L'Île perdue de la Reine Vaudou [The Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen]Escaparium - LavalEscape roomIRLLost Island of the Voodoo Queen absolutely blew us away; we truly felt like the main characters of an adventure movie. As of writing this review, this is absolutely the best escape room I've ever played in my life. The opening sequence did a beautiful job setting the story, the set was mind-bloggling from start to finish, and the lighting choices made the space genuinely feel more like an outdoor environment than a room. Additionally, the GM was probably the best we've ever had. He was an amazing actor, completely focused on our group, never broke character, kept us progressing through the story without making us feel like we were getting hints, and most importantly kept up great banter with us throughout the game. The special effects also blew us away, and were both surprising and realistic. This was one of those games where I wasn't thinking about any sort of race against the clock, I was simply immersed in our adventure. This game is a must-play and absolutely worth traveling for. David's 2020 review on Room Escape Artist still holds up to this day, the only part we disagreed with was the negative about too many breakaway objects, which Escaparium seems to have since fixed. In our playthrough 5yrs after REA's review, we were only able to pick up things that we were genuinely meant to work with.
Storyteller's SecretBoxarooEscape roomIRLStoryteller's Secret is quite possibly my favorite escape room to date. I kept having to remind myself that I should be rushing because I was so captivated by the world they've created that I wanted to just take everything in. Boxaroo knows how to really utilize tech to further the immersion and story (and not just use it to look fancy), and the usage of space was very creative. The hint system was as unique as the puzzles were, and gave the room strong adaptability based on player needs or desires for the game. I don't want to say more for risk of spoilers, but I think every puzzler who's looking for artistic immersion and storytelling should play this room. I felt like I was right inside a magical realism book, and wish I could have never left 📖
Projet R.E.S.E.T. [Project R.E.S.E.T.]Immersia Escape GamesEscape roomIRLThis game had a unique mechanic that blew us away, and it executed its theme very well, leaving players with a valuable life lesson. My critical comments come from a place of loving this game and seeing its potential to be even stronger, not a place of disliking it—we really enjoyed this game. Great environment, great use of space, and a fun ability to order items to help with your gameplay. We also appreciated the GM's willingness to show us how they made the magic of this room possible after the game was over. While there are some minor tweaks we would have liked to see, I'll stick to our three major confusions/frustrations. Our first critique is of the tablet. It did not serve as a functional hint system for us, because almost any time we were stuck on a puzzle we had already figured out all the information the tablet could provide. Additionally, when you're playing as a team of 2, it is unrealistic to expect that someone will have eyes on the tablet at all times, especially in an environment as engaging as this one. Our next critique is that, to us, it felt confusing to receive the role of "criminal" in the game and then be expected to play out the role of a rule-follower. Especially with the quick discovery of a grate in the cabinet, we were expecting, as criminals, to subvert Project RESET and make an escape through the grate. However, the grate in the cabinet was not an escape route, and we were expected to follow the Project's rules to a T. While I understand that the story centered around rehabilitation, it took us a long time to realize that we were not supposed to act as criminals in any way. Our final frustration was that we lost the room when I knew the final code and was one number away from having typed in the whole code. Genuinely we needed two more seconds and we would have completed the room. From a design perspective and a business perspective, especially when your room has no count down clock, I think it makes sense to simply give someone an extra one second so they can have the satisfaction of completing the room, rather than giving them the "failure" ending only to have the GM come in at the end and say that, actually, we had completed all the puzzles in the room. When we played the Grand Immersia Hotel two days earlier, we were ten seconds over the 60min mark (not even as close as the 1-to-2 seconds away during Project RESET, and this time with a countdown clock), and the GM still played it out as if we had completed the room in time, which we really appreciated. All of that said, one common critique I saw in this room's Morty reviews that was not an issue for our team in the slightest was the audio-based puzzle, which was possibly our favorite puzzle of the whole room. Again, we loved this game! But we liked the Grand Immersia Hotel much more.
Le Grand Immersia Hotel [The Grand Immersia Hotel]Immersia Escape GamesEscape roomIRLFrom the moment the instructional video ended we were instantly immersed in the world of the Grand Immersia Hotel. This room is a must-play. Large and detailed space, committed actors, strong narrative, puzzles that made logical sense for the narrative, and even great choices of background music (I heard some iconic Sleep No More songs!). Some of the most impressive highlights were the timekeeper—amazing design choice—and the possibility of an alternative ending. While our team escaped with the main ending, simply discovering the alternative ending was magical in itself. Huge props to Immersia for this knockout game, I truly felt like the main character in a suspenseful action movie.
The Body ShopRed Fox EscapesEscape roomIRLAmazing room! Unique theme, stellar puzzle design, and great immersion. The room was very hands-on, there were multisensory experiences, and the puzzles really made you feel like you were in a mechanic shop. Some amazing tech I've never seen before as well. My only complaint is that we were told we'd be watched by two GMs the whole time, but the one time I asked for a hint I didn't receive one until the 4th time I asked. There were also times where I asked questions unrelated to the puzzles (e.g. "how are we doing on time?") and was given a hint for the puzzle instead. Luckily those hints were things I'd already figured out or I would have been disappointed by the unwanted spoilers. It certainly didn't feel like we were indeed being watched the whole time. That being said, the staff were very kind and clearly very passionate about creating good games for enthusiasts, and they gave us an exciting teaser about the next game they have in the works! Excited to return soon!
Level99 RoomsLevel99Escape roomOther Level 99 is like if Boda Borg and a classic arcade melded together into one activity. Our group of six in our mid-20s had a blast celebrating my birthday there and our 4hr time slot flew by, felt like 1.5hrs max! Wide variety of challenge types with something for everyone, and so many games (50+) available led to no lines, even during the busy time we were there. The tech for the points system was super cool too, especially the way it led to real-life rewards! One room seemed to be having a tech issue, so we notified a staff member. He looked into it immediately and fixed it, and even took the time to find us again, thank us, and let us know that he'd fixed the issue. We appreciated the quick attention to the problem and the follow-up! My only complaint (and this is likely because we went on a Saturday night) is that volume was not well-controlled, which is difficult for challenges that really require strong communication between players. Our group found ourselves struggling in certain rooms simply because we couldn't hear each other, even when shouting. I'll definitely be back! But not on a Saturday night
Train RobberyCyber Raccoon Escape RoomEscape roomIRLWonderful room, clearly constructed with a lot of care! Good flow, high-tech, strong storyline, and diverse puzzle types (+ hilarious intro video). We did this room as a group of two and finished with 3 minutes to spare. Hope to see more rooms from Cyber Racoon in the future!
The Keeper And The Fungus Among UsHeadlock Escape Rooms OnlineEscape roomVirtual The Keeper and the Fungus Among Us is the perfect experience to embark on with your long-distance escape room enthusiast friends. It's creative, hilarious, engaging, completely unique, and somehow handmade! D&D meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Escape Rooms, it's a one-of-a-kind experience you'll want to try even if (unlike me) you're tired of virtual escape rooms now that in-person ones have re-opened. It's a 90-minute experience; our team of two finished in about 70 minutes and spent the remaining time with a behind-the-scenes tour from Joel where he showed us how he manages to make this magic happen and answered any questions we had. I'm so glad I heard Joel's interview with David and Peih-Gee on Reality Escape Pod and took the leap to try it out myself :) Thank you to Headlock Escape Rooms for creating such fun remote experiences! Accessibility: - Captions available during cut scenes :) - Multiple puzzles require the ability to differentiate colors - One puzzle might be difficult for someone with dyscalculia - Hearing people will get the most out of this experience given that it's musical, and that there's no captioning during live interaction, which accounts for the majority of the experience
Magician's WorkshopEscape Room HerndonEscape roomIRLThis room felt like we were actually magic 🪄 Puzzles were perfectly on-theme and use of tech really supported the feeling of being in a magical space. We couldn't stop praising the many stellar (and sometimes subtle) design choices on the drive back. Puzzle quality was also astounding, puzzles were varied in style and difficulty, creating a game where everyone could play to their strengths. We have nothing but praise for this room, and are excited to try the other rooms at this location!
The HangoverEscape City BuffaloEscape roomIRLAfter playing their other two rooms, I was curious to see how Escape City would manage to make this theme as fantastical as the other two, and boy did they deliver. The set was superb (possibly the best I've ever seen), the hint system was clever, and there were many strong design choices (particularly at the beginning and end) that made the room feel special. We played as a team of 4 with two newbies on the team and got out with a few minutes of bonus time. My primary criticism of the room is that there weren't clear indications with sound/light/etc that a puzzle worked and triggered something else to happen. Other than that, I have nothing but praise for another astounding room by Escape City Buffalo 👏🏼 (tip for future players: two players start out in different rooms than the others. We put our strongest puzzlers in those rooms, when we should have put the weakest puzzlers in there. I definitely recommend the strongest puzzlers stay behind while others start in different rooms.)
![L'Île perdue de la Reine Vaudou [The Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen]](https://res.cloudinary.com/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/ea8040b8-d20c-48b1-a683-d874c1ae6eb1.jpg)
![Projet R.E.S.E.T. [Project R.E.S.E.T.]](https://res.cloudinary.com/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/d5c254a6-7f15-453f-903d-fd22af4c6532.jpg)
![Le Grand Immersia Hotel [The Grand Immersia Hotel]](https://res.cloudinary.com/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/8eba2910-0320-4167-a277-bcf15f8e921e.png)
