Dark Altar

Tier: E (see bio) I don’t think this is the worst game in the world or anything, but I have issues with almost every puzzle here and the set is extremely boring. Almost all of the puzzles get too complicated and vague. This includes the very controversial finale puzzle, which I personally liked, but I have a weird visual-spatial brain and if you don’t like thinking that way this puzzle is a terrible way to end the game off. My main issue is actually the 1st puzzle, which felt more like an IQ test and not something that should be in an escape room. Also, some puzzle information is made as hard to get as possible but in a way that just feels tedious, not difficult. The set is also extremely vague. It’s so vague that I had to check the description on the website after playing because what it described there didn’t feel almost at all like what was going on in the game. The only thing that goes in favor of this game is a series of neat tech moments. Omescape loves making things move. Unless you’re a completionist, I wouldn’t recommend playing this game unless you really wanted to see some weird overcomplicated puzzles, because they are unique for an escape room these days. I’ll give them that. It’s also really short and has an abrupt ending. Omescape Ranking 1. Robotopia (my 3rd favorite game ever) (gap in quality) 2. Chaos in the Galleria 3. Haruka High (small gap in quality) 4. Kingdom of Cat-astrophy 5. Undercooked 6. Forsaken Temple 7. Apartment Nextdoor 8. Midnight in HK (gap in quality) 9. Witchly Ever After (massive gap in quality) 10. Sorcerer’s Sanctum (gap in quality) 11. Pandemic Zero (big gap in quality) 12. Dark Alter (my 15th least favorite game ever)

Puzzles weren't intuitive. Not saying that they should be easy, but some of them were really stretching it. There were maybe only two good puzzles. Each room was pretty empty and not a whole lot to do for 4 people.

Omescape has such pretty sets for most of their rooms, so it was a surprise to see that this one was not. This is pretty much their oldest room, and they are apparently getting rid of it soon. I say, good choice. The room itself isn’t bad, but the puzzles aren’t the most fun, and also didn’t work super well in some cases. The premise is neat, but I am somewhat disappointed in this one. I still liked it overall, but barely. Do not worship these false dark gods!

Omescape has two of our favorite escape rooms, and our least favorite escape room so far. If this was the first one we did, we probably wouldn't have done another. Cheap props, puzzles that were either too easy or way too hard, and a really mediocre atmosphere.

I can’t remember too many of the puzzles, but I just remember the last one being very far fetched that it ruined the fun for me.

This room was just "okay." Atmosphere was a bit eerie, but nothing too spooky. The room felt a little small and could use some TLC though. Puzzles flowed well, but the last one was quite ridiculous.

Dark Altar was a passably fun room with interesting puzzle mechanisms but pales in the immersion and well-engineered flow of other Omescape rooms. It feels as though the atmosphere is a bit dulled down from the potential level of fright and scares implied by its plot. If you have played other, higher-rated Omescape rooms, then you may not be as impressed with Dark Altar.

I’ve done other Omescape rooms and have enjoyed them, but there was almost nothing enjoyable about this room unfortunately. In fact, this is probably one of our least favorite rooms we’ve ever done out of 50+ rooms. Some of the tech didn’t work well, the puzzles nearly all required leaps of logic, and the final puzzle was so frustrating that we had pretty much just stopped having fun. We are experienced escapers – we have never needed as many hints or nudges as we did in this room. The props and set looked fairly old and not in great shape. Laminated cards with info on it take you out of the immersive experience. Overall, a really disappointing experience and not worth what we paid.

I have a soft spot for this room because my bf and I did it with random strangers on a weekday— it’s was one of my earliest rooms and we did really well, and was overall a really special experience— so the negative review make me kinda sad. That being said, in hindsight, I feel like there were some janky puzzles in here and Omescape has many better rooms now. In particular, I think one of the puzzles we spent a while on because it seemed ready to be solved but it extremely was not ready to be solved. I did it so long ago though I don’t really have context or know if they’ve improved it since then.

Kingdom of Cats: Trapped in a kingdom of felines, we were compelled to compete in a tournament to crown the wisest cat in the kingdom. The only way to escape perpetual imprisonment was to compete alongside our feline friends. Dark Altar: We found ourselves trapped inside the Copenheimer Museum where an archaeology obsessed collector had initiated a dark ritual. Our goal was to work our way through the museum to discover and stop the ritual. Joker's Asylum: A maniacal Joker was locked away in an asylum after a tragic incident at the circus. The Joker had escaped. We were tasked with discovering the Joker's secrets and escaping the asylum. Pandemic Zero: A super virus has sickened the city. We must break into the lab and finish work on the cure. Pros: The physical layout of Omescape from the waiting area to the game-play areas is clean, orderly and visually appealing. The puzzles are mostly linear, less about searching and more about thinking critically. Set-design is appealing and clearly tied to the overarching storyline. The games are scaled at different difficulty levels and geared toward different group sizes. Game moderators can be helpful and willing to provide assistance if asked. Cons: The puzzles in their rooms tend to be geometrical or symbol-based. We found the puzzles quite complex in all three games and extremely difficult to solve without assistance from the game masters. Scaling of the puzzles within each individual game could have helped us with the puzzle-solving process. Overall, we find their games overly complex. The friendliness of the game masters and their willingness to offer relevant clues helped prevent frustration and a complete mental melt-down of players.