d9-4e42e1ee62fb.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)
![BRKFREE [Interactive Arcade]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/ab48feb5-5be2-49e6-974a-83c0ff5d77f5.jpg)
