Special Ops: Mysterious MarketThe Escape Game - Rancho Cucamonga [prev. at San Bernardino]Escape roomIRLReally nice set design but we got stuck on the very first puzzle for a while because it requires you to do something the game masters repeatedly tell you not to do in the rules. Also, some of the puzzles were more tedious than challenging.
Starship | Interstellar EscapeWild Goose Escapes - FullertonEscape roomIRLFun and interesting, but not at all challenging. More of an experience than an escape room. It heavily relies on a video game mechanic that definitely isn't smooth. Certain functions took persistent attempts to actually work. The theme was one of the best executed I've ever seen.
The DepthsThe Escape Game - Rancho Cucamonga [prev. at San Bernardino]Escape roomIRLGreat design, fun puzzles, a lot of team work which I loved
Blood ThirstChronos Escape RoomEscape roomIRLTHEY INCENTIVIZE GOOD REVIEWS ONSITE with discounts so read positives with that in mind. Theme execution was great but the puzzle flow and quality was lacking. Two puzzles I was able to bypass without effort. Two other puzzles took multiple correct attempts to pass. All puzzles were pretty straight forward of varying difficulty, but one was so much more complicated and layered than the others that it felt completely out of place. I'm sure if there were more clues to link the tools together and if they removed things that mislead us, it would make this puzzle more approachable without reducing the difficulty. Also, when he finally asked for a hint for that puzzle, they didn't try to nudge us. They just gave us complete instructions on how to do it, resulting in a very unsatisfying feeling once we completed it.
Voyage Of The Sea SerpentChronos Escape RoomEscape roomIRLTHEY INCENTIVIZE GOOD REVIEWS ONSITE with discounts so read positives with that in mind. This was the second room we've done at this location that gave us significant technical issues. This one was so bad that we had to radio in about a puzzle that wasn't working, then they just gave us a lock combo because something else wasn't working, then we were pulled out of the room completely due to greater technical problems and after 5 minutes of the game master scrambling, we were told we couldn't continue. I get that technical issues happen, but it seemed to be a pattern for this location. What's worse is how they handled it afterwards. We were offered either a partial refund or to be given a new room which we accepted and we went to wait in the lobby. However, after waiting a total of 15 minutes after being removed from our first room, we were told that it turns out that mechanical part in our original game room wasn't broken after all, it just needed several minutes of attempts to get the contacts just right (by the game master) and we can now continue the game. At this point our experience was ruined, having multiple issues, a combo just given to us, and been pulled away for a while now, we naturally didn't care to continue the room, we decided we just wanted to leave. So we asked if we can just do the partial refund and she informed us that it would just be $5 refunded per person. That's all they were willing to do for such a frustrating unfun experience. Their defense for this was that we were nearly finished and that game was technically not broken, it just required really precise contact placement that even the game master couldn't figure it out for several minutes. Apparently that is an acceptable game play experience to them. We ended up going back with the original offer of doing a different room. That room (GoT room) only had 1 technical issue that we were able to resolve ourselves with with some time. I'd say avoid this place if you're interested in a quality experience.
The Last WinterChronos Escape RoomEscape roomIRLTHEY INCENTIVIZE GOOD REVIEWS ONSITE with discounts so read positives with that in mind. This room had a lot of good set pieces that fans would love but the puzzles weren't great. The first one is just a tedious time waster that requires you to solve an easy maze by pressing directional buttons a total of probably 80+ times. If you messed up once before completing, you had to restart. One of the only two lights werent working as intended in a room. Other than that, there was a puzzle that had an annoying contact issue that nearly lead us to believe we were doing it wrong. Luckily I was familiar with how often Chronos has technical issues with puzzles so I knew I just had to keep trying the same thing until it finally worked. Lastly, for such a grand themed room, the final puzzle was pretty anticlimactic. Not a terrible room, just spoiled by some minor technical issues and a very annoying first puzzle. I still recommend it for people who love GoT more than escape rooms.
Cold War BunkerWild Goose Escapes - FullertonEscape roomIRLPuzzle flow is not good. Clues are not great and it was frustrating to figure out what clues are associated with what problem, or what order a combination should be in and what lock it should go to. It's sorta linear but not in a very coherent way. It's also very lock/combo heavy. This is the first game where I felt so often frustrated that I did not have fun.
