Paradox Project 3: Το Ωδείον [The Music Academy]

A puzzle-packed breath of fresh air in haunt-dominated Athens, this was a mind-wracking treat and a perfect 600th game!! While not loaded with puzzles, each puzzle can take up to 30 or 45 minutes to solve, which was a unique experience in itself. Absolutely buy a coffee (or two) beforehand (you can bring them in) - kick off your shoes (there will be no running - I wore flip flops), and prepare to be stumped. [Full Review coming later]

I fell in love with Paradox project and Music Academy was the highlight. It has one of my favorite puzzle sequences. Each puzzle is new with original logic, not only in this game but in all the PP games. Less than the Mansion, Music Academy focuses on fewer but harder puzzles, which I preferred. Everything is integrated in an authentic music school environment and story. The storyline here was my favorite of the three, but it is not what these games are about. It took us over 180 minutes, but they did such a good job creating content that kept us engaged for the whole time, that it did not feel too long at all. That said, Paradox project is not for everyone. These are puzzle heavy experiences. I would still recommend playing at least one when you're in Athens, even if you're not sure about your relationship with puzzles. Do it early in the day, bring coffee and snacks, take it easy, be patient.

This is a really great room, however, I think that its timing in our play schedule affected our opinion more than anything else. We did this in the evening after doing the Bookstore in the morning. In retrospect, 6+ hours of escape room in one day was a bit more than we could handle. Also, this room had to follow the Bookstore which was one of the best rooms that we have ever played. The Music Academy has the immersive story and many rooms that you expect from the Paradox Project. We got bogged down in a couple places because of our own fatigue and one malfunctioning puzzle element but overall it was a really excellent experience. I really enjoyed the ending of this one - I will say no more.

Game 8 of 17 of Our Athens Tour - Simply put, my new favorite puzzle game. This game does not have the wow factor of its predecessors, but it outdoes them both in flow and satisfaction. That’s not saying the game doesn’t have a few surprises in classic Paradox Project fashion ;). Dimitris was an absolutely incredible host, thank you for sharing your love of all your games, and most of all this one.

We really enjoyed this room! What I love about this company is that they inject so much meaning and philosophy behind their rooms, themes and puzzles, and it’s something you really appreciate as you play. The Music Academy is definitely the most philosophical of their rooms I would say and it’s something that adds depth to the experience. The many puzzles range from medium to very difficult- and some puzzles as others have mentioned seem a bit fastidious/unnecessary (borderline logical leap). Besides those, the experience overall was satisfying. And yes, as others have hinted, they are working on a sequel to this room to be made available in a year and a half that uses the 2nd floor of this former music academy (this game uses only the 1st floor and part basement). That brings us to widespread acknowledgement that PP excels in usage of space and the fact that this was an old former music academy gives a sense of character to the experience that you really can’t find elsewhere, especially if you’re from the states. Rating: 7.7/10

A good room, solid, really. But to be honest not as overwhelming and impressive as we hoped it to be. The 3 hours go by, quickly. But there are just way too many puzzles just consisting of opening locks the traditional way, number code, 4 letter words and finding keys to insert. Nowadays, there are rooms which work better mechanically and technically and feel more modern and thus more seemingless. That being said, the GM and her assistant were delightful and gave it their all, and the story is nice and catchy and the set design and how they utilize all their space is really cool. As mentioned in other comments, some of the puzzles could need better explanation or a lead there to, as being intervened by the GM all the time because you‘re on the wrong track, hinders the experience and most importantly the flow. The flow could be better with the puzzles.

My experience here was deeply soured by inappropriate and unprofessional behavior from the game master Dimitrios (I think that was his name, definitely started with D).He used a game-related pretext—claiming he had 'details' to share—to pull me aside privately. After sharing a largely irrelevant piece of information, he used this isolation to ask how long I was staying in Athens and if I would go out with him. This was a massive breach of professional boundaries and an abuse of his position. To make matters worse, he later had the audacity to ask me not to mention this to his 'boss' or write a negative review, knowing full well his behavior was reprehensible; even if he didn't push me when I said I already had a partner. To make matters worse, there were also jarring safety concerns. During the game, we were physically locked in the rooms with no way to exit independently. In the event of an emergency or fire, we would have been trapped. This is a fundamental violation of escape room safety standards and made the experience feel unsafe rather than immersive. As if things couldn't be worse, the escape room experience wasn't great either. The riddles feel drawn-out, the room is excessively long (almost 4 hours) and I completely lost interest by the end. Between that, the awkwardness of the staff interaction and the lack of proper safety exits, I can comfortably say that it was my single most unpleasant experience in Athens.

Dimitris ran an excellent game! He was communicative, welcoming and enthusiastic, even going so far as to get me a coffee and a croissant before the game started. The game itself was intricately and wonderfully done, with excellent puzzle flow and world class puzzles. As far as pure puzzles go, i’d say it’s top 5 in the world.

I really liked the story and setting of this game. The building fits the theme perfectly. The puzzles are mostly very enjoyable with some surprising twists. The GM was great and we had a really nice chat afterwards. Definitely our no. 1 of the PP games.

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. 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. If you can only do one room with them, do this one. For the Bookstore, you absolutely need to do the Mansion first. There are delightful twists and turns in this one and some super creative puzzles. Unfortunately there were a couple mechanical issues, resulting in the game master having to enter at one point (cardinal sin). 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. Depending on your love for escape rooms, you will love it, hate it, or have complicated emotions as we do. Regardless, we recommend if you’re true escape artists (ie nerds).