Alone At HomeEscape. on QueenEscape roomIRLAbsolutely delightful, creative, and heartfelt riff on Home Alone, bursting with personality and charm. The puzzles were lovely, the experience had some creative uses of space and the facility as a whole, and the story was sweet and clearly communicated. A solid pick for newbies and more experienced players alike!
The Lost TempleEnigma Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThe venue and set design were attractive, and the game itself flowed solidly (our team set the new record, at 22 minutes) yet we left feeling quite unsatisfied, as if we hadn't really done much of anything at all. For all the effort put into the physical immersion, little attention was paid to the framing and supporting ambience - an aggressively artificial AI-generated video set things off on the wrong foot, and there was no background music throughout the experience itself. The gameplay was a patchwork of tired escape room tropes — multiple purchased mazes, multiple 4-digit locks with no lock mapping, a small journal functioning as a runbook — with almost no meaningful variation, required collaboration, or moments of delight. We could tell that this new company cares about what they're doing, but we'd love to see a little more substance, originality, and personality showing through. We were not the audience for this game, though I could see this serving as a smooth onramp to escape rooms for newer players.
Ensayo 2: Psicofonia [Stage 2: Psychophony]Terror Stories by Experiencity - The Paranoia SagaEscape roomIRLA big step up from Ensayo 1 for me, though the execution and polish still wasn't fully there to support the more ambitious storytelling and unique flow. A few elements and inputs were broken or finicky during our playthrough, leaving us periodically confused whether we'd done the right thing. Nevertheless, there was a steady crescendo of psychological horror and some beautiful actor moments throughout. Ensayo 1 offers some half-decent narrative payoff in 2, but for me, it wouldn't be worth playing 1 just for that, whereas as 2 is still strongly worth playing despite some of its rough edges.
Ensayo 1: Paranoia Remastered [Essay 1: Paranoia Remastered]Terror Stories by Experiencity - The Paranoia SagaEscape roomIRLEnsayo 1 was quite a choppy experience for my team. Apart from a few enjoyably vivid scenes, including one particularly lovely non-evil character interaction that left a mark on us, Ensayo 1 had an overall generic mental hospital setting, deeply forgettable gameplay, and inconsistent lighting guidance (seemingly bending its own rules in moments.) It was one of the weakest horror experiences I've encountered in Spain. I found Ensayo 2 to be a far more innovative experience, and while there's some narrative payoff between the two, I ultimately think I'd have been happier skipping 1, at least in the form we experienced.
LondiumLondium Escape RoomEscape roomIRLAbsolutely stunning set - one of the best I've seen anywhere ⚙️ The experience itself was not nearly up to the level of the set design, and it felt like it really prioritized style over substance. The puzzles were decent enough, often too simplistic to be satisfying. The experience showed its hand way too early, leading to a rather anticlimactic finale that left us asking "is that it?" This was largely a function of just how beautiful and impressive the opening act was. It was also disappointing to see bits of rather mediocre AI art mixed into the otherwise stunning physical set build. When it comes down to it, bad art is bad art, and this constrasted with the incredibly high level of artistry throughout the game. This includes the logo, which feels glitchy and artificial. I liked Londium, but it left me feeling sad that such a spectacular environment was used for such a lackluster experience.
Monster MashersTales of Torchdale - Monster MashersEscape roomIRLThis game sucked in the best way possible 😉
Are You Lost?Your EscapeEscape roomIRLA generally pretty set with some nice transitions, filled with offensively bad and needlessly repetitive gameplay. It's many steps beyond "not for puzzlers" or "non puzzle but narratively meaningful tasks." Each room was basically a single "do this boring and tedious thing, and then repeat it 8-10 times with absolutely no development or variation." There was also absolutely no good reason this experience needed to be 90 minutes or a 2-player game; those were both functions of deeply underdeveloped and misguided gameplay. I appreciated that Your Escape took a break from the dark and dingy, though! The atmosphere in Are You Lost was quite lovely and fantastical throughout, though the set was lacking in polish and upkeep upon closer inspection.
The RubiconRoomsmithsEscape roomIRLPhenomenal experience for puzzle lovers and Portal fans! Truly some of the most creative and witty puzzles you'll find anywhere in the UK, or in Europe generally. I came in with no expectations and was utterly blown away.
Galactic Beef: The Cosmic Adventures of Star CowDoldrick's Escape RoomEscape roomIRLUdderly brilliant! So much heart, soul, joy, and creativity shines through in this eccentric indie animated film presented through the escape medium. I can't remember when I've giggled and grinned this much in an escape room. The humor especially lands if you get the pop culture and stylistic references, though no outside info is necessary to enjoy the experience. Stellar gameplay - rather video game-y with an elegant logical tilt. Doldricks designed the puzzles to require fairly minimal reset, but even with fewer physical pieces to move around, the physical interfaces were unique and satisfyingly clicky. This game inevitably won't land the same for everyone, but it's phenomenal relative to the wonderfully idiosyncratic format it embraces.
Tokyo Metro Hunt 2025 [Outdoor]Real Escape GameEscape roomIRLHoly &$#@, one of the most brilliant puzzle progressions I've witnessed, leading into such an epic reveal. SCRAP has showed off their mastery of creating wow moments from paper, yet again. Such a fun way to explore the city!
Legend of the LeprechaunOff Center Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLAbsolutely delightful! Every element was lovingly handcrafted, the puzzles were fun and varied, and the vibes in the experience and the venue generally are so endearingly playful and cheery. Highly recommend both games here!
Escape from The PrisonTokyo Mystery CircusEscape roomIRLVery cute! Played solo and finished in about 4 minutes, but honestly, it was a very fun 4 minutes. Some nice ahas and layered tactile bits for a fairly simple mini game like this. A good entry point to SCRAP's style!
An Invitation From The Mystery ManTokyo Mystery CircusEscape roomIRLShort and sweet, with some accessible yet elegant ahas.
teamLab Biovortex [Immersive Art]teamLabEscape roomIRLThe newest, shiniest, largest, and arguably most impressive teamLab yet. This is clearly their flagship location, showcasing many of their top installations from other locations but with thoughtful new groupings and context. The flow and logic to this location was phenomenally impactful. If you have to visit only one teamLab in Japan, it should be this location in Kyoto.
A Challenge from the Crafting GeniusREAL ESCAPE GAME CROSSING AsakusaEscape roomIRLSo many of SCRAP's games feature clever, challenging, memorable puzzles, as was also the case in A Challenge from the Crafting Genius. This hall(ish) style game managed to transcend all that and design puzzles as art — an exquisite tribute to creation, creativity, and play. The puzzles are tactile, satisfying, layered, and overall quite approachable. As is typical in this style, things really ramp up in the final sequence... and oh gosh, they are so clever. The final step of this remarkable experience genuinely changed how I see the world. This is a challenging game with just 2 players — there's just a lot to physically do — so best played with 3-4.
Escape from The Runaway TrainTokyo Mystery CircusEscape roomIRLI understand why Runaway Train, and the Nine Rooms series overall, can be quite polarizing for Western escape room players, but holy shit, this game is an absolute masterpiece of puzzle design. They've found some brilliant ways to turn narrative setup into puzzle setup, even if this experience isn't about an emotional story, special effects, or a jaw-dropping set (though the set was quite nice!) To fully experience this brilliance, though, you do need to properly experience the ending... which I think most international teams only get partway through. If at first you fail, think through what questions the situation is presented, go back through all the information you've been presented with, and you might just encounter a sequence of sublime ahas. In this style, there's truly no shame in taking the "revenge ticket" nor is that model intended to rip you off. It's setting you up to truly earn the win, and also have beautiful and meaningful failures along the way.
Escape from the Underwater Puzzle ChallengeREAL ESCAPE GAME CROSSING ShibuyaEscape roomIRLAn absolutely delightful set of mini-puzzles scattered around the SCRAP facility. Don't expect a standard escape room, a story, or fancy sets - that's not what this game is about. Instead, this is truly a game for puzzle lovers, and perhaps those who like a bit of friendly competition. The experience ends with a 3-minute mini "escape room" but that description might even be a bit misleading... like in many Japanese-style games, it's essential to analyze the situation and think outside the box in order to succeed. The game is fully playable in English, though there's an entire extra set of puzzles available for Japanese speakers.
Escape from The NINE ROOMSREAL ESCAPE GAME CROSSING ShibuyaEscape roomIRLAbsolutely loved the Nine Rooms format! This original Nine Rooms game felt the most like an IRL point-and-click escape room of perhaps any game I've played, and I mean that as a compliment. The puzzles were tricky yet fair. We enjoyed the rapid ahas, and each room was fairly self-contained. Since the game was pipelined, the occasional waiting to move onto the next room didn't disrupt our flow too terribly. The final room was absolutely a big step up in difficulty, but it's also a beautiful representation of the Japanese style of puzzle design, with a particularly clever final few steps. You might not succeed at first (though it's certainly possible to - we completed this in time without a revenge ticket) but when you earn that win, you'll really have earned it!
(Shades of) GreyEscape Games FukuokaEscape roomIRLGrey transformed a small, intimate space into an edgy BDSM dungeon. Definitely 18+ with lots of sex toys and equipment. The gameplay was overall fair and fun, themed around the 5 senses, with a few questionable puzzle design choices toward the end. The opening puzzle of this game was our favorite puzzle across any of Escape Games Fukuoka's rooms, presenting a hilarious twist on some classic tropes.