Irvine School of Wizardry and the Goblin's SecretsHidden DonkeyEscape roomIRLOne of the best rooms we have done to date. The owners put a significant amount of care and detail into this room that makes it almost unbelievably realistic. The.... transportation is something I have never seen before. The game play and their unique way of adding or subtracting puzzles based on your team's speed through the game is amazing. I don't think we have played a game that does this and it makes the experience all the better because we truly feel like we got ours money's worth. 10/10.
The Weeping WitchCross Roads Escape GamesEscape roomIRLReally good game. Puzzles were medium to hard, very few easy puzzles. We had a group of 4 and did escape, but with a fair amount of nudges from our fun game host. This room was a lot of fun for our group, I would say 4-6 is a good number, but 6+ would feel cramped in this small space. Linear at times, but I think our team went "out of order" and it didn't matter - and a good mix of tech, puzzles, and locks. Really enjoyable, especially with the GM. It was scary at times but well done, with 1 jump scare if you're the lucky one. Hint system was awesome. Some of the puzzles were, what our group considers, absolutely very almost impossible to figure out without a hint. Loved the ending and we laughed a lot.
Pyramid ParadoxTick Tock EscapeEscape roomIRLThis room BEGS for 3 or 4 players. We escape with two and 4 or 5 hints. There was a point where you really need 3 people, but we managed. Having a third person would have allowed another person to work in one area while the other two completed other puzzles. It was a fun, tech heavy room. And it was exciting with tech puzzles I haven't see before in other places.
Heart Of Bastet [prev. Red Giant]Lara’s Labyrinth - San Diego [prev. Quest Room]Escape roomIRLI think we did this in 30-40 + some odd minutes as a team of 2. It was definitely on the easy-medium side but WORTH it. We loved the puzzles and the ending was hilarious and fun. A couple of these puzzles felt like "ahhhh I'll just go through it all until I get there" but they weren't able to be solved that way which was good. I loved all the rooms and the use of tools to get through to find the heart. Gm was phenomenal.
CannibalLara’s Labyrinth - San Diego [prev. Quest Room]Escape roomIRLGreat game only made better by Maddie, the gm. We had a great time and I loved how the puzzles were so different from normal escape rooms. It was fun to do things we don't normally "get" to do in rooms. Maddie was awesome and we had booked 2 back-to-back rooms when she recommended we do this one instead of our originally-booked second room. I think she made a great rec and we were pleased with the level of difficulty. It wasn't too hard, but there were a couple sticking points we had to get through as a team of two. The ending felt super anti-climactic after the ending for Heart of Bastet, but it was still funny and played right into the theme. This felt like back to basics on an "escape" room with lots of unique takes on locks/combos/keys/etc.! I'm glad we did this one because it was a good challenge! Still a fair amount of "tech" involved to keep it from feeling super key/lock heavy.
The Basement: UnhingedTHE BASEMENT: A Live Escape Room Experience - Kansas CityEscape roomIRLLoved this room. Great mix of tech and locks, loved the set & live actor(s). The plot was great. We had a team of two and still managed to escape. I wouldn't say it was exceptionally hard, I'm surprised It's marked as "expert". It was definitely challenging. Loved the SFX and the actor(s) and game master were phenomenal. The overall vibe in the place is awesome. We even got a t-shirt. Loved it!
Sister's SecretThe Unlockables - San DiegoEscape roomIRLTLDR: Good, not great. Non-linear feel is overwhelming, but the puzzles were good. Mostly locks (keys and codes). Rec 3+ people. Really good game. Escaped with two people and a handful of clues and some nudges from our GM. Lots of locks and puzzles to solve them/find keys to open them. The puzzles made us think, but some are only "harder" because of the dim lighting. Good story and I liked that there were clues to the puzzles hidden within the other puzzles (totally non-linear) to help you in case you get stuck on them. A couple of them helped us, but mostly we had gotten through the puzzles before we got the clues. The GM was great and sounded spooky which went along with the theme. Overall, a really solid game and we both agreed it was one of the more challenging rooms we've done as a duo. The non-linear play was overwhelming at times and I see why it's a 75 minute game. With 3 or 4 people, I'd see this feeling a lot faster paced and not as overwhelming. I gave up puzzles a few times and went back to them later.
Alice's DreamMind Twist Escape ExperienceEscape roomIRLExpansive and fun! Was a bit run down, but we enjoyed ourselves. Loved all the tech elements and the creativity.
The Third GateThe Third Gate Hotel Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThe GM was great. I liked that the clues were simple when they're given because it adds to having to still solve. This game is BIG. It just kept getting bigger. I loved all of the set and the little things that go bump when you solve them. There were a couple of hiccups in game play, a few things we had to be told to push harder and stuff like that, and one clue that didn't open. The GM spotted us a couple of minutes for the technical difficulties and we needed every second. We played with 2 people and I could see this being perfect for 3-4 people. It's linear, but not to the point where you all have to work on the same thing. Because of its size and the amount of puzzles, I would've liked a couple extra players to get through it faster.
The Asylum: The Doctor's SecretLost GamesEscape roomIRLThis game was fun. I liked the atmosphere and the GM was great and funny. The puzzles took a little more brain power than we are used to, but they're all super good and pretty easy, just time consuming. We played with our normal 2 people and our brains were tired from a long day and another escape room, and we still managed to get through. The last clue stumped us for awhile and because they're a little more time consuming than most, it made up for the clues being more or less "easy" because you still had to take the time to figure them out and play the game. For the amount of ratings, I expected this to be a little bit better, but maybe we need to go back for playtime. Flowed well and the clues/puzzles almost all required you to work with each other, which I liked.
![Heart Of Bastet [prev. Red Giant]](https://res.cloudinary.com/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/4a9b0cdc-3342-4107-92d2-2d103d5bedf4.png)
