Escape The Hydeout: The Mystery Of Henry JekyllMission Escape GamesEscape roomIRLThis room had very hands-on puzzles. A lot of them seemed random and not very tied to the storyline. I liked the riddles, but they also didn't seem connected to the story that much. The overall flow was first get out all the pieces and props of the puzzles and then see which pieces physically fit to which puzzle. We used the physical shapes of the props rather than logic itself to figure out which "lock" the props fit with. Because of that, the puzzles and props seemed random. Everything opened automatically and smoothly though. Things were not finicky, and overall the room is maintained well. We had to use a hint to know where to start, but afterwards everything was pretty easy. There were fewer puzzles than I thought.
Sugar RushExit Escape Room NYCEscape roomIRLSimple, cute, streamlined, and not too challenging. Easy-medium difficulty, and 7/10 for overall enjoyability. Although it was relatively easy and puzzles were simple, they didn't feel pointless. They stuck to the theme and all together seemed like a well-rounded set of puzzles. All together, the room felt like it had the right amount of challenge. It's really cute how the room incorporated the smell and taste senses into some puzzles. I can see how this would be very engaging for children or a good escape room to do for a group who is new to escape rooms. The story made sense, and the puzzles all stuck to the theme. Nothing to complain about. Overall, I'd recommend. Although it was on the easy side, it really was not a bad experience, which I find surprising because it can be hard to create that right balance for a room.
Nuclear AnnihilationEscape Room MadnessEscape roomIRLDid not complete. Finished 98% of the room with a lot of hints with 2 people. Most of the challenge came from not being able to see clearly / missing things in the dark room. It felt rushed because there are a lot of puzzles. The puzzles themselves weren't hard, but not all of them were "intuitive." Most of them actually felt dumb, lazy, cheap, and like busy work. A bigger group definitely could complete this room because it's like a divide and conquer room. The puzzles don't really connect to the story line and it's not very linear. I didn't like how the puzzles felt random. There were no riddles, clever wordplay, interesting puzzles, etc. Although the company says this and Prey are their hardest rooms, they are only hard because they have more puzzles. In terms of clever puzzle design, I'd say Perfect Crime was the best. From most to least favorite, I'd rank their rooms as the following, and I wouldn't recommend anything below Prey and Masquerade: Perfect Crime Exodus Prey Masquerade Nuclear Annihilation Quarantine
MasqueradeEscape Room MadnessEscape roomIRLNeutral rating (not good, but not the worst). Good combination of puzzles. Some puzzles weren't really intuitive. This and Quarantine are their "easiest rooms," but I found this to be better than Quarantine in terms of the puzzles and challenge. The puzzles still are on the simpler side, and I feel like we overthought a few of the puzzles, but they turned out to be simpler than expected. From most to least favorite, I'd rank their rooms as the following, and I wouldn't recommend anything below Prey and Masquerade: Perfect Crime, Exodus, Prey, Masquerade , Nuclear Annihilation, Quarantine
QuarantineEscape Room MadnessEscape roomIRLAll Escape Room Madness rooms seem to have a good combination of puzzles, and this one is the same, but the puzzles themselves are not that great. The whole room felt finicky. The puzzles themselves felt random and too simple. Some didn't even feel like puzzles. A lot of them didn't make sense to do / seemed like there was no logic behind them (e.g. why are we inputting these numbers? what do the numbers mean? Sometimes there was no order to how some of the props were when there could've been). The puzzles could've followed the story more. The machines in the room also were a bit weird. Out of all the Escape Room Madness games, this probably is the worst. Don't recommend doing unless it's your very first escape room or you want to bring a kid to do one for the first time. From most to least favorite, I'd rank their rooms as the following, and I wouldn't recommend anything below Prey and Masquerade: Perfect Crime, Exodus, Prey, Masquerade , Nuclear Annihilation, Quarantine
PreyEscape Room MadnessEscape roomIRL5.5/10 enjoyment and fluidity. Completed in a team of 2. The simple story/premise was fine, but the room felt very finicky with random Halloween-store props. There were quite a few locks and it wasn't clear which puzzle solutions went to which locks, so trying the combination on different locks made everything feel random and not cohesive to a story. There was a good combination of puzzles and riddles. They really weren't hard though. Pretty easy for kids to do. A lot of the challenge came not from the puzzles themselves but scavenging things in the dark room. If the room was brighter, it might've been easier to find pieces of puzzles that were essential to solving the puzzles. We had to get a few hints because we just missed some props. Also the room and puzzles were very mechanical and old-school. Not high tech at all in the sense that the game master needed to be watching us and listening to us to press something to unlock the next thing. From most to least favorite, I'd rank their rooms as the following, and I wouldn't recommend anything below Prey and Masquerade: Perfect Crime, Exodus, Prey, Masquerade , Nuclear Annihilation, Quarantine
The Perfect CrimeEscape Room MadnessEscape roomIRLEscaped in 54 minutes in a group of 2. 6.5/10 enjoyment. Decent combination of puzzles. Some puzzles were a stretch as in it was hard to know how to solve without a clue because they weren't obvious. Although there were quite a few puzzles all in the same room and things weren't really linear, they clearly labeled which combination is used for which lock, which made things a lot easier, but it also felt too guided in that sense and not really immersive. Most of the puzzles weren't that challenging (like they made it easy for kids to solve). Most of the "challenge" came from just grouping all the clues together and keeping track of which props are used for which puzzles and locks. Overall, this wasn't a bad room, maybe because I had low expectations from having seen the other reviews, but I'm glad I gave this a try. The story was simple, but I appreciate them having made the story make sense and how the puzzles followed the story. Solving each puzzle did seem to unravel some of the story. From most to least favorite, I'd rank their rooms as the following, and I wouldn't recommend anything below Prey and Masquerade: Perfect Crime, Exodus, Prey, Masquerade , Nuclear Annihilation, Quarantine
ExodusEscape Room MadnessEscape roomIRLIf I could rate this an average rather than thumbs up on Morty, I would. Good combination of puzzles, but the puzzles themselves weren't that challenging. It felt like a lot of the time came from finding things rather than solving the puzzles themselves. Once we found all the pieces, solving the puzzle was very straightforward because they would in some cases tell us exactly how things could be decoded and the code itself all in one place. A lot of the puzzles felt like busy work / fillers to extend the time spent in the room. Everything felt homemade and DIY. Nothing too complex, but I appreciate their effort in sticking to a story that made sense. It was a simple story, but it was nice context to have. Our game master was attentive, but at the end it felt like we were rushed out of the room, maybe because he had to quickly tend to another ongoing escape room. We didn't have time to clarify or ask questions. We didn't get a proper "send off" when we wanted to ask about the other rooms. Basically not a lot of customer service. From most to least favorite, I'd rank their rooms as the following, and I wouldn't recommend anything below Prey and Masquerade: Perfect Crime, Exodus, Prey, Masquerade , Nuclear Annihilation, Quarantine
Moonshine MadnessPanIQ Room - NYC [prev. Clue Chase]Escape roomIRLWe were a party of 2 and escaped in 48 min. 7/10 overall for the experience, puzzles, room design, and immersion. 6.5/10 for difficulty of puzzles. It felt like a good combination of puzzles and riddles, and they all made sense and flowed well to the story. It's a pretty linear progression (we needed to solve one puzzle in order to unlock another puzzle), so I don't think doing this in a bigger party would've helped speed things up too much. There were a good number of locks, but it was clear which "combination" went to which lock because they logically tied together. I've done escape rooms where there were a lot of random locks and combinations, and this room was not like that at all. The game master was very nice and attentive, but not too intrusive. He messaged us when we were getting stuck but on the right track or when we did solve the puzzle but getting confused by the props. Overall, had a great experience, and would love to return to try their harder rooms (Houdini and Pirates).
The Haunted HotelBrainXcape Escape Room NYCEscape roomIRLDid this room in a party of 2 and got 70% of the room complete with ... a lot of clues (2 clues every 10 minutes). I'd rate the overall experience 3.5 stars out of 5, the service and venue professionalism and theme boosting the rating. The puzzles themselves were not bad, but were rather difficult to get started with. I love how thematic the room and the whole experience from entering the lobby was. Brainxscape seems to do everything they can to make the experience as immersive as possible (not displaying a countdown timer and instead using a system of listening to the dong every ten minutes, not meeting the game master until the very end, reading the clues off of a very old TV, etc.) The theme really make this experience memorable, but I was disappointed at how we weren't able to proceed ourselves on anything without asking for clues to get us started and even pieces parts of the puzzle together. The puzzles were good for the most part, but I think they could've been a bit more intuitive. Or maybe it would've helped to have at least an extra person in our party. We were missing pieces/props of a puzzle, which made solve the puzzle impossible, so we had to rely on clues to get passed it. Missing key props made the experience more confusing and caused us to waste time unnecessarily. Overall, good experience. Not the smoothest escape room because of the missing props, but the immersion and theme were really good. Game master was also very nice. He was patient and answered all our questions at the end during the debrief even though there was another party waiting to do the room right after us.
Witches RevengeAmazing Escape Room - Montclair/BloomfieldEscape roomIRL6/10 for the overall experience. Pretty difficult. Did not finish for a group of 3. I like the storyline, but this was very difficult because the puzzles seemed unintuitive and hard to follow, especially since a few of the puzzles had components spread across the room. All the clues were in one space and seemed all jumbled together, and it wasn't intuitive which set of clues were for which puzzles under the time limit. Maybe it would've been easier with more people, but I think it still would've been confusing because there just didn't seem like clear guidelines. The room was nicely built, and nothing was broken. I just thought it wasn't that streamlined.
Escape Operation: End Of DaysMission Escape GamesEscape roomIRL7/10 in difficulty. We escaped in 50 min (2 people). We had some troubles getting started because we couldn't find the one gadget that jumpstarted the puzzles. Not one of my favorite rooms because all the puzzles felt random and more fidgety than brain-stimulating. They all felt random too and not connected to the story. It just felt like a room of random puzzles, and it didn't feel like there was any story progression or logic. We wish there could've been some riddles or words to guide us on what to do next, but it was pretty much a guess where these objects go kind of feel. It's pretty interactive and hands on, and to my surprise, there were no combinations and locks at all. I did like how one or two puzzles had multiple parts to it and were connected to one another rather than all the puzzles being disjoint. The staff was friendly, but a little dismissive. They seemed to want to get us in and out of the establishment as quickly as possible even though they were not busy at all (we were the only party there at that hour). There was no time to debrief the room, provide feedback, ask any questions, etc., unlike other escape room experiences I've had. For the price, I don't think it was worth it. I think there might be better and friendlier escape room establishments in the city.
Timeliner: Train Through TimeThe Escape Game - NYC MidtownEscape roomIRL8/10 overall for the experience, difficulty, and cohesive storyline. I liked how there were a variety of puzzles that all tied into the story rather than the room being a bunch of lock and combination matching puzzles.
Montauk ProjectMyssTic RoomsEscape roomIRLSolid 3.5/5 - 4/5 stars. I think my expectations for this escape room were too high after having heard so many people recommend this and say that it's like the best escape room. It's not a bad room, and the rooms are immersive, but there were more physical puzzles (finding things, placing them in certain places, etc.) than brainy puzzles (riddles, etc.). I think I would've liked some more logic-based puzzles. Some of the puzzles seemed like they didn't connect with the story too well. I completed the room with a friend feeling a bit unchallenged. It also might've felt easier than other rooms I've tried because there are unlimited hints and the game master's voice did pop in a lot asking if we needed a hint, which made the experience feel less immersive. The game master was very sweet and attentive though. The climax of the escape room / story was a pretty cute idea, and I do appreciate that there was that "climax," which not all escape rooms have.
The Haunted Hotel [ex Escape Artist: The Final Seance]The Great Escape Room - Queens Rego ParkEscape roomIRLNot as hard as the description made it out to be. The Great Escape Room staff said that their control group for this room had 4 people, and that the only 18% of the groups escape. Knowing that this is their hardest room and that this is labeled as "expert" here on Morty, I was expecting this to be a lot more challenging. My friend and I escaped with 9 minutes to spare, and we felt like the puzzles could've been more challenging. The room itself was great, the story was cohesive, the game master was friendly and professional, and it was all immersive, but the puzzles/clues were a bit too straightforward. Once we found a clue, it was very clear what we had to do next. The story was good, but it was a bit anti-climatic, as another reviewer wrote. Also, this wasn't as spooky as I thought it'd be. I'd personally give this room a 7/10 in terms of difficulty. For comparison, I thought Prison Break and The Heist (from the Escape Game company) and Solitude (from Big Screens Escape Rooms) were more difficult.
Mob Heist [prev. The Perfect Heist]Exit Escape Room NYCEscape roomIRL6.5/10 - 7/10 enjoyed. My friend and I escaped in 40 minutes. Even though with some guidance because there were some technical difficulties. Although this is rated Exit Escape's hardest room, it didn't seem too challenging. The puzzles in this room did seem to tie into the story a bit more than the puzzles in their train escape room, but it still felt like there could've been more story to the room. Felt like there weren't too many puzzles.
Special Ops: Mysterious MarketThe Escape Game - NYC MidtownEscape roomIRLImmersive experience and great, cohesive storyline. Out of all the other escape rooms we've done with the Escape Game company, I think the puzzles in this room tie most closely to the storyline. My friend and I did this with 3 strangers, and our experience wasn't that great because the company (the people we played with, not the Escape Game company) could've been better, but I don't want our individual experiences to affect the rating of this room. The room is well-designed and puzzles were good. Cannot give a reliable review on the difficulty of the puzzles because it felt like we didn't participate in all of them, which is what happens when doing escape rooms with a larger group of people.
The Heist - CLOSEDThe Escape Game - NYC MidtownEscape roomIRLReally enjoyed feeling like a secret agent in this room. It was pretty hands-on and the room did a good job in getting us to feel like we were lock-picking / breaking in. We were a party of 2, and although we escaped in 55 minutes, we used a lot of hints (like ~10 hints), so it didn't feel like a win to us. We thought this was harder than Prison Break because the puzzles weren't as straight forward and they had a lot of high-tech, physical puzzles, which I wasn't used to. They were all still fun, but just a lot harder than we had anticipated. Loved the hands on experience.
Prison BreakThe Escape Game - NYC MidtownEscape roomIRLWe were a group of 2 and finished in 55 minutes, but we did get about 5 hints. This was really fun and challenging, but I wouldn't say that this is any more challenging than their other rooms like Gold Rush and Special Ops. Everyone says that this is the hardest, but I don't think the puzzles were that much more challenging the the ones in their other rooms. I think most people get stuck and lose a lot of time in the first part where the players are split up and need to communicate with one another across the two cells to advance, so having good communication and being familiar with the other people you are playing the room with really helps. Overall, I thought it was fun to be split up from my partner. If there were more people, the first part would've been harder and more unorganized. As with the other rooms from the company, the experience was immersive, and I thought the storyline was cohesive.
Escape Like It’s 99Big Screen Escapes - TannersvilleEscape roomIRL3.5 - 4 out of 5 stars. Not too easy but also not too challenging for a group of 2 people. We escaped in about 54 minutes without using any hints. The whole company has old fashioned, non-flashy escape rooms, but they make it work with their old-school themes. The Escape Like It's 99 room was very simple, but immersive. Like with their other rooms, I like the notes scattered throughout the room that tie in the puzzles to the story. It makes the whole experience cohesive. I also did the Solitude room in the Mt. Pocono location, which was more challenging, but it is their most challenging room. This 99 room has fewer puzzles, but it was still fun. Probably wouldn't be as fun if you didn't grow up in the 90s or at least weren't familiar with some 90s stuff because although we didn't need to know any references, some of the enjoyment came from just feeling nostalgia.
![The Haunted Hotel [ex Escape Artist: The Final Seance]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/603fba64-ef38-4938-b558-c0755ac7b4e3.jpg)
![Mob Heist [prev. The Perfect Heist]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/e3781880-4d54-4c83-9c2b-5d192e7d1525.jpg)
