Paradox Project 2: Το Βιβλιοπωλείον [The Bookstore]

Second Solo Room!!

One of the best escape rooms I’ve been to by far. The entire building is used as a single escape room and the puzzles are very unique but not impossible to solve. There are a lot of different rooms and settings to take you through the story and is extremely immersive.

This is the pinnacle of escape rooms. Given its size, it’s more of an escape house rather than an escape room. Immersive storytelling, great ambience, and a massive variety of puzzles. Each individual puzzle of medium to hard difficulty, but because there are so many of them and they are all quite different from each other, it made the escape house extremely difficult without several hints. I went in with a group of 2 but I STRONGLY recommend going in with at least 3. You could tell the GM is extremely passionate about the game which made it all the more enjoyable. One of the best escape games I have ever played. It is not scary (ie no jump scares) but it does have creepy elements. Be prepared for an incredible (and long) journey, as this is meant for escape room veterans looking for bigger experiences.

The bookstore is the sequel of the Mansion but the feeling and atmosphere are very different. I still enjoyed both of them. Puzzles are quite creative. We ran out of the time but were allowed to finish the game. The only thing I wished to have was a couch like in the Mansion where some of us could take a rest. There were "stools" in the Bookstore but not very comfortable ones.

There is a surreal hype about these rooms from paradox project which I find incomprehensible. The room is tediously long, both riddles and tasks make you want to escape fast. I can barely think of any wow moment. Also the story and setting feel random and unconnected. I really appreciate the work put in, but on our trip it was rated among the lowest by all of our group.

We have never had a tougher time rating a room. We can’t even put it on our normal scale because this is something so completely different than anything else out there. This review does not contain blatant spoilers, but provides some thoughts on things we would have liked to know going in. First of all, Terpeca lists this as a “not scary at all room.” ☀️ While not scary by our standards, the teens with us were a bit freaked out. More accurate to call this passive 🔦 These guys are seeking to build the master level of escape rooms. They have a vision and we respect the hell out of what they are doing. They are escape room purists, and believe in traditional locks (used in new ways), difficult puzzles and elaborate stories. They felt that one hour is simply not enough for a room (we agree) and have gone for a whopping three + hours, which *may* be a bit too much for many. We were absolutely brain dead by the end. We have our own opinions about how hard a room should be throughout, but they believe in a wave. For the Bookstore, you absolutely need to do the Mansion first. We couldn’t make it work with scheduling and something was definitely lost by not doing the first part. It would be ideal if they could shape it accordingly to whether someone has done the Mansion or not, because scheduling doesn’t always work out when you’re on vacation. Finally, the construction of this place is damn impressive. Mad respect for these guys. We have been wanting “expert level” rooms, they delivered. We just wish we had known that going in, so we could have framed ourselves accordingly. 😂 Escape Couple rating: 🤯🧐🤓 (we use a 1-6🗝️ rating scale, but this room defies normal ranking) In short, it absolutely delivers on what it set out to accomplish.

If you enjoyed the first Paradox Project game then this is more of the same but better!  Less space is used in some amazingly creative ways, some great transitions and a stronger sense of the unfolding story.  This fixes all of the criticisms I had of the first one but I would urge caution taking a large group, I would recommend 3-4 to get the most enjoyment out, very much worth your time.

After playing the mansion, we had an idea of what to expect but this room still completely blew our mind. 3h 20 with two people feels like a lot of time but it flowed along so well, that you'd never want it to end. Detailed rooms, interesting transitions, very cool ideas and the first room that actually got me sea-sick. As with the other Paradox rooms, the game starts immediately when you arrive, so there's no interaction with a game master other than via smartphone if needed (the hint system). One of the best rooms in the world I played.

6/10 Greece is renowned for their horror rooms. Project Paradox’s The Bookstore is no different. 3 and 1/2 hours of pure torture. Do yourself a favor and forgo this room. How it landed so high on TERPECA’s top 100 is beyond me. First, this room is OLD. It is worn and battered. Multiple puzzles were broken. Some puzzles, after solving, trigger nothing. Only after being hounded by the game master through a text on a phone (their hint system) will you know the puzzle was completed and to move on. The flow and connection between puzzles is weak at best. Speaking of puzzles, there are some major eye rollers. Your momentum is constantly interrupted by videos explaining the nonsensical storyline that after the 4th or 5th video, you couldn’t care less about. Some of the word puzzles are so difficult to understand that I thought it was just bad translation. The Greek people I played with would read the original language and be just as bewildered at the wording, if not more confused. Through this experience you will be asking questions along the lines of, “Why is it that?” “Where do we go?” “What are we supposed to do?” “When did that open?” “How were we supposed to guess that?” “How much time is left?” “Can we leave early?” “Another text!?!” “It’s still going!?!” For a room that prides itself on how long and packed full of puzzles it is, it comes no where close to the reputation that precedes it. If you have this room on your to do list, all I have to say is, Good luck, Godspeed, and bring Advil in attempting this headache of an experience. That’s the Bitter Truth.