The Great Houdini Escape RoomPalace GamesEscape roomIRLThe puzzles were well designed and parallelizable. There was a good amount of puzzles that required holding clues until the relevant cue revealed itself, which I personally like. My chief gripe with the experience was that certain puzzles were finnicky in their mechanical design such that you would have to configure them multiple times despite conceptually having solved them.
The City of AshesKomnata QuestEscape roomIRLOverall, this escape room was good, but not great. Thematically, all elements of the escape room added to the story and made this experience one of the more immersive ones I've tried, even down to the way you request and receive hints, which was delightful. Please note that this experience is quite scary! There are jump scares, dim light, and creepy room fixtures and set pieces. The dim light while immersive, however, added artificial difficulty because it made it hard to find clues. Moreover, the light wasn't the only thing that was dim since there was one puzzle in particular that was audio-based where the audio itself was hard to hear so it's easy to miss. In general, the puzzles aren't so much logically challenging as they are based on looking very carefully for clues and keys. So I'd say thematically the room is great, but gameplay is hit-or-miss with questionable design choices proving mildly frustrating. If you're into horror it's a must-try, but if you're not, then it's better to skip this one.
