DraculaTwisted Time Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLOverall a charming room, well presented, highly thematic, with some memorable puzzles. Definitely worth the trip and the cost. Kudos to the designer!
Temple Of DoomOperation OutbreakEscape roomIRLTemple of Doom is a fun room that does a great job delivering the theme. I love escape rooms that transport me and this room succeeds at that. The puzzles were good, and a few reveals during the game make for a fun progression. It’s an enjoyable experience that was worth the trip and price of admission.
La LloronaOperation OutbreakEscape roomIRLLOVED the theming on this one. The designers built a dark and spooky bayou homestead haunted by “La Llorona”, a legendary figure in local folklore - the spectre of a woman who went insane and drowned her children. The spooky theming meshes well with the puzzles that had some fun, original twists. The puzzles themselves were approachable and fair with a few original designs which are pretty memorable. Overall a really good room that I am glad to have experienced.
CartelOperation OutbreakEscape roomIRLCartel’s premise is that your group has been split up and locked in a drug cartel enforcer’s secret location. You’ve been outed as informants and will be killed when the cartel’s assassins arrive so you need to work together to escape your individual rooms and get out of the entire facility. This premise works great, providing a fun twist on the usual escape room formula. The puzzles themselves are pretty good - none seemed unfair and some were fun to execute on and provided some memorable moments. Overall the theming and presentation was top-notch, with immersive environmental design that’s visually interesting. (Note that this room is a refactor and retheme on an older room called TNT. If you played TNT it will feel pretty familiar, but the designers put in enough new elements - especially the initial split of the group - to make it still feel fresh.) I’d recommend this room - it’s just solid from start to finish, challenging but fair, and dripping with theme.
Area 915Operation OutbreakEscape roomIRLI really enjoyed this room. The theme is both fun and well-presented, with some puzzle solutions reinforcing the theme. The scary nature of the aliens makes it seem like a horror room but it wasn’t prohibitively scary to the point it should put anyone off, although it might be a little grisly for young kids. With an immersive ambiance and puzzles that reinforce the theme, this room left us happy and feeling like we’d been transported, which is my favorite part of a room like this. Recommended!
Scooby-Doo™ and the Spooky Castle AdventureEscapology - El PasoEscape roomIRLThe nostalgia factor is high on this escape room - if you are a Scooby Doo fan, this is definitely worth your time because they got the voice actors (or someone that did a really good job mimicking them), they brought in the tropes from the show, and they included puzzles with references to classic villains and other characters. The theming and presentation of this felt right, with spooky, cartoony environments. Beyond that, though, it was a pretty unremarkable escape room from a puzzle standpoint. None of the puzzles were really memorable except a few that were a little more frustrating than they needed to be. This makes the room’s apparent kid-friendliness a little misleading - it’s a room based on a kid’s cartoon, but there are some pretty challenging puzzles. Still, the presentation was strong and there were definitely charming moments that made the room worthwhile for those of us who were longtime Scooby Doo fans. I particularly loved how they explicitly brought in the distinctive art and animation style of the original series and referenced iconic characters like the Creeper and the Black Knight - they clearly put lots of effort into evoking the unique look of the show, and it was heartwarming to be immersed in it. Overall I recommend it, but perhaps much more so for people who are actually Scooby Doo fans.
Ariana's WeddingLost Cruces Escape RoomEscape roomIRLSadly I cannot recommend this room to a dedicated escape room community. It’s perhaps fine for first timers, but there are some more compelling (IMO) escape rooms to experience just an hour’s drive south to El Paso. The proprietor is friendly and outgoing and there has been obvious care and passion put into this room, though, so I don’t regret going. And a few story elements made for some interesting moments. But in my opinion, experienced escape room enthusiasts looking for an immersive, adventurous theme with original and memorable puzzles will probably be a bit disappointed in this one. It’s a shame because everything about this site makes you want to root for it - indie designer, sole escape room in a community for a hour’s drive in all directions, someone with obvious passion running it, modest budget, etc. I just wish I could recommend it more highly. (The web site seems to list some maybe-upcoming rooms with more adventurous themes like a superhero room. It’s unclear if/when you will be able to experience these but perhaps the issues with this room will be addressed in a future room. This room does feel like a fledgling designer’s first foray, so I could see a follow-up room improving considerably. I hope so, because I’d like to see this indie escape room business succeed.)
