Hijinx at Joffre ManorNerdy by Nature Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLI enjoyed it! Pretty physical and straightforward. Definitely something I’d bring kids to. 10-14 ish age. Not too scary and the puzzles didn’t seem too hard. It was pretty easy for us. Requires some actual reading through the clues they give you though and I know that some escape roomers can be pretty go go go in terms of just blindly solving puzzles and undoing locks. I wouldn’t bring anyone with mobility issues to this one though. At least half the room is behind lots of ladders and stairs and short ceilings. Clearly a lot of heart in this room. Good energy. Some of the more secret areas could use a little bit more theming to fit in with the absolute knockout theming and decor of the first two rooms.
Ghost StoriesBrain Games Escape RoomEscape roomIRLI had a fantastic time. I’m very much not good with scary rooms and this was more scooby doo/detectives/ghostbusters/gravity falls/goosebumps. No real jump scares when we went and we thought it was more funny than scary. But that can likely change based on who you get as your gm. I can definitely see how the game master can make or break this game. It’s also definitely a game where you get out the energy you put in. It’s very gm driven/heavy. We had Jon and we enjoyed our experience and had a good time! I didn’t think there were any too hard puzzles and they were all themed pretty well and fit with the story. LOTS of running around, and the game starts at the top of a set of stairs. I’ve never been this out of breath in a game in a hot minute.
Mogollon Monster: Scouting for Arizona's BigfootThe Nemesis ClubEscape roomIRLThe story is good and the puzzles are great after the fact. My biggest complaint is you fundamentally just cannot see half the things in this room without these big clunky lantern lights that you have to carry around. So you’re basically solving puzzles one handed because you can’t see anything without holding the lantern light. A lot of puzzle mechanics also include finding really well hidden objects which is just completely unfair to expect you to do in the dark. I would have killed for a smaller flashlight or just better ambient light in general. It would have been perfectly thematic to have a beginning puzzle to turn the camp lights on or start a campfire. But as is, it’s just a permanent extreme difficulty factor that is less immersive and more frustrating than anything. But I did appreciate the special effects and storyline. I just would have had a 9/10 experience rather than a 6 or 7/10 experience with this room if I could see more easily.
Sal's CyberneticsThe Immersive MachineEscape roomIRLMy favorite room of the ones we did on our Phoenix trip. We did this room with 2 people (50+ rooms under our belt each) and had a BLAST. I loved the immersive parts. They have bits to let you dress up to fit the universe better and will adjust the puzzle levels a little to best fit your group. I loved the high tech puzzles and a lot of my favoriteswere very work together/coop heavy. So make sure you bring friends you click with and work well together with XD. You definitely can’t do it alone.
Henchmen’s HeistThe Nemesis ClubEscape roomIRLEasily my favorite room at Nemesis. Probably one of the most hilarious games I’ve done in a while. I thoroughly enjoyed flipping the switch and playing the bad guys instead of the heroes. Lots of entertaining puzzles and there was one puzzle with magnets that I thought was absolutely genius in how you’re supposed to figure it out. This room also rewards you for actually paying attention to the story and studying the props around you which I really liked. Lots of jokes that I found so incredibly entertaining and all in all just a silly room. Accessibility wise: 1 person has to do a little bit of floor is lava style climbing. There’s also a puzzle that has one person eat what I assume is a piece of chocolate? It’s not labeled or anything, just in a plastic bag and as a person with allergies I don’t trust anything that I don’t know what it is. It’s a safety thing. So either bring someone without allergies or ask the GM for clarification on what exactly it is. Also, the milkshake bar is fantastic. Brings the entire place up for me in terms of general vibe. We shared the cookie milkshake and had them put the nutter butter on a side plate so my fiancé could eat it and I wouldn’t have a peanut cookie in my milkshake. They were super understanding and accommodating. A perfect treat after 3 back to back escape rooms 😂😂😂
EVIL RobotsThe Nemesis ClubEscape roomIRLThis was a really cute and entertaining game. I liked how a lot of the puzzle mechanics were outside of the box and thematic to the robot theme. The animatronics were also super impressive. We lucked out on some of the more tricky puzzles and got them on our first try but I could see how it could be frustrating for less experienced escape room goers. Some of them are pretty hard to figure out what you need to do and include a lot of red herrings. In terms of accessibility you need at least 1 person who’s willing to climb around on the floor a little and there’s a little bit of smoke effects at one point if that’s something that will bother you. All in all, I enjoyed myself a lot. Solid 9/10 room.
Castle FlüffendorEscape Artist Greenville - Hampton StationEscape roomIRLI loved this room. Definitely something I would use as an intro to escape rooms for younger kids. Very fantastical and sweet, and super funny. I thought the puzzles were super creative. I didn’t do dark lullaby because I’m not great with horror but the staff went above and beyond to explain what went into it and then explain the lore to me so I could continue onto Help Wanted with my group, even though I didn’t wish to participate in the scarier room. Really appreciated the staff here. You don’t get a lot of understanding elsewhere and they made me feel comfortable.
Defenders of the Sunken RealmThe Keepers of BalanceEscape roomIRLI liked it! Very immersive and adventurous. Felt a lot like an Indiana Jones book. Puzzles were creative. We definitely had to think outside the box for a lot of it. I didn’t realize how active it was though. Not disability friendly in my experience typically means stairs or a slide. But for this you need at least 2 people who are active enough for the equivalent of an adult size McDonalds play-place.
Galactic Beef: The Cosmic Adventures of Star CowDoldrick's Escape RoomEscape roomIRLMy favorite room of theirs so far. But I STRONGLY suggest doing all the other rooms they have before this one. There are so many creative and fun puzzle mechanics that I’ve never seen before in an escape room. Less locks and codes, more electronics. The story is silly and fun to follow along with. I can see it being entertaining enough on its own. But I think it absolutely hits harder after doing all the other rooms. It’s very family friendly and the plots are silly and super entertaining. One of my top 10 escape rooms ever, easily.
The Body ShopRed Fox EscapesEscape roomIRLIn terms of puzzles, I think this was pretty standard. Lots of physical ones that I thought were pretty unique and fit with the theme. But where this room truly shines and stands out is theme and the buildup to the twist. You could definitely see the hints as to what was going on as you played it. I loved the props. Especially as a former girl scout it was fun seeing what they got accurate and not accurate. But don’t bring your current girl scout this is very much not for kids. The only mildly annoying thing was that you could hear a musical theater song pretty much on loop for the first half of the game. I thought it was fun but I can definitely see how after 30 minutes it could get irritating 😂
Storyteller's SecretBoxarooEscape roomIRLThis escape room was probably one of my top 3 escape rooms ever and I’ve literally done some of the top rated escape rooms on terpeca. The puzzles were literally at the perfect difficulty for me and fiancé and we LOVED the them. From the smoothness of the technological elements, to the reworking of previous puzzles, everything was a real breath of fresh air in comparison to the other rooms we’ve done before. We do tend to be a bit more advanced than just normal escape room goers so I can definitely see how some of the puzzles could be difficult if you’re just bringing your kids or if you don’t have much escape room experience.
Legend of the YetiThe Escape Game - NYC Times SquareEscape roomIRLI did Gold Rush at a different Escape Game before doing this and I liked it, definitely an upgrade technologically speaking. The puzzles seemed straightforward mostly. Though one of them towards the beginning definitely seemed like you would need a piece of paper to write with. All in all a mostly fun room. I just wish there was more light in the second room. Or at least a real flashlight. It was really dark for pretty much no in game reason other than vibes. They gave us these red flare flashlights, but when one of the puzzles in the room has color requirements, this was extremely unhelpful.
MagnificoEscaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLThere is not much I can say that other people haven’t. This is easily the best escape room I have ever done and the first room I have ever found myself wanting to do *again* despite knowing the answers now. We flew to Canada just for this room and it was well worth it. The set is SPECTACULAR. The puzzles are fun and designed extremely well. And the actors and story are phenomenal. Any criticism i’d have would literally only be nitpicking. This escape room is well thought out and crafted. I’d suggest it for literally everyone over the age of 8 or 9. Actually. I do have a criticism. I wanted better merchandise to spend more money on this room. They had like funko pops but they were a little large to take home in my carry on. I wanted like magnifico playing cards and pins.
La Cathédrale Oubliée [The Forgotten Cathedral]Escaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLI’m not going like or dislike this escape room since I didn’t finish it, and I’m sure it’s very well made like the other rooms we did at Escaparium. But this was way too scary for me. I had to leave after a room and a half. I’ll gladly put the blame on us for not looking into it more before we booked the experience. It says 3/4 scary on their website. But not much else. There was no list of potential triggers or anything. But I definitely could and should have asked before we started. I normally do, especially when I think something might be scary, but my Fiance dropped the ball on telling me about this one when he planned this trip. 🙄 I did ask about the other rooms we’re doing tomorrow and the guy at the front desk was more than happy to list off any triggers in them for me. But Escaparium did not seem to be well prepared for a situation like this. Most escape rooms I’ve done will have announcements like: you’re never locked in, you’re free to leave at any time. The door’s unlocked and you can just go back to the lobby. But Escaparium does staggered room starts for some rooms, and will turn lights off and such to discourage you from going back after certain points in the story. So you can’t very easily just go back to the previous rooms or leave without a team member. The Hallways of the warehouse are also extremely dark and narrow and don’t have much signage and pretty much require a team member to direct you. When my Fiancé asked if I could leave it took a few minutes for a team member to let me out. They then had me sit in the opening room of the experience for another few minutes since she had some parts of the room to trigger for my friends before she had a moment to walk me back. She was absolutely lovely and understanding and this was not on her. But Escaparium management needs easier, quicker and better protocols in the event that someone wants to leave. I saw many children doing rooms at Escaparium and I’d have a hard time believing this situation isn’t common enough that they should be able to deal with it more effectively by now. Especially in their one room that is labeled as their scariest. This wasn’t the only accessibility issue we had. My friend was struggling to hear and asked if there was any way to turn the background music down since it was quite loud and they just didn’t have the capability to do that. I’m sure that for most people, especially horror enjoyers, this would be a great room. My fiancé seemed to like it. But I’d seriously reconsider the room and potentially Escaparium if you have any special needs or medical conditions.
L'Île perdue de la Reine Vaudou [The Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen]Escaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLPotentially some of my favorite puzzles we did at Escaparium. The set was super cool and even the puzzles were very on theme. The actor/gm definitely did their job in getting us hyped up for this room. But I do wish their speakers for the GM were louder. I struggled to hear them multiple times. Also, the motors for one of the doors was really slow and definitely killed the vibe a little. But aside from that I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzles I did. Extremely piratey. I’d definitely suggest this room for families with tweens.
Ctrl Alt RebootEscaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLTechnically speaking, one of the coolest rooms I’ve ever done. The set and prop pieces are amazing. The mechanics of the game are also super. It had robots and technology that I’ve never seen executed this well in an escape room before. It definitely fit the sci fi theme very well. The puzzles are also really well themed. My only issue was the cursing. This room definitely could have been family friendly if they took out the music. There was no cursing at all by any actors or set pieces except for the music and when you hear it, it just feels really out of place and disconnected from the game. If the actors or robots were cursing too and it was more throughout the game it’d make a lot more sense and fit better to me. But on its own it just feels extremely out of place.
Armoire à Vendre [Wardrobe for Sale]Escaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLThis room had one of the most compelling stories at Escaparium. Only Magnifico beat it for me. The set was INCREDIBLY detailed. They fit so much content into one room. It was non linear so my group was able to split up and tackle different puzzles. The actor we had I thought was PHENOMENAL. He was super funny and helpful at the same time. He really made us fall in love with the characters. The actor interactions here were just really great and they made it very clear what we needed to do. I also LOVED the transition between rooms. Such a showstopping set piece. But there was WAY too much fog. To the point it was causing sensory issues for several of us. This was not a scary room. The description of the theme is really non specific on their website and I do understand the need to keep the secrets of what’s in the wardrobe. But also, I do wish there was more clear reassurance on the website that this was suitable for younger kids instead of going in semi blind.
Le Dernier Arrêt - V2 [The Final Stop - V2]Escaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLFinal Stop was the first room we did at Escaparium. They were having technical difficulties so we didn’t exactly get all the rules before we started. We still completed the room and such but we missed extremely important rules like: dont push the red buttons unless its an emergency and that the puzzles cant be solved if an actor is talking to you. You need to pay attention to the story and certain elements wont be repeated. Ok, on to the room. The Final Stop is pretty solid and definitely immersive. But one of the ambiance effects was giving me motion sickness after a while. The background music is also quite loud to the point where it’s hard to hear each other and the actors and I’ve found this to be a trend throughout the games at escaparium. Aside from that, this was a solid room, I definitely felt immersed in the story and characters. I’m from New York City and the story is mildly troubling considering the city’s history. (I’m not trying to say it couldn’t be Montreal’s subway. But some of the videos shown I recognized as NYC metro stops). But I’ve definitely heard of wilder escape room themes. 😂😂😂
Curse of the Hidden TemplePuzzleConnect Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLThis room was a little creepy at times but I really liked the puzzle elements. It was really clear what was and not a puzzle. And they did a little message at the end for my birthday! Really sweet company and I had a blast.
The Candy ShoppePuzzleConnect Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLMy favorite of the rooms here. Everything was on theme and I liked the puzzles. It was pretty clear what went with what and I loved the creativity of some of the later puzzles in the room. When we finished they also gave me a card that they had drawn since it was my birthday and we did all the rooms there. I had a blast.
![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)
![L'Île perdue de la Reine Vaudou [The Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/ea8040b8-d20c-48b1-a683-d874c1ae6eb1.jpg)
![Armoire à Vendre [Wardrobe for Sale]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/02541450-7205-4371-935f-ae98c672dcbb.jpeg)
![Le Dernier Arrêt - V2 [The Final Stop - V2]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/8b9cf01c-2d4c-4624-a770-ee184c652c9c.jpg)
