Storyteller's SecretBoxarooEscape roomIRLThe atmosphere, story and aesthetics were A+ - a really lovely, immersive experience with a satisfying, inspiring ending. With just two players, some of the gameplay was slowed down by us running back and forth between areas trying to figure out what had changed after certain actions (the otherwise lovely background music was so loud it masked clueing sounds) - thankfully the great GM helped us with nudges. The hint system was one of the nicest I’ve seen. Bring a flashlight if you have trouble with vision in darker spaces! One piece of equipment apparently didn’t work as intended in our game as we were able to get an item slightly out of correct sequence. Overall very highly recommended and well deserving of its multiple accolades!
The Body ShopRed Fox EscapesEscape roomIRLThis was only the third escape room we’d ever done, and months later it remains a gold standard for us - immersive, unique, humorous, with diverse, logical puzzles and good flow. I don’t remember any bottlenecks for our two-person team, and the room scales for bigger/smaller teams. The owner who ran the room is great, and took the time to talk to us about the design and philosophy afterwards. The Body Shop tends to be my top recommedation for a Boston area room (along with Boxaroo).
The BirdMyssTic RoomsEscape roomIRLSimply of the best rooms I’ve played. Terpeca winners are Terpeca winners because of atmosphere, great puzzle flow, emotional resonance and some sense of “the epic”; and amazingly MyssTic managed to achieve a lot of this in a footprint that’s a fraction of the epic top tier games. It’s a really good game, and the ending was spot on. I’m still delighted by it days later.
Witch's HollowStained Hourglass Escapes LLC.Escape roomIRLThis was our second escape room at Stained Hourglass and well worth the wait for it to open. Despite the Salem-obligatory witch theme, I didn’t find the room overly kitchy, and Stained Hourglass thankfully avoided the gory-silicone-body-parts type of design; the room works well for families and those averse to gore. They made some really cool choices with how the room starts and how you interact with the puzzles and the GM; just like The Boring Office, it at times called to mind much bigger and super high-end rooms like Escaparium’s Wardrobe for sale. The puzzle design was varied and flowed satisfactorily with few bottlenecks, and there was laughter and delight along the way to the end. Clearly this team is very talented, and we can’t wait to play their third room!
The Cellar: Dead End [prev. The Cellar II: Saul's Revenge]Mystery Soup Escape Rooms [prev. Lock & Clue Escape Rooms]Escape roomIRLOur team of two chickens decided to become braver and try a scary room: this was a great intro to the scarier side since it was more creepy than terror-inducing; i.e. it was still possible to think. This room is recommended with a 3-person minimum which makes sense; our fairly experienced 2-person team barely got out in time and had to get repeated nudges to cover our search fails. The character in the room really makes the game, and there was a nice little piece of story to work out too. Of note: one person needs to not be claustrophobic to be able to play.
The Heart of the MountainBeyond EscapeEscape roomIRLIt’s so refreshing to come across a room you haven’t already seen a dozen times (don’t get me wrong, I love those Egyptian tombs, too)! The story and the texture of the world The Heart of the Mountain built are really lovely, utilizing lesser known Nordic mythology. Along with the world building, the puzzle design really shone: it’s clear, clean and logical. I think it’s the first game our team of two has ever played where we didn’t need any nudges; not because the game was too easy, but because it felt so well designed (and/or playtested). We did a day trip from Boston to do all three rooms at Beyond Escape and it was well worth the trip. Also, everyone working there from the designer-owners to the GM we met were just great. Would highly recommend as worth a trip!
The HeistRed Fox EscapesEscape roomIRLOur team of five had a lot of fun with this room that was clearly designed with thought and crafted with care. It hit all the right dramatic beats for a “heist” and contained very nice wow moments that could be shared by most or all of the players. Enough to do for five, with intuitive flow for what to do. Our team struggled with two puzzles, one a bit process-y and a cekestial one where the GM (not one of the owners) seemed to not be responsive for a few minutes despite us asking for a nudge multiple times. These lower notes did not mar the experience and the fun final act - I would definitely take another group here!
Escape from TimeoutBeyond EscapeEscape roomIRLThe concept of the room is such great fun, and even if it is geared more towards families and kids, our team of two adults enjoyed ourselves very much. As with their other rooms, the puzzle design is logical, well clued in the room, and flows well. There were moments of great delight, and one task that was simple enough, but one I had never done before in an escape room and that was just fun. It was impossible to not smile in this room! Great place to start with beginning escape room players, but well worth doing for experienced ones as a pleasurable puzzle snack.
Something Wicked!PuzzlEscape HudsonEscape roomIRLWe played this at the “less scary” level, which made it delightfully creepy and eerie but not scary-scary (we talked to the GM afterwards and it seems like we could have survived the more scary version; there’s no insane clowns coming at you with chainsaws). The puzzling and the flow were one of the cleanest we’ve seen - most of the puzzles made thematical sense in the game world and we were never at a loss what to do next. There were a few surprises that were just delightful. The one exception to my general love for Something Wicked was a very process-y mechanical puzzle that was very hard for our team of two to complete; the psychologically savvy GM was able to read the frustration mounting in the room and help us out so we could move on and not have the whole game ruined (with a team of four or more, this particular puzzle may not be an issue at all). Highly recommended!
The Mischievous ElvesOcean State EscapeEscape roomIRLIf you are anything like our team of two - which particularly liked the incongruity of being whisked into a cinnamon-scented holiday landscape in the middle of a hot summer afternoon - you could do much worse than play this room. Sure, it is a bit lock-y/Gen 1, and one bit of one puzzle we believe to be genuinely ambiguous (not great when you’re trying to find a digit). However, there were aspects of the room design that were genuinely charming, a couple of cute wow moments, puzzles that fit the theme, and the owner/GM was super nice. It’s likely great for the kids, or a nice warmup game for adults.
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