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Reviews

Reviews

Armoire à Vendre [Wardrobe for Sale]

Armoire à Vendre [Wardrobe for Sale]

Escaparium - Laval

  • Escape room
  • IRL
What a delight! Whimsical fantasy design, charming puppet characters, and many many puzzles made this a wonderful escape room. There were many pleasant and charming moments. This game, while full of storytelling, is a little more like a traditional escape room than some of Escapariums more bombastic offerings. That said, Wardrobe proves that this company excels even in the simple things, with delightful puzzle design, significant challenge, and in depth storytelling. Sad note: one major mechanic in the middle of the experience broke for us. The staff handled it well.
Ctrl Alt Reboot

Ctrl Alt Reboot

Escaparium - Laval

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Mind blowing production. However, not my preferred play style. It felt very much like a series of small vignettes in which you are ushered between by characters, not an open escape room where you solve and explore at your own pace. That's not necessarily bad, just not the type of game I prefer. The biggest negative: there is a character giving crucial instructions and story through much of the experience. It was extremely difficult for our group to understand this character most of the time. Not because of the actor, but because of the speaker/filter they were speaking through. It affected the voice too much and really made the experience frustrating at times. That said, the production design, imagination, and tech in this room are truly world class.
The Ghost Of Mentryville

The Ghost Of Mentryville

Arcane Escape Rooms

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Phenomenal experience for a somewhat dated “Generation 1” room. The integration of the live actor into the puzzle flow and story was expertly executed. I guess the main reason I’m hesitant at giving this room a full “heart” is because…. Well… i can’t shake the fact that all the puzzles and most of the actual game is a bit… oldschool. Nearly all, if not all, of the puzzles were combination or key locks. They were very, very, very COOL locks. But all mechanical locks non the less. I’m sure when this room first opened this room was mindblowing. Unfortunately, compared to some newer and more cutting edge games, Ghost just doesn’t quite cut it any more. That said, we still had a fantastic time, and they really made the most of a tiny space and straightforward components. We still recommend this as a great escape room experience and we’ll take this any day over some more copy-and-paste style generic rooms. Ghost had heart, creativity, a whole lot of spookiness, and most importantly: fun.
Black and White Cafe

Black and White Cafe

MindFox Escape

  • Escape room
  • IRL
A refreshingly original setting. Although maybe it wasn’t maximized as much as if could have been. Still, I give the room overall a “heart” rating because the industry needs more of this. Clever, creative and charming rooms. The only downside is that the puzzles were relatively standard fair and didn’t fully utilize the amazing setting at its disposal. But they also didn’t take away. So that’s a big win. Overall it was a fun, charming, and whimsical escape room that made so much out of a limited space that the industry could use more of. Side note: I can’t wait for the day where escape rooms graduate from generic, over-explaining intro videos and GM rules. They suck the fun and anticipation out of the experience for players coming in.
The Ladder

The Ladder

Hatch Escapes

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Incredibly ambitious Room that hits in some ways, misses in others. Overall, it’s probably a must do for any escape Room enthusiast simply from the perspective of checking out something holy unique and different. That said, as many others have pointed out, there are still many aspects of the room that do not work. Like either physically or they weren’t even active at all. The unique mechanism of the gameplay is certainly novel, though doesn’t necessarily leave the most satisfying and experience. The ability to get a unique story ending is very cool though. The variety set pieces was thrilling and fun. The role-play-game element was mostly cool, but other times was sort of distracting. Our group agreed that most of the time we would have preferred to simply continue with gameplay instead of forced to stop for narrative elements. The GM did the best they could making the on boarding fun, but the amount of information is overwhelming and tedious. Totally get there just trying to cover all the bases and fully explain how the game works, but there’s no getting around the fact that it’s all just a bit much. Complaints aside, this is a truly unique and impressive escape game experience. The price probably makes it prohibitive for most people to come back and play multiple times. I will probably be one of those weirdos who out of sheer curiosity will make it back to try puzzles I was not able to do and work towards a new ending. It’s definitely worth checking out!
Pirates of the Mediterranean: The Curse of the Crystal Cavern

Pirates of the Mediterranean: The Curse of the Crystal Cavern - CLOSED

Top Tier Escape Rooms

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Still fun, but… things can be better. Despite a fun and seemingly immersive setup, in the end the room is just a gen 1 escape with slightly better than average set decoration and narrative beats. Ultimately the frustration comes from a long series of disjointed, nonsensical puzzles that aren’t motivated and rely too heavily on overlapping symbols. It’s clear the creators have genuine talent and creativity, unfortunately it just did not end up in much of the final design of the room.
Heresy: 1897

Heresy: 1897

Doors of Divergence

  • Escape room
  • IRL
An incredibly ambitious immersive theater-meets escape room experience. Production design is top tier, maybe the best of any ER I’ve done. The story was fascinating , inventive and involved. Maybe TOO involved. One could argue there was perhaps too much exposition and it got in the way of the gameplay at times. But I’d rather an experience er on the side of too much story rather than not enough. The puzzles were great for the most part, but I do have one complaint. There were WAY too many puzzle “instructions.” In fact, almost every puzzle had a piece of parchment that explained how the puzzle work. At least they tried to make the instructions fit with the story, but for the most part it just got in the way and slowed things down. Certainly not the type of ER where you could just follow through it, doing puzzles in an intuitive sequence. That said, it’s a small complaint in an otherwise stunning experience, with no detail too small. Truly rich and imaginative.
Whatever Happened To The Garretts?

Whatever Happened To The Garretts?

Maze Rooms - West LA

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Great!..... mostly. This room has some serious wear and tear, despite not being that old of a room. Upon entering the room, we found 2 compartments already open, thereby negating 2 puzzles. And some props were broken or breaking. That said, it's a very fun, creative room. One of our favorite themes. Some extremely clever puzzles (would have been nice to do them all). Loved the diversity of spaces within. With the entrance and lobby were more professional and welcoming. Could have used more puzzles. Without really trying, we finished with more than 20 minutes remaining. I don't mean to be too negative, this was a very fun room.
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