ExtractionThe Curium ExperienceEscape roomIRLEasily our favourite escape we’ve ever done. Multiple incredibly interactive and thematic rooms that flowed into each other perfectly - plenty of lateral thinking that felt rewarding to solve whilst never feeling unfair, and a technological edge we have yet to see another escape room come close to. This room is a testament to its creators’ ingenuity and skill, and their dedication to pushing the boundaries of escape rooms. Extraction should be on the must-do list of every escape room fan in Australia (and beyond!). We’ll be back just as soon as their next room is announced!
Cybercity 2049Escape Barcelona 2 3Escape roomIRLMust do room in Barcelona - the reviews and awards are more than well deserved. We had an absolute ball and forgot we were doing an escape room because we were so immersed in the experience. Full credits to the fantastic GM who is very involved in this room and making this experience what it was. Just don’t wear anything you hold dear (wouldn’t want getting dirty) like we did - my poor white sweatshirt :( But it was well worth the sacrifice and dry cleaning fee $$.
Mafia: The Golden RingAdventure Rooms - Melbourne (Bourke St)Escape roomIRLOur favourite room at this Adventure Rooms location. Very immersive gameplay and story that really played into the Mafia theme. This was definitely a challenging room with a ton of tricky yet unique puzzles so this is one for the enthusiasts.
Darkness FallsEscape Games Melbourne - Escape Room MelbourneEscape roomIRLWe did this room as a group of 4 and completed with plenty of time to spare. Definitely a more traditional room with much older technology compared to others. The theming is not as immersive compared to other places because of this. A lot of puzzles to be completed (but not all that challenging) so this would definitely suit a large group wanting to divide and conquer. Not our favourite room but not a bad one either.
The Black QueenAdventure Rooms - Melbourne (Little Collins St)Escape roomIRLWe really enjoyed this room! Definitely more old school (especially compared to their newer rooms at their other location) but every puzzle was very satisfying to solve. Lots of mechanical puzzles with some unique stuff we haven’t seen before! To their credit, gameplay flowed really well - we actually had one lock that was already popped open but it didn’t feel like it ruined the flow of the game, it was easy enough to work our way back into it without the GMs having to reset everything. The backstory itself was meh but we didn’t feel like that made a huge difference - you’re escaping a castle before an evil queen eats ya, what more could you want? This is rated a 4/5 on their website in terms of difficulty but I think (if you’re not a beginner) this would be more of a medium.
MotelEscape Games Melbourne - Escape Room MelbourneEscape roomIRLMotel was a very traditional room, with lots of mechanical puzzles. We didn’t feel that the gameplay flowed as well as it could’ve, nor that this was particularly challenging (we finished with a decent amount of time to spare as a team of 2). One particular gripe we had was in regards to lighting - the room was very dimly lit and the torches kept flickering off (we gave up asking for replacements and just used our phone torches). Overall, a good room.
Law & DisorderEscape Hunt - MelbourneEscape roomIRLVery much a middle of the road room for us. Definitely more old school compared to other rooms in Melbourne. Nothing exceptional but not a bad room either. Our pet peeve was with a few puzzles within the room that required some force to actually open. One particular puzzle, we solved quite quickly but it was sign posted with “Don’t lift up!” - so we spent ten minutes trying to figure out what an alternative solution was, only to have to eventually ask for a hint and the GM told us to pull it open. Especially annoying as even the introductory spiel stated that this was a mental game (and not a physical one) and no more than gentle effort would be needed to progress through any of the puzzles. Similar to previous reviews, the backstory felt quite disconnected from the overall gameplay. We actually spent the last few minutes before we opened the last door asking ourselves “Wait, what was the actual story?” and trying to retrace our steps. The issues above definitely impacted the gameplay for us but, all in all, an alright experience. Was told this is the hardest room at the location but I would rate this as a medium - we beat it with a decent amount of time left as a team of 2.
