The CourtyardTHE BASEMENT: A Live Escape Room Experience - SylmarEscape roomIRLAbsolutely incredible atmosphere, unique and immersive puzzles that had us thinking outside of the box, but the live actor was an absolute standout.
The StudyTHE BASEMENT: A Live Escape Room Experience - SylmarEscape roomIRLVery unique elements and puzzles, and the presence/interaction with the live actor was delightful.
Amnesia - CLOSEDQuest Room - Culver CityEscape roomIRLAesthetically, immersive right from the start. We were all hollering at the launch. The first ten minutes and last ten minutes were my favorite in any escape room, and the rest was satisfying and different than a general key hunt. DEFINITELY got the blood pumping, and left us tons to talk (and excitedly yell) about at lunch after. Yes, there’s fewer puzzles than some other rooms, but if you want a break from copy-pasting 4-digit codes for an hour, it’s definitely a blast. Re. some of the other reviews, yes, some of the props are worn/might need a bit of extra elbow grease, but nothing that brought down the experience by any means. We all came out of the rooms shouting and laughing. Our GM Allie was wonderful and we had a great time talking with her afterwards about various rooms in LA!
Insane AsylumPanIQ Room - West HollywoodEscape roomIRLFun! Lots of puzzles, and they were all brain games, not just scouting for endless 4-digit codes. Everyone was doing something different at the same time. Felt a bit short, we blew through it in 40 minutes, but the atmosphere was incredible and the GMs were a blast. I’d say DEFINITELY do the “dark mode.” It makes it dim but not a blackout, they give you flashlights but you can see pretty alright without them. It really adds to the ambience.
The Hex RoomCross Roads Escape GamesEscape roomIRLINCREDIBLE. We came with our ride-or-die friend group, and we had a BLAST. The first 10 minutes or so activated a genuine prey-in-a-trap instinct (in the best way), and team work is essential. Deeply immersive, the hints were diegetic and we weren’t really given hints unprompted, which made it all the more satisfying when we finally figured something out and kept the tension building. 10/10, would play again in a heartbeat. Not a deep story, but the puzzles were great. It’s a true adventure where you need to lean on every member of your group and you come out feeling like you made it through something together. Eerie and fun. The pre-game test was fantastic, and we were excellently placed around the space. The staff (we talked to several people) were WONDERFUL and playful. We went on to book another room immediately after, and they slipped in an inside joke from earlier in the day into the second room, which had all of us in the room hollering. It’s also wildly replay-able, and I definitely will be coming back!
