Magnifico

Magnifico is more of an experience than an escape room, so I don’t think it accurately holds the #1 escape room title. However, I will give credit where credit is due. While it wasn’t my favorite set build, it still takes a lot of talent to design these huge, immersive sets. The three actors in this room were the best in the franchise, and they even took the time to chat with us after the room about the experience. I also loved the story and the way it played out as you moved through the experience. For me, there is not enough puzzling in this room that accommodates a larger group of people. Because of the way the story is told, the experience moves linearly, and you are pretty much told how to complete most of the tasks. That being said, if you’re with a group of less experienced people who are cooperative in splitting the tasks, you’ll have fun!

PRO TIP: If you are expert escape room enthusiasts, try to book the first room of the day. We all loved this room. How can you not? The only problem is that we are really good at escape rooms, but they have multiple groups going through this room like a pipeline, so you can't move on to the next part until the group in front of you is out of it. (and similarly, they won't let you run behind either). Everything is on a tight timeline.... which for us meant that the actors had to vamp....alot... for minutes at a time. We talked to them afterwards and they said at one point we were 10 minutes ahead of schedule. It was exhausting and boring and made the room feel really long. When we were cooking through puzzles time flew by... when were were watching our 2nd dumb magic trick or 3rd attempt at juggling to pass the time waiting for the groups ahead of us, much less fun. We totally understand why they have to do it this way, but it doesn't make it any better. Therefore, my advice for all of the big rooms at Escaparium Laval is to try and get the first room of the day and ask them to let you go through it at your speed. That being said, of course this room is amazing. It's #1 in the world for a reason. Everything is over the top with things you've never seen before. There are actually some good puzzles too that we really enjoyed. (It's not all theatrics.) The puzzles were on theme and really fun. If we would have been able to run through this room at our own pace, it would be absolute perfection. As it was, it was a really great room, even with all the vamping. Absolutely a must play for everyone. Worth every penny.

Escaparium has the best escape games!

I will start this with just: Thank You! Thank you so much for everything and everyone involved here. This was not just an escape room, this was a story, an experience, a memory that will not only last a lifetime but also make me wish to experience it again in the future. This is what the meaning of a "Labor of Love" means. The dedication of everyone involved and the insane amount of talent that the people here have is mind blowing. I hope you all keep having an amazing time running this room and that many more people have the chance to experience this. Thank you!

This game has got it all. The story, the set, the puzzles, the special moments. It is #1 for a reason

All the raves about Magnifico set my expectations too high in the wrong places, so I'd like to calibrate your expectations. This *is* an excellent room, and a successful union of escape room with immersive theater. Critically, players are not asked to roleplay-- you are simply people who want to see a show at the circus, and your interactions with the characters stem from that foundation. This makes it easy to talk to the characters and become part of the story. While you'll see actors throughout the game, both interacting with them directly and witnessing conversations between them, they're never present while you're working on puzzles (although they often set them up). There are plenty of high-quality puzzles in the experience that are fun and satisfying to solve, and they're well-integrated with the story. The sets are detailed, evocative, and intimate. None have the WOW factor of many of Laval's other rooms like Forgotten Cathedral (and while the final space is large, it's not a "wow!"), but each had been created with love and evoke a sense of place. Magnifico is a 2.5 hour experience that didn't feel like one-- time flew by. How much you appreciate it will depend very much on why you play escape rooms. If you're there for the puzzles, you'll be satisfied but probably not blown away. Ditto for the sets. If you're there for the story, you may enjoy this room more. The story is handled very well, coming to you in bits and pieces organically. It's treated as theater, and in fact one poignant moment near the end will be delivered to only one person in your group. Looking at what they've accomplished-- how deftly they merged theater with puzzles-- it's impossible not to admire it. But for me, this wasn't the best escape room in the world. It wasn't even the best escape room at Escaparium. But it was still absolutely worth doing. Just lower your expectations from "mind-blowing" to "really good."

The bar has been set high. Absolutely fuckin amazing experience.

This was hands down the best room I’ve done to date. The amount of effort that went into this room is unbelievable. It was incredibly immersive, fun, and unique. The puzzles themselves were excellent and had you interacting with so many different settings. The live actors in this game really elevated an already amazing experience. This room absolutely earned its reputation as #1.. WOW!!!

Magnifico is an incredible experience. Skewing more towards immersive theater than escape room, the puzzles are seamlessly integrated into a live-action narrative that will pull at your heartstrings and have you oohing and aahing at each newly discovered space.

Not only does it make sense why Magnifico is number one in world but it should have its own category bc of its uniqueness in all of the room categories. It’s unexplainable by words alone bc the visual impact this left on us will be permanent and in the best way. We flew in to Montreal to do escape rooms for my birthday and if we only did this one room while here, it would have been worth the trip. You have to see it to understand. I rarely enjoy theatre or live actors, especially in rooms, so I was very surprised how much I liked every minute of it. Acting was timed perfectly and still had very special puzzles mixed throughout and the actors didn’t overshadow the gameplay or decor or story etc as live acting tends to do in my opinion. Plus we had plenty of moments without actors. They only enhanced the entire experience and they were pros as well. I cannot say enough wonderful things to explain how over the top this experience was. So thankful and in awe of the creatives and minds that meet to make a place like this so special for others to enjoy their hard work and interactive pieces of art ! *Accessibility note for wheelchairs etc… Adding to this review after reading other’s viewpoints…I would agree that it can be difficult at times to hear the game masters over the speakers bc of other music and noise happening within the rooms, but that can be a good thing for people that don’t really want the nudges. I assume it’s a necessary protocol to keep groups moving along and they likely needed to nudge our family more bc of my father’s special accommodations with the wheelchair etc but they still allowed us close to three hours to complete the room! When we interacted with the actors in person they were very clear and easy to understand. The Escaparium team impressed us by how patient and kind they were while helping my father with an electric wheelchair as well as one they found in house for him. He is able to use a cane to walk on flat surfaces and take standard steps that aren’t narrow or steep with assistance. They were on top of things and maneuvered around throughout the game to make sure he didn’t miss the rooms that required more physical moves to get from point a to b. I’ll be forever grateful to them for doing this with a good attitude which helped my father have the best time and not feel like he was burdening them. Our situation was unique. This was our baby’s 83rd escape room and she has never needed accommodations as she either sleeps through rooms with noise cancelling headphones or we we hold her in a baby body carrier. She enjoys and watches every detail in all of the various rooms we have done and Magnifico definitely kept her attention…she was in awe!!