Παρεκκλήσι & Κατακόμβες [Chapel & Catacombs]Lockhill - Nea IoniaEscape roomIRLIn the weeks leading up to my inaugural trip to Athens, I wondered what my reaction to Chapel + Catacombs would be. I had never played a horror room with that level of intensity. And some other players placed it fairly low on their recent rankings, in spite of the room placing #1 on Terpeca in 2022. I found the room itself to be fun and fascinating, and a great way to calibrate my expectations for what I would find throughout the rest of Athens. Darkness, fog, multiple actors, cinematic scenes and extended play times were common threads throughout my time playing in the city. Something that makes this room unique is the seamless overworld in which it takes place: the village of Lockhill. Everything from the onboarding, to the payment processing, to the unlocking of the room itself was all seamless and theatrical. A little role-playing from our team pulled us even further into their dark world. Unfortunately, this lead to a confusing interaction during the debriefing, at which point we didn’t know if we were supposed to leave, or wait for something else to happen. Our post-game photo kinda sucked too, a better quality camera or better lighting in the photo area would have helped with that. The game itself? Wow. HUGE. I’d never seen that style of acting and choreography in an escape room before. Very cool and dramatic. The puzzles were the right amount of difficulty too…not really hard, but often using darkness itself as a force multiplier. We wished we would have had a little more light, especially throughout the second half of the experience. We only had 2 light sources for a team of 4, which meant that half the players didn’t really have the agency to explore the Catacombs on their own. One of those light sources kept falling apart on us too, which was annoying. In addition to being a HUGE game, this was also a LONG game. Maybe a little too long, since there were points in the second half of the room where one of our players actually felt a little bored. I kinda agree. There is a good deal of searching in this part of the game, and if you don’t find what needs to be found, the experience can drag on a bit. And if you don’t have a light source, you can’t do too much. I wish I could discuss more about the actors (were there 2? Or 4??), the character mechanics (there is some light pursuit), and the finale (there’s a great set-up for House on the Hill). We had a great time in spite of the uncomfortable heat, the AC units could not keep up with the summertime temperatures in the building. This game has great bones, but is in need of a 2.0 version that streamlines the gameplay somewhat. I can’t wait to play House on the Hill!
The MaidVansa Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThe decor is really beautiful and authentic, it really feels like a tony mansion. Some of the other Athens escape rooms are pretty run down, or use darkness and fog to cover up cheap set design. That was not the case here. There are A LOT of puzzles and tasks here, about 35 according to our GM. A layered puzzle involving “fashion” was a personal favorite, as was another involving art auctions. Clueing was inconsistent however, and we struggled a bit with multiple ambiguous inputs, especially in the second room. I agree with VeganGameGuy’s assessment that this room is way too long. It doesn’t have enough shifts in tone or a sufficiently dramatic narrative arc to carry a 2.5 hour experience. There were a couple of points where we thought we were at the finale…but it just kept going and going. At that point, we were exhausted and kinda ready to leave. I’d recommend this room for people who are afraid of horror rooms, but I don’t think it demonstrates the strengths of the Athens escape room scene. The story is cool, but left me hungry for a vibe shift that never really materialized. I expected something a little more unconventional or surprising, given its high Terpeca rating.
The DescentReady Set Go Adventures - MississaugaEscape roomIRLDecor was cool, as shown in my intentionally vague photo. We did not have a great time, though: The room began with a (simulated) elevator descent down a mine shaft. There was a puzzle involving a dozen-ish symbols that correspond to numbers, which must be then be added or subtracted. You had to remember the symbols and do the math in your head, because there was nothing to write with. Obviously some short-term recall is required for just about any escape room, but this task was just frustrating. To make things worse, the lights flickered on and off so sometimes you couldn't read anything at all. It didn’t feel like we were being challenged: it felt like we were being fucked with. This attitude towards design also applied to the physical design of the space, especially an unfortunate combination of low doorway and slippery “funhouse” floor panels. These did little to enhance the immersion, but made a great safety hazard. I whacked my head really hard on the door as I was moving from one end of the room to the other, solving another puzzle that required me to memorize half an alphabet’s worth of encrypted letters, again with no way to write them down. The final straw: I like when an escape room trains its players to engage with the room in a certain way, and this was well-demonstrated in The Descent. The goal of this room was to find 10 “objects,” and each of them was earned by solving a puzzle…except for one. We found 9 of the things and were briefly stumped on where to find the puzzle for the 10th one. After a few minutes, the GM just sent the location to us as an unsolicited hint. There was no puzzle in the first place, it was just hidden somewhere in the darkness. We had plenty of time on the clock, I just think that either A) the location of the 10th object is such a curveball that most teams get stuck on it, and/or B) he was anxious to clock out for his shift, which he promptly did after we finished the room. Our team also played VHS, which shared a similar design DNA and had its own unique set of inconveniences. These distractions and annoyances didn’t add to the experience…they subtracted from it. They didn’t lead to a satisfying solve. We only played these two games at Ready Set Go, but with so many other strong escape room companies in the Toronto area, I think there are better options to explore.
Botanica GreenhouseDaydream Adventures - BrimleyEscape roomIRLA totally fresh concept: “escape room with a sentient plant problem.” The experience is part “Little Shop of Horrors,” part “Alien,” and part children’s museum. While I wouldn’t be the first person to make the Meow Wolf comparison, the homegrown, psychedelic set design totally justifies it. Furthermore, the creators have a brilliant sense of humor, from the goofy onboarding all the way to the hilarious finale. There’s even a musical interlude. Both seasoned enthusiasts and families with younger players will find a lot to love about this room. Puzzle difficulty was easy-to-moderate, with a strong tactile element to many of the puzzles. The way we interacted with some of the plants was weird and memorable…sometimes it almost felt a little “wrong,” lol. Colorblind folks may have some trouble with a couple of the puzzles, and one player will need to crawl. We had a group of 3 enthusiasts, which was perfect, but it could also be done by a very experienced duo. A couple of minor tweaks I’d recommend: An input involving a toilet plunger could use better clueing, since I plunged correctly but apparently not enough to get the desired result. Also, the audio in the ending part of the experience was very hard to hear…my entire group had to lean in to listen, and we still could not make out what was being said. Other than that, this room is really incredible. I feel like sci-fi themes are played out in the escape room industry, but this was a refreshing reminder that there’s plenty more life in the genre.
Bunker: AI's MartyrdomRevo EscapeEscape roomIRLThe Bunker was the second room we played at Revo, and it was even more thrilling than The Lab. Something about it felt more like a video game than the other Revo rooms…it reminded me of Metal Gear Solid, but without the action. We even had a “handler.” But If you’re looking for traditional puzzles, this room might not scratch the itch for you: similar to The Lab, we had to use or fashion tools to complete various tasks, as well as do some light computer “hacking.” It’s very realistic problem solving, with no escape room logic whatsoever. Pre- and post-game videos do a lot to enrich the narrative, which was surprisingly poignant. The space itself was a very realistic, sprawling bunker, and entering each new room was a satisfying challenge. Similar to the other Revo rooms, there are points given based of the players’ level of success. We did really great right up until the end, which brings me to my only criticism of this game: The room’s final task was frustratingly difficult, since the GM dialed up the difficulty to the highest level. It was a cool mechanic, but pushed to the point of not being fun. We probably wasted about a quarter of our time just on this task. The rest of the experience was really fun and engaging however, and still 100% worth it.
New Haven OrphanageConfundrum Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLThe atmosphere of this room is really impressive, very grimy and realistic. I love both religious and “creepy kid” horror, and this leans heavily into both. The ambient sounds were a nice touch too. In terms of puzzles, this room is a mixed bag. Some were cool (especially in the 3rd room) and some were…not really even a puzzle at all, like one involving a ruler. Evidence markers are used to denote the sequence in which puzzles need to be completed. It’s a cool idea that reinforced the theme of the “investigation,” but it kinda confused us more than anything else. There’s a little bit of role-playing that sets the stage for a potentially cool plot twist, but doesn’t really affect gameplay. The reveal didn’t really land, and my teammates didn’t even notice that it happened. This is a huge missed opportunity, but could be truly great if re-tooled. Our GM/actor was named Ethan (I think? Good-looking dark-haired younger guy), and out of 16 games played in Toronto, he was the best! He was very welcoming and articulate, and took the time to explain everything before and after the room. Give that guy a raise!
VHSReady Set Go Adventures - MississaugaEscape roomIRLAs we entered the room, we were told by the GM that a group of 3 had never completed this room. And neither did we! I’m in between a “like” and a “dislike” on this one, but I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt because I think it can be easily improved. This is a HARD room. It’s refreshing to do a room that’s really challenging, but it's equally frustrating too. First off, there’s nothing to write on, so you have to remember literally everything: long strings of numbers, long strings of directions, etc. And you have to remember this stuff while a guy in a mask is running around jump-scaring you. I would’ve killed for a Boogie Board, but we had nothing. Speaking of the guy in the mask…I’m pretty sure he was also GM-ing the room, so we didn’t really receive all of our hints promptly. On one puzzle he just sent the same hint multiple times. I would’ve preferred if the actor was incorporated in a way that bolstered the narrative...not just doing empty jump scares. Horror rooms are best when they’re using the actor to actually "act." Again, this was just a dude distracting us at the least convenient times. A key part of the experience is delivered via audio clues, which are difficult to discern because there are ambient sound effects and also video clips playing on the TV at the same time. Again, a little too much distraction and overstimulation. We repeatedly found ourselves huddled around the speaker box struggling to hear what we were supposed to do next. The set design is really cool and creepy, and I love their mechanic of finding multiple VHS tapes that reveal bits of the story. A few of the puzzles are unusual and pretty cool to figure out, so the puzzle design is fairly dialed in. But we were way too busy with those puzzles to enjoy the vibe.
Merlin's Legacy60 to Escape - MilwaukeeEscape roomIRLMy photo is intentionally vague so as not to spoil the scene! This is a fun and fairly typical wizard-themed room, definitely worth doing if you’re already there. What makes this experience special is the final room, it’s pretty epic and impossible not to enjoy. My only complaint involves a color recognition puzzle, in which the two items in question are VERY close in color, especially given the low lighting. I feel like this could easily be fixed with some re-painting or improved lighting. I’d recommend 3 or 4 players, I feel like there might be a little too much to accomplish for 2 players. There’s some tricky searching, so be sure to look everywhere!
The Body ShopRed Fox EscapesEscape roomIRLAn American classic! The concept of "shadow Girl Scout troop in a grimy auto body shop" is definitely unconventional, but it all makes sense after a memorable twist. This room was a ton of fun, with plenty of work for our group of 2 to tackle. I might recommend 3 players for a more relaxed experience. There are a lot of authentic automotive parts and decor, and the puzzles relate directly to this paraphernalia. None of the puzzles require an unreasonable leap in logic, although a puzzle involving a mirror was a huge sticking point for us and could use better cluing. I think we ran short on time and just had the GM give us the answer. Also, a puzzle involving an air compressor wasn't working quite right, so the GM gave us the answer for that one too. This room has A LOT of combo locks, but they mostly make sense in context. The structure and style of gameplay is definitely a little old-school in that regard. It's still a great example of how enjoyable that type of room can be, and it has a soul to it that some comparatively tech-y escape rooms don't possess.
The Sorcerer's SecretCrypto Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLThis is a great room for larger groups of less-experienced players, as the difficulty is generally pretty easy and the individual rooms are quite spacious. Speaking of difficulty, one of the best things about this room is the scalable difficulty in the final room: the GM’s can adjust the puzzles to match the experience level of the players. Not gonna lie, I find it hard to believe that this was a Terpeca winner in 2024. It’s a solid room, but similar to the other rooms we played at Crypto, something about it feels…sterile? We didn’t experience much that was quirky, unique, or brilliantly executed, outside of the finale. No actor interactions, surprising uses of space, or interesting searching. This is not a sleight, but I feel like this could be a good model for an escape room at a larger theme park like Disney. It has under 5 minutes of reset time (amusingly, you actually have to reset one of the rooms yourself), some cute animatronics, the aforementioned scalable difficulty, and a strong potential for pipelining. It’s smartly designed, but doesn't hold too many surprises for a more experienced player. Definitely check it out if you’re in the GTA, but temper your expectations.
The Steampunk ExpressThe Imaginarium: Playground for the Creative MindEscape roomIRLWe’re giving a thumbs-up in the photo but I’m giving this room a thumbs-down in real life. At its core, it’s a cool idea and great layout: you’re inside a steampunk train, trying to get to the locomotive. Many of the puzzles are quite challenging too, I especially enjoyed one involving pistols. I have a list of grievances, however: -The AC was not working in this room, and it was 80-something degrees inside. I’m not here for that level of immersion, and when we told one of the GMs at the front desk, he reacted with disbelief. We were like, “yeah dude, it’s hot as hell in there!” We played Wilshire Hotel room immediately after and the temperature was perfect. -One of the puzzles was a sliding tile puzzle that took us forever to solve. Who actually enjoys these things? At that point I was having an existential crisis: “Why am I sweating it out in an 83-degree escape room over this nightmare task? This is not fun whatsoever.” -There’s an elaborate dexterity puzzle involving a small metal ball. My buddy lost patience with it, so I jumped in…I love dexterity puzzles. I was making good progress and then the ball disappeared down a hole. It didn’t trigger anything, and it didn’t reappear anywhere else. The GM had to come into the room to pick up the table and shake it, it got stuck somewhere. If you’re gonna make such an elaborate contraption, it should be a little more reliable. -Toward the end of the experience, there’s a crawlspace you need to enter. The rest of the room had a high level of set design, but this space was like, unpainted drywall with an off-the-shelf mechanic’s creeper inside. And the puzzle inside really didn’t fit thematically with that space, it could have just as easily been installed on a countertop elsewhere. It was like an odd, half-baked afterthought. Overall this is a challenging room, and great for puzzle-focused players. But also for a room that’s been around this long, these rough edges should have been smoothed out by now.
The ExtractionCrypto Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLThematically, this room is all over the place, it’s a British retro-spy mission with an unexpected sci-fi twist. Not my personal favorite pairing of themes, but the quality of the puzzles made up for it. I liked a low-key math/logic puzzle in the 2nd room (we actually needed a nudge for that one). Also, a multi-layered puzzle involving rings in the 3rd room was really impressive…I’m normally not into video screens in an escape room, but they fit the theme of the room. This was one of my favorite puzzles out of the 4 rooms we played at Crypto…I want more puzzles like this! Decor fits the theme really well, and the transitions between a couple of the rooms are pretty cool, especially between the 2nd and 3rd rooms. We played as a group of 3 enthusiasts, I’d say that was a perfect number.
Invasion60 to Escape - MilwaukeeEscape roomIRLI like that the premise of this room is a little oddball: some kids hit a baseball through the window of a house, and now one of them is missing after trying to retrieve it. The comedy of the situation is peak 60 to Escape, and the results are quite entertaining. The content warning on their website is overblown: this room isn’t creepy, so don’t worry about strong content. Similar to Pirates Curse, there’s a great blend of puzzle styles at work here and a lot to do. One of my favorite puzzles involved…a cat. I’d recommend a group of 3-4 players since some of the spaces can be a little cramped with a larger group. I also love that there is a moment in which the players need to agree on a critical decision. Any opportunity to affect the direction of a narrative really heightens the drama. All of the above come together really well, this is one of my top 3 three rooms at this company.
Pirates Curse60 to Escape - MilwaukeeEscape roomIRLI love this game, it’s engaging, atmospheric, and surprising. The set design is realistic, and the layout sprawling. Lighting is on point too. The pirate theme is a well-worn trope in the escape room world, but these guys do it well. We had a group of 4 enthusiasts, and I would probably recommend 3 to 4. The puzzles are a great mix of logic problems, dexterity challenges, and searching for items. The final puzzle is pretty tough if you’re not familiar with the format, so make sure to bring a smart person along. 👩🎓 As is the case with most of 60 to Escape’s games, there’s a dash of humor too. I love the denizens of the world they created, including the talking parrot.
The Casino Heist60 to Escape - MilwaukeeEscape roomIRLI love an unconventional theme, and “underwater casino” is one that I haven’t seen used elsewhere. I had pretty high expectations for this room considering that it received 5 Terpeca nominations last year, but I think “Pirate’s Curse” and “Invasion” are much stronger rooms. Some of the casino games are based around video screens, and this felt a little too similar to dive bar video gambling for my taste. They lacked the enjoyable tactile quality of the other 60 to Escape games. Also, one of the other casino games (involving a large wheel) had annoyingly finicky inputs that made it unnecessarily frustrating. A puzzle involving poker chips was pretty unique however, and offered a style of puzzling not often seen in escape games. There’s a very cool surprise at one point in the experience, but outside of that moment and the general theming of this room, it wouldn’t be my top recommendation. It’s got great set design, but most of the puzzles just aren’t particularly satisfying.
Volcano Views: Aerial ToursEscape From The 6Escape roomIRLI didn’t really know much about this room before playing it…tbh I thought it was all going to take place on an airplane. Turns out, the airplane is just the beginning of the adventure. Volcano Views proved to be a surprising experience, with many unique elements that I haven’t seen in escape rooms elsewhere. It’s family-friendly, but is also engaging enough to entertain our group of three grown adults. The set design doesn’t have the polish of some other top-level GTA rooms (the last 1/4 of the experience def requires some suspension of disbelief), but it more than makes up for it in pure fun and physicality. Even as experienced players, we were surprised multiple times over the course of our journey. Difficulty was generally pretty easy, so I’d recommend a group size of 2-3 experienced enthusiasts. Our GM did a great job and brought an authentic joy to the experience. We had a slight technical hiccup at one point, and she addressed it very promptly. I don’t remember her name, but she was maybe Asian or mixed, tall, with glasses. This woman deserves a raise!
The Lost ShipwreckCrypto Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLOf the four games we played at Crypto, this one is my favorite by far. The set design is lush and detailed, the puzzles are fun and relevant to the theme of the room, and there are even some animatronics. The transitions between spaces are also more dramatic than the other rooms we played. I really appreciate how this room is so prop-heavy and tactile. The mechanic involving medallions is especially unique, and adds an additional layer of narrative to the gameplay. The puzzle involving the ship’s steering wheel puzzle is also really fun and multilayered. This room just has a je nais se quoi that the other rooms didn’t seem to have…they feel sterile in comparison. Part of it might be that the spaces within this escape room felt more intimate and less spacious than Sorcerer's Secret and Below Zero, for example. If you can only play one room at Crypto, make sure it's this one.
The Tomb: Raiders of the SwordRevo EscapeEscape roomIRLHaving played several Terpeca Top 100 games, I often feel like they don’t live up to the hype. Currently rated at #96, I feel like The Tomb might actually be underrated. As is the case with Revo’s other escape rooms, it doesn’t focus on puzzles, but on broader problem-solving that’s rooted in real-world objects and actions. It’s so much fun, and made me feel an authentic sense of adventure. First off, the warnings on the Revo website are true: this game is very physical, and involves a ton of crawling and climbing. Don’t wear your nicest clothes. Something the website doesn’t mention is that you’ll need to read a lot of small print…I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but there’s a unique mechanic that enhances the gameplay even further. We played with a group of 3, and that was the perfect group size. 4 might be slightly too many if you’re experienced escapers. Out of the 16 games we played in Toronto, I believe we all ranked this as #1. It’s worth a special trip just to visit Revo and play all their games. I don’t think I have any criticism for The Tomb. I just wish it was even longer, I could have spent hours in there!
Motel BettyOmventure - MarkhamEscape roomIRLMotel Betty is a real-deal horror experience, we had a blast! The game features cinematic moments, a sprawling set, and a live actor, all of which come together perfectly. The 4 player minimum is justified, since there’s at least one puzzle that requires 4 people. There are a couple of instances where the group will be separated, which adds an additional layer of tension. The actor did a great job, she really got us a couple of times! Speaking of puzzles, they’re mainly easy-to-moderate in difficulty, which is good because you’ll be looking over your shoulder a lot…you never know when “she” will appear. One puzzle in particular involving a knife is a little contrived, and doesn’t really make any sense in the context of the experience. Also, two of the puzzles require precise color recognition, which is nigh impossible in the low lighting. Luckily one of our teammates had a flashlight, otherwise we wouldn’t have figured them out. Bring a phone/flashlight. Huge 👎🏻 for not allowing us to take our post-game photo in the room itself, instead we got this lame backdrop.
The Lab: LockdownRevo EscapeEscape roomIRLThis game represents a paradigm shift of what I thought an escape room could be. First off, it only has one traditional “puzzle.” You’ll only find it if you know what to look for, and it’s not even mandatory that you complete it. Second: it’s very physical, requiring a good deal of flexibility and the ability to crawl and climb. Third: forget what you know about escape room logic. The challenges presented in this room are based in real life, real objects, and real physics. Fourth: there are multiple win conditions and various levels of success. We had such a good time, start to finish. The GMs at Revo are very friendly, and despite the ramshackle appearance of the lobby, this facility is a well-oiled machine. Intro videos weave a compelling narrative, and debriefing videos tell us what we could have done better. With strong roots in Chinese escape room culture, this is different style of gameplay, and I loved every minute of it. Of the 3 games at Revo, this one has the least interesting set design, and could use a little extra effort to spice up the immersion. That being said, I still felt like I was trapped in a real research facility. Not a great game for set snobs or puzzle perverts, but perfect for anyone with a sense of adventure.
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