The Chesapeake Bay ButcherColonial Escape RoomEscape roomIRLSpectacular!! Very scary and totally immersive. The visual environment they created makes you feel like you’re in a genuinely derelict murder house. We were all pretty tense and nervous and certainly fell victim to a few scares, but the gameplay difficulty is intermediate enough where we were able to keep moving at a steady pace without feeling out of depth. As long as you have a few escape rooms under your belt, I think most groups would be able to manage this game. The greatest challenges are pushing through your fear to maintain momentum, and struggling to see things in the dim lighting and dark rooms. You do get opportunities to earn more light by proceeding successfully. Overall, the visual theming is unforgettable and the live actor element will keep your group laughing about it for days afterward. One of my favorite rooms I’ve ever done! Very unique and impressive.
The Body ShopRed Fox EscapesEscape roomIRLI’ve only done a handful of games, but this was easily the best I’ve done and my favorite. The flow of puzzles made so much sense and did not feel unfair or impossible at all. I feel like it is the most brilliantly and meticulously designed escape room I’ve yet encountered. Plus the amazing set, thrilling twist, and touch of humor made it a total blast of an experience
Lucky Dice DinerExpedition EscapeEscape roomIRLMy whole group LOVED the Lucky Dice Diner! This was a top escape room for me. Lovely and unique theme, and the puzzles were very much on-theme as well. The gameplay flowed in a way that made sense, but it’s also designed in a way where players could split up and be accomplishing different puzzles at the same time to speed up the process. My group did this once, but mostly we stuck together and did one thing at a time. We came down to the wire but we were thrilled to complete it with a minute and a half to spare. Our gamemaster Jack was very helpful and sweet. He did pause our timer at one point to pop in and make sure we were understanding the right thing to do, which could be received differently by different groups but we didn’t mind. Definitely recommend this top escape room in the Philly area!
The DepthsThe Escape Game - Las Vegas Forum ShopsEscape roomIRLMy family and I failed so miserably at this one and I don’t even know why. It’s relatively straight forward. Our brains were just not clicking this time. But I can’t fault the room. The design was fantastic, the puzzles were totally fair, and I didn’t feel like it was impossible. We just messed up. Wasted a lot of time over and over again. Oh well.
The Heist Part 1The Puzzle ParlourEscape roomIRLGreat, manageable, challenging, well-designed escape room! I did this with a group of coworkers and we had a GREAT time, I have to tell you. I felt like it really lends itself to team work and if you communicate you can be successful. I got to control the cell phone to communicate with the game master who gave us hints and warnings of the time limit. Super cool added element.
VampireThe Puzzle ParlourEscape roomIRLThought this was a beautifully decorated room and was moderately challenging without being impossible for two people. You can definitely advance through without feeling too insanely frustrated. The atmosphere is the big winner here as you truly feel like you’re in a gothic vampire story.
Voodoo SwampEscape Time AdventuresEscape roomIRLVoodoo Swamp is one of my favorite escapes I’ve done. The set design was incredibly detailed and very creepy. The plot was simple but it gave a little more context to the concept. The puzzles flowed very organically and the progression made sense. I did this room with my very inexperienced family members, and we managed to complete it! So it is definitely doable for a mixed-experience group. There a few tasks that require some physical endurance (aka, going back and forth multiple times) but no strength needed. We all had a blast and highly recommend!
Mountain Top MurdersThe Great Escape Room - Queens Rego ParkEscape roomIRLInstantly my second favorite escape room I’ve yet experienced! Oh my gosh it was so well done. The decor was perfect, the storyline gets increasingly spooky, and the puzzles were quite challenging but never unpleasantly frustrating. I could completely see the logical progression from puzzle to puzzle even if we needed a hint to get there sometimes. I never thought “well that was impossible without a hint!” No, it all made sense. Great, great vibes from Mountain Top Murders and I def want to go here again.
Scooby-Doo™ and the Spooky Castle AdventureEscapology - WilliamsburgEscape roomIRLScooby-Doo and the Spooky Castle Adventure is a fun, slightly challenging escape room that is good for a family or friend group. Fell pretty middle-of-the-road when stacked against the other rooms I’ve done in my life, although I’ve never done another Escapology experience. A couple necessary actions were not clicking for us and we did benefit from 3 clues, but we escaped with about 7 minutes remaining. There were a couple activities that never amounted to anything from my perspective, so I don’t know what those were about. We definitely wasted quite a bit of time on a certain puzzle that didn’t seem to do anything. Gamemaster pointed us in a different direction after we spent at least 8 minutes completing it for seemingly no reason. Decor was fine but ultimately uninspired. They were just kind of basic black rooms with props, not an immersive visual world. The escape room I did later this week at a different location was $10 cheaper and way more visually impressive. Escapology could work on their visual theming. My top likes about this room were the “Clue”-style mystery solving board which I hadn’t ever seen before, and the way it makes you feel like you’re in a Scooby story of your own. Fun experience for casual escapers.
The SurgeryThe Puzzle ParlourEscape roomIRLI believe this was my first escape room I ever did! Still very memorable and fun. Quite the scary premise and you really do want to ESCAPE. I did this room as a duo with my friend and we barely managed to escape. I think having more than two people would have been beneficial because there were a couple tough logic jumps to make and we did need some hints. But nothing egregious, just a medium challenge.
