The Cursed Passage

NIGHTMARE! NIGHTMARE! NIGHTMARE! It was hard to know what to expect with The Cursed Passage, with some reviews insisting it’s “not an escape room” and others believing it’s just a “different kind of escape room”. Well fear not because now that I’ve played it, I can share my two cents and everyone knows that my two cents are law. I believe The Cursed Passage is absolutely an escape room, you’ve got a locked room, puzzles to solve, a timer ticking down and hellish live actors stalking your every move, what more could you ask for? For me, it fit the bill. It would seem the point system format is the main point of contention for a lot of people, with each solved puzzle adding to your score before you’re inevitably shuffled along to the next area regardless of your progression. I can see why that would irk the completionists but also I applaud and respect venues who try something new. Across the 5 areas or nightmares that we went through (which might I add, were all eerie and enjoyable) there was 1 puzzle we didn’t solve. It wasn’t the end of the world, but I found what’s clever about this one is that the urgency of the format mixed with the intimidation of the actors always keeps you on your toes and moving forward. There’s simply no time to get wrapped up in past puzzles because ITS TIME TO MOVE, ITS TIME TO MOVE RIGHT NOW. SHE’S COMING OH GOD, GO!! Honestly a really cool idea that gives the puzzle-heads a good fix while also satisfying the scare-seeking newbies, there’s something for everyone. I really liked it! D.R.E.A.M. on! 7.7/10 🔏🧩

As everyone else has said, 10 minutes per room. This is a jump scare one, yet our teenage kids enjoyed it too, not very scary. Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles. I'm sure we'll do this again to beat out score of 29. Once 10 minutes is up, run to the next, you will be chased by a nightmare. All in all, good fun

Didn't love this. The woman on the desk and acting game master was really off putting. Assumed her complete lack of facial expression, cherrless monotone and several second delay to answering any question was part of an act, but I think she just doesn't enjoy her job. A lot of the puzzles involve tapping things but the response from a tap was variable so it didn't always trigger which was frustrating. Its also not always clear on whether you've finished a room/been timed out but the next room isn't open yet. Some rooms you're just standing there. I think it's a nice idea but just not executed that well. It clearly took a lot to put together the rooms, but the individual puzzles feel cheap and if they were in one room would just be boring

The Cursed Passage is not your typical escape room but has a large focus on puzzles nonetheless. With each puzzle being worth a number of points the question is not "can you escape in time?" but rather "how many points can you score?". The theming is excellent and just spooky enough with lots of nods to beloved horror properties and tropes. Due to the nature of this game and only having 10 minutes to solve the puzzles in each room, traditional hints are not given. However, if you search hard enough you may find something useful and help is never truly far away though it may not always come from a friendly source... Our game master Robbie was very welcoming, friendly and expertly facilitated our experience. Our scare actor Salem was fabulous and really made our experience something special, they were absolutely fantastic. Huge props all around, this is a great escape room-adjacent experience that has the potential for repeat visits depending on how successful your team is.

Note - this is not an escape room but rather 5 rooms with multiple puzzles. I kept thinking it was an escape room so I did waste time trying to find keys, combinations etc. If you want to try this room, just remember its about completing as many puzzles as you can rather than escaping. With that aside, I really enjoyed the puzzles. The live actor was really into it aswell which made the experience more thrilling! Highly recommend it.

A very different experience! IT IS NOT AN ESCAPE ROOM. It’s a challenge room with escape puzzles! Which is super challenging but really fun! There is 5 different themed rooms and they are all filled with puzzles to complete. There’s a live actor too for extra scares! We scored 25 points and wanna go back to beat our score again!