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Reviews

Reviews

Magnifico

Magnifico

Escaparium - Laval

  • Escape room
  • IRL
It's hard to express how amazing this game is, but I'll try. Pretty much every element of the game was the best I've seen so far in an escape room. This doesn't feel like an incremental improvement over other games, but rather an entire leap forward. The set was detailed, very immersive, and interesting to be in. They did a great job evoking their intended spaces, and frequently had nooks and crannies where unexpected content would appear. There's a ton of effort put into even minor details, which helps sell the whole thing - a certain late game prop comes to mind as a living, breathing embodiment of this. The actors were essential to the game, and a significant portion of the experience revolved around interacting with them, from comedic to dramatic. Escaparium has previously flirted with a character driven narrative in Wardrobe for Sale, but Magnifico really runs with it. I wasn't the only team member crying at the end of the game. In most escape rooms, puzzles are tangentially related to the set or plot, but are pretty clearly where the designer thought "What do I associate with X, and how do I turn it into a puzzle?". While there's still some of that here, I think Magnifico does a better job than most of naturally integrating puzzles into what's going on. In particular, there's a sequence midgame where it's pretty clear what you want to do, but have to figure out how to use the environment and your inventory to accomplish the goal - it's more like a (sensible) real-life point-and-click adventure game than the standard escape room "here are 4 icons, a lookup table, and a 4-digit lock". I'm not saying Magnifico is perfect - I might have preferred some different creative choices about some aspects of the plot or character development. At the same time, I think it's saying a lot that this reaction is much more like how I'd think about a movie or book than a traditional escape room. I love that this is a place we're at now, and look forward not only to Escaparium's future games but also how the industry keeps up.
Pins & Needles Tattoo Parlor

Pins & Needles Tattoo Parlor

The Exit Games FL

  • Escape room
  • IRL

𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 �𓅝𓃄 �𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿 𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 𓂨𓅝𓃄 𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿

Le Jour du Jugement [Judgement Day]

Le Jour du Jugement [Judgement Day]

Eliviascape

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Judgement Day aims for a more cinematic/story driven experience than most escape rooms, and I think it delivers on the promise. The set is surprisingly large, puzzles are memorable and fit into (and are inspired by) the story, and the finale is worth the buildup. Well done! This is easily my favorite of the four games I played at Eliviascape (Legend of the Mayan Warrior, The Longest Night, Abstraction, and Judgement Day). It's not perfect - one midgame cutscene in particular was hard to make out (and I actually didn't understand what was supposed to be going on until the GM explained after the game). Also, it's possible (and maybe even likely) to get into a state where that cutscene is inadvertently blocked from view.
La Cathédrale Oubliée [The Forgotten Cathedral]

La Cathédrale Oubliée [The Forgotten Cathedral]

Escaparium - Laval

  • Escape room
  • IRL
The set is obviously the star of the show, and it's quite impressive. Puzzles fit into the world pretty well, and the opening sequence quickly draws players into the story in a memorable fashion while establishing the stakes. Having said that, I had a big problem with the game's audio. Like in Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen, I frequently had a hard time clearly making out what the off-set characters were saying, which made it harder to follow the plot and broke me out of immersion. Also, the set, while astonishing, didn't quite click in a way I can't put my finger on. Maybe it was in a weird space between being a very good imitation of a cathedral while still clearly being an imitation of a cathedral - it was good enough to mostly make me suspend disbelief, but not quite good enough to finish the job.
The Starlight Motel

The Starlight Motel

Escape Artist Greenville - Downtown

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Wow, just wow. This was easily the best standalone game on our Columbia/Greenville trip (though Help Wanted edges it out overall since it caps off a three game series), and almost certainly makes my personal top 10% ever. If you're anywhere near Greenville, you need to give this a play. Our GM was a fantastic character, fun to improv with (at times we stopped puzzling just to get to know her character), had in-world ways to convey nudges (great for immersion), and had a good acting range. The set was convincing, and the story beats on point. Puzzles were fair, made sense in universe, and played into the plot well at several points. It's incredible they managed to fit this much story and experience into a 60 minute game, I would have sworn it was longer. Note that this is more of an immersive experience than most escape rooms, so more theatrics, interaction, and heavier emphasis on plot.
Dark Lullaby

Dark Lullaby

Escape Artist Greenville - Hampton Station

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This game has a very nice set and memorable actor interactions/banter. Puzzles made sense and were fair. This applies to all the Chimera Corp games, but it's great (and unusual) how much of the experience begins even before entering the actual escape room. The lobby being themed, the in-universe newspapers lying around, and the in universe orientation briefing make things super immersive. Personally, though I'm not a fan of horror, so this game didn't speak to me and was my least favorite of the three Chimera Corp games (though I still enjoyed it and thought it was well done). It did help build up the universe for Help Wanted.
L'Île perdue de la Reine Vaudou [The Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen]

L'Île perdue de la Reine Vaudou [The Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen]

Escaparium - Laval

  • Escape room
  • IRL
I loved the set and theme of Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen - one of my favorite childhood games was Monkey Island, and I got strong vibes of that in this game. Puzzles were pretty good as well; things made sense and flowed well. Like some other games at Escaparium, my main problem with the game was audio. Some dialog (generally lines coming from above) was very hard for me to make out clearly, which got in the way of enjoying the game. Fortunately, it turned out to be more for flavor and less for critical information, so it wasn't a huge deal, but everything else about the game was so good that this stuck out to me.
Abstraction

Abstraction

Eliviascape

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Despite not having a (significant) actor presence, the set and what's-going-on story of Abstraction still managed to maintain a tense atmosphere. A late game mechanic was clever and not something I've seen before, and puzzles were much more memorable than in either Legend of the Mayan Warrior or The Longest Night. The biggest negative for me was the (presumably) automated hinting system - it would periodically tell us to try things we were already doing, which was annoying and disruptive. Being able to only get hints when we felt stuck would have been better, or if a human with good judgement was making the decisions.
The Storykeeper

The Storykeeper

Locurio

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Setwise, The Storykeeper was good (and a clear step up from Vanishing Act). Locurio is located in a converted residential building, and it seemed like they weren't allowed to make major modifications to the walls, leading to the awkward feeling of being in a room that, while nicely decorated, was ultimately just one you might find at home. If they were able to modify the walls, I think that would tip it over to a great set for me. There were some spots where lighting could have been better. The set seemed to be in good condition - I wouldn't have guessed that this game had been around for so long. The high point of the game for me was the GM/actor - his character was great, and helped elevate the unusual plot. Creating a compelling story seems to be Locurio's strength as a company. Spacewise, 3 players felt like a good number for Storykeeper. The space felt a little smaller (or at least more occupied) than Vanishing Act, so I don't think I'd want to go above 4. While still parallelizable, it's not as much as in Vanishing Act, and I think 2 decent players would have a good time. Puzzlewise, most things seemed good, but there could have been better signposting in a few spots. I could see one puzzle potentially being problematic for people who don't have a particular background, as I didn't see anything in-game which would have indicated what we needed to know if we hadn't already known it. Another puzzle seemed to have no indication about the intended interaction method - while there was feedback, it was subtle and as far as we could tell, unclued in-game.
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